Blues Traveler closed a Pennsylvania concert with a Steely Dan cover

Blues Traveler closed their show at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on August 25 with a Steely Dan cover, and handed the vocal to a guest. Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms came out for the encore and sang "Dirty Work."

John Popper set it up from the stage. "Singing this one with us tonight, this is our first time ever doing this number," he told the crowd before introducing Wilson. The song comes from Can't Buy A Thrill, the album Steely Dan released in 1972.

The choice broke a pattern. At the previous eleven stops on the tour Wilson had joined Blues Traveler for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' "Breakdown," which had settled in as the fixed guest spot of the run.

Wilson was not the night's only visitor. Chris Barron of Spin Doctors came out during the main set for "Champipple," a song from the John Popper & The Duskray Troubadours catalog, and the band's guitarist Eric Schenkman turned up later for "Carolina Blues."

The set itself opened with "Runaround" and worked through "Save His Soul," "100 Years," "Dropping Some NYC" and "Hook," with bass, keyboard and drum solos spaced across the middle of it.

All three bands scored their big hits in the 1990s and first toured together in summer 2025, then booked a second run this year that launched out west in July and is now working through the Northeast. The dates sit on the tour guide, and more rock runs on the genre hub, including other guest encores like Umphrey's McGee and moe. in Grand Rapids and The Black Crowes with Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Hollywood Bowl.

The solos sat in the middle of the set and "Dirty Work" came right at the end, the one song of the night none of them had played together before.