“The Steely Dan organisation is a little different than we were a few months ago,” Don Fagen told the O2 at Steely Dan’s first London show in a decade, headlining the final night of Bluesfest 2017, “but I’ve gotta live with that.” Centre left, where co-founder and guitarist Walter Becker would have stood before his death from an undisclosed illness in September, a vintage microphone kept his place as though Fagen, historically Steely Dan’s reluctant singer, still craved his support.

Left to carry the ‘Dan – the 40 million-selling Seventies jazz rock combo that, arguably, took Frank Zappa too seriously and got lampooned by 10cc for it – Fagen set a sumptuous, if indulgent, tone. With the crowd roused by the Jeremy Clarkson-friendly hits of support act The Doobie Brothers (“music is the doctor,” they sang on The Doctor, although please consult a real doctor if symptoms persist), Fagen initially struggled to maintain the pace as jazzy soul and blues numbers like Bodhisattva and Black Cow wallowed in lengthy solos, hazy brass and synthesisers seemingly made of bubble bath.