Quote:
Originally Posted by cbBen
When she toured with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in 2006, instead of just guesting on a few songs it would have been great if she had also opened the show with the Heartbreakers backing her. Same goes for 1981 and early 1986.
They were a great band for her.
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They had the "right" kind of sound for Stevie onstage. On those occasions I saw her sing with them in the eighties, she was almost invariably more at ease vocally (and more adventurous) than she was with her own bands. She did a pretty good trio of songs with the Heartbreakers in
summer 1985 in Arizona, and I saw her sing with them in LA for some benefits a few months after that. You could definitely hear her better than with her own blowhard band the next year. Listen to her tackle
Talk to Me with a knowing band in
Bodega Bay in 1985. As a lead guitarist, Les is giving her so much more space than Waddy ever did. (But he undid all his great work as her lead guitarist in 1991, when he was really atrocious.) They also did
Johnny B. Goode that day.
Bands that leave musical space (like the Heartbreakers with Stan Lynch, like Fleetwood Mac circa 1980) give vocalists a chance to expand their dynamic range; they don't have to shout-sing through every number. Listen to
The Chain from
Wembley in June or
Mobile in August, and you get to hear the three vocalists sing some of the verses in a suspenseful hushed way, building momentum so that the whole thing can explode like a powder keg on the choruses (or pre-choruses, if you prefer to call them).