17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe
1 This performance was recorded in November 1977 at the Sydney Rockarena. 4 years ago the Outside Broadcast supervisor of the concert has drawn out from his personal vaults this never been seen on TV performance along with Oh well, You make loving fun and Go your own way. He had promised to post the rest of the concert but for some reason stopped; I hope someone else will post the rest because this show has both very good quality and performance.
2 The author of the video specified that the audio comes from two shotgun microphones placed at the speaker towers because the crew was not allowed to take an audio feed from the desk. This explains why the sound isn't crisp clear but rather muffled and raw, but it also means that the audio is exactly as you could have heard live the night of the concert.
3 This is towards the end of the Rumours tour, Stevie's voice is quite worn out but she still sings with much passion and puts in a massive effort, like all the others band members.
4 Stevie is gorgeous as always, and she wears this particularly beautiful black Rhiannon striped dress. This dress had never been captured on video before, and there aren't even a lot of live picture of it on the internet, so this video is special.
5 The wind that night blew strongly, giving an added flavour to Stevie's performance, moving her soft ruffled waves and lifting her silks in every direction. In an interview she stated that she developed her style also thinking about her audience, prefering fabrics that enhance big movements that you can see from afar and that with the wind can look even more wonderful. This is that kind of performance.
6 Stevie's voice on the "Rhiannon" armonies is still strong and high; this is before the Japan tour and right before her vocal chords breakdown. Even if her voice isn't at top form, you can hear her put in a massive effort.
7 Her glaring at the camera at 2:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiAtGzOnHs#t=145
8 The beautiful close-up at 2:46, with the golden green light enlighting her skin, making her look a beautiful spatial creature
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiAtGzOnHs#t=166
9 the silks flying at 3:05
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiAtGzOnHs#t=185
10 When Stevie starts singing "Taken by the sky" with her hand grasping the microphone and her sleeves hanging down, twitched by the wind, you hear her tone changing and becoming gradually more powerful, until the final explosive No.
11 Stevie temporarily exit the scene: we see a flashy close-up of Christine dressed in a luscious red blouse and then the scene switch to Lindsey, in his attractive indian blouse, playing manically his guitar solo shaking his hair.
12 Stevie begins to slowly rotate her veil kept between her fingers while the calm descends. She gradually starts to rotate herself and, when the rythm escalates, she spreads both her black silk wings and twirls increasingly faster under the light that now has turned red.
13 Stevie suddenly stops; the wind now rushes and, with an ecstatic look on her face, she makes her hair and her silks blow in the wind while Lindsey strums. Now Stevie turns her back and flutters her black sleeves at the rithm of John's bass, slowly making her way to the microphone.
14 With her arms up in the sky and her veils down overlaying her, she roars at lenght while the wind enticingly twitch her silk fabrics, uncovering her face one part at a time. She sings "Dreams unwind love's a state of mind" over and over, with her arms progressively opening and the light changing from purple to red, gold and then green, when she finally belts "Love is hard to find" with her head thrown back.
15 "Take me like the wind, baby, take me with the sky" Stevie beckons with her hand and then she pulls up her microphone and begins chanting "All the same" bending on her knees, green-lit at the start of her "Rhiannon rage": she completely bends her knees and open her hands like claws toward the audience, first to the right, then to the left and lastly she claws upwards while crouching down.
16 Stevie demands "Take me to the sky" with a sinuous hand gesture, continuing to sing like she wants to eat the microphone. Slowly rising, she stares at the audience with fiery eyes, rithmically opening and closing her hand along her "Dream on" screams.
17 Now exhausted, Stevie collapse on her side with her arm still on the microphone's stand waiting for her last moment. Mick is frantically beating the drums, we hear her last cry while she slowly appears on the screen with her strained face and abandons the microphone stand. Mick closes the song, Stevie rises to thank the audience in a swirl of black.