Opening for Bono and the chaps as they resumed their Joshua Tree Tour in Detroit, Beck segued from his massive hit, 'Where It's At', into 'Josie' from Steely Dan's classic 1977 album, Aja.
"He was a hero," he said to wild applause.
Shortly afterwards, Becker's Steely Dan partner Donald Fagen released this beautiful letter:
"Walter Becker was my friend, my writing partner and my bandmate since we met as students at Bard College in 1967. We started writing nutty little tunes on an upright piano in a small sitting room in the lobby of Ward Manor, a mouldering old mansion on the Hudson River that the college used as a dorm.
"We liked a lot of the same things: jazz (from the twenties through the mid-sixties), W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, science fiction, Nabokov, Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Berger, and Robert Altman films come to mind. Also soul music and Chicago blues.
"Walter had a very rough childhood - I’ll spare you the details. Luckily, he was smart as a whip, an excellent guitarist and a great songwriter. He was cynical about human nature, including his own, and hysterically funny. Like a lot of kids from fractured families, he had the knack of creative mimicry, reading people’s hidden psychology and transforming what he saw into bubbly, incisive art. He used to write letters (never meant to be sent) in my wife Libby’s singular voice that made the three of us collapse with laughter.
"His habits got the best of him by the end of the seventies, and we lost touch for a while. In the eighties, when I was putting together the NY Rock and Soul Review with Libby, we hooked up again, revived the Steely Dan concept and developed another terrific band.
"I intend to keep the music we created together alive as long as I can with the Steely Dan band."
Whether this means that Fagen will go ahead with Steely Dan's October visit to Dublin's 3Arena remains to be seen. He played two shows last month without Becker who it's understood underwent a medical procedure recently. Further details have yet to emerge.
Other tributes have been coming in thick and fast.
‪"Walter Becker, you changed my life with your mystical music and guitar playing," said Ryan Adams. "You are so loved. Thinking of your family and musical brother Donald Fagen and your loved ones. ‪Straight to the stars... My friend. You were every one of them, shining bright in my soul and so many others… Showing us all what was really possible. Pure magic You are loved RIP
"Damn," reflected hip hopper Talib Kweli. "About to listen to Steely Dan all day. Thank you Mr. Becker for a lifetime of great music. De La Soul introduced me to Steely Dan when they sampled this beautiful piece of music, 'Peg'."
"Very sad news," added Nile Rodgers. "They're one of my favorite bands."