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  #46  
Old 02-11-2015, 07:35 AM
bombaysaffires bombaysaffires is offline
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3 Stevie starts the song in an unusual way: "This is a song about a lady from Whales".

She's started the song this way before.

I never knew Rhiannon was a whale. I just thought she was Welsh.

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  #47  
Old 02-11-2015, 08:51 AM
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3 Stevie starts the song in an unusual way: "This is a song about a lady from Whales".

She's started the song this way before.

I never knew Rhiannon was a whale. I just thought she was Welsh.

Oh yeah, it was Wales.

Last edited by SisterNightroad; 02-19-2015 at 11:29 AM..
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  #48  
Old 02-17-2015, 05:57 PM
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Default my favorite Rhiannon is every Rhiannon: part9

17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe


1 This rare video is from the second day of the Tusk Tour rehearsals, the 20 October 1979, also known as "Dress rehearsals". I find it interesting because it offers a valuable insight of the band's work behind the performance of the songs. Other videos from this day are here: https://www.youtube.com/user/nicksaddict07/videos

2 The video is blurry but the sound compensates for it. The overall quality of the video is inferior to the previous day's rehearsals, but I prefer these ones because Stevie wears the Rhiannon dress and her voice is noticeably better.

3 Around 0:52 the band loses track of the song with a playful remark from Stevie: "Ah ah... well not that funny was it?" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-F5iCSHYjE#t=55)

4 "She rules her life like a high skylark" ad-lib at 1:33 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-F5iCSHYjE#t=93), like during the Tusk Tour.

5 Similarly as during the late part of the Rumours Tour, Stevie sings "your life knows no promise" and whistles the chorus harmonies.

6 At around 3:55 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-F5iCSHYjE#t=235) the lights switch on and the camera gets slightly closer; we can see better the entirety of the band.

7 After Lindsey's guitar solo, begins Stevie's Rhiannon dance; it's just a faint flutter of sleeves but is noticeable as Stevie moves her arms one after another and then twirls in a repetitive sequence.

8 While reaching the centre of the stage, Stevie's dance gets barely more visible: she's coreographing various graceful ballet sequences with her arms wrapped in her silk sleeves.

9 As she gets to the microphone, Stevie bows down and swirls her wings ahead and around. Then she rises up again and lifts her arms are above her head, briefly still in silence.

10 Stevie groans and begins her chant, lowering her arms: "dreams unwind love's a state of mind...dreams unwind love is hard to find...I know"

11 Stevie is ponderously bringing out the power in her voice while flapping strongly her silk sleeve "Take me like the wind baby, take me with the sky..."

12 Stevie hastily turns her back and then grabs the microphone; tapping her foot she chants hauntingly "all the same, all the same Rhiannon" gradually louder.

13 Flexing her legs, Stevie finally starts screaming and spreading her knees, glaring at every direction until, finally, the stage lights up again.

14 Stevie's now stomping: "all your dreams unwind but your love's a state of mind...all your dreams unwind baby it's still a state of mind" when she suddenly spins around.

15 Stevie grabs again the microphone stand with a swirl of her sleeve and crouches, twitching her arm back and forth. The silks float following her movements as she rages: "Dream on, you're a dreamer...don't you try hard, oh try to leave her..."

16 The song ends with of one of my favourite ad-libs: "dream away, stay away, stay away, stay away..."

17 Stevie waits for the ending notes swaying in her silks; after her last strenuous cry waves her silks in semicircular movements while making herself fall on the ground.

Last edited by SisterNightroad; 02-19-2015 at 11:28 AM..
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  #49  
Old 02-24-2015, 10:34 AM
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Default my favorite Rhiannon is every Rhiannon: part10

17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe


1 This Rhiannon was performed in Largo the 25 November 1979 at the Capital Centre. The show took place one month after the start of the Tusk Tour on the 26 October 1979, and 2 weeks and a half after the Tusk documentary concert, held the 6th of November at the Checker Dome in St. Louis (that would be a Rhiannon to see). TheSuperFleetwoodMac also revamped from this show Go your own way, Sara and Sisters of the moon and you can find them on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSupe...woodmac/videos.

2 Fleetwood Mac had still a fresh and passionate delivery. They admitted in interviews that the first shows of a new tour are the best because, traveling and performing for prolonged times, they progressively get bored.

3 Stevie's voice then had lost a part of her range but gained that particular fragile raspy sound that marks the Tusk Tour. Soon during 1979 her voice suffered great damage both due to her overtiring concert schedule and heavy amount of cocaine usage, and it hadn't returned the same ever again. However between the end of that year and the start of 1980 she went to a otolaryngologist and recovered enough to go on with the tour.

4 The band still performs the song in a clean and proper way compared with the 1980 performances wherein the band improvised heavily and sounded much rawer.

5 I love the way Stevie looks during this tour: the chestnut brown hair, the Tusk bun, the shawls and jackets specific for each song and the many new colors of her wardrobe. Here she wears her grey-blue Rhiannon dress, worn for the first time in 1978:

6 Stevie's harmonies on the Rhiannon chorus feel like ghost whispers.

7 The "taken by the wind" lyrics switch at 3:05 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3pOCBO4ndE#t=185)

8 "Taken by surprise": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3pOCBO4ndE#t=198

9 The powerful spin Stevie takes after her denial scream.

10 Stevie begins her butterfly flight in the dark. All we can see is a suggestive but just visible flutter of silk fabrics while Christine and John jams.

11 Stevie starts growling, holding her arms over her head with her sleeves draping and fluttering in front of her face. Then she slowly lowers them and simply puts her veiled hands on the microphone repeating her old chant, this time highlighting each line with an haunting "I know".

12 After a powerful "take me like the wind baby take me with the sky...", rapidly gets away in a silk vortex and comes back at the microphone flapping her wings. With her hands wrapped in voile she sings religiously under the red light: "all the same...all the same, Rhiannon...all your dreams unwind but your love's a state of mind"

13 The spotlight is turned on and Stevie unleashes her Rhiannon Rage: she slightly bends down and glares with fiery eyes, shaking her clenched hand, pointing her finger and screaming "dream on, you silly dreamer, would you try hard? you can't leave her..."

14 The band plays roughly, while Stevie improvises fiercely, building musical tension: "no, your love doesn't unwind and your love's not a state of mind, I know". Both these two elements will be taken to the extreme during the latter part of the Tusk tour, in 1980, whose climax for me is the Rotterdam performance.

15 The camera rapidly shoots up close Stevie's and John's face. Stevie stomps her feet and jabs at the audience. She gesture at herself with her hand like a claw "try on, try on, try..." before spinning away with an exhausted look on her face.

16 Stevie comes back, leans her hands on the microphone with her long sleeves hanging down and belts out her last words: "so long..."

17 After a last twirl, she collapse on the floor shaking her sleeves over her head and bending her knees to finally curl up wrapped in her fabrics.
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Old 02-25-2015, 02:50 AM
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this is incredible what your doing with chronicling the greates and most intrestingly evolving live song in fleetwood macs history. and your accomonying analysis is right on too.

The Largo 78 Rhiannon has long been one of my favorites if not my vey favorite live Rhiannon ever. But that 79 version also from largo is new to me. and while a lot of that version is sub par and parts of it would get better later in the tusk tour, that piano playing by christine is unbelievably hypnotic, maybe the most hypnotic ive ever heard.
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  #51  
Old 02-25-2015, 04:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Hawkeye View Post
this is incredible what your doing with chronicling the greates and most intrestingly evolving live song in fleetwood macs history. and your accomonying analysis is right on too.

The Largo 78 Rhiannon has long been one of my favorites if not my vey favorite live Rhiannon ever. But that 79 version also from largo is new to me. and while a lot of that version is sub par and parts of it would get better later in the tusk tour, that piano playing by christine is unbelievably hypnotic, maybe the most hypnotic ive ever heard.
Thank you, it's nice to be acknowledged!
I try to be as objective as possible describing the feel I get from every performance but with my lack of technical knowledge of instruments is difficult.
It's true, Christine's playing is particuarly compelling in this performance, especially in the jam part after Lindsey's guitar solo.
Also in this video in which Tusk morphes into a blues jam you can see Christine is a natural Blues player: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6XMffcXjuk

Last edited by SisterNightroad; 02-25-2015 at 05:48 AM..
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  #52  
Old 02-26-2015, 04:10 AM
teedeerocks teedeerocks is offline
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Originally Posted by SisterNightroad View Post
17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe


1 This Rhiannon was performed in Largo the 25 November 1979 at the Capital Centre. The show took place one month after the start of the Tusk Tour on the 26 October 1979, and 2 weeks and a half after the Tusk documentary concert, held the 6th of November at the Checker Dome in St. Louis (that would be a Rhiannon to see). TheSuperFleetwoodMac also revamped from this show Go your own way, Sara and Sisters of the moon and you can find them on his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSupe...woodmac/videos.

2 Fleetwood Mac had still a fresh and passionate delivery. They admitted in interviews that the first shows of a new tour are the best because, traveling and performing for prolonged times, they progressively get bored.

3 Stevie's voice then had lost a part of her range but gained that particular fragile raspy sound that marks the Tusk Tour. Soon during 1979 her voice suffered great damage both due to her overtiring concert schedule and heavy amount of cocaine usage, and it hadn't returned the same ever again. However between the end of that year and the start of 1980 she went to a otolaryngologist and recovered enough to go on with the tour.

4 The band still performs the song in a clean and proper way compared with the 1980 performances wherein the band improvised heavily and sounded much rawer.

5 I love the way Stevie looks during this tour: the chestnut brown hair, the Tusk bun, the shawls and jackets specific for each song and the many new colors of her wardrobe. Here she wears her grey-blue Rhiannon dress, worn for the first time in 1978:

6 Stevie's harmonies on the Rhiannon chorus feel like ghost whispers.

7 The "taken by the wind" lyrics switch at 3:05 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3pOCBO4ndE#t=185)

8 "Taken by surprise": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3pOCBO4ndE#t=198

9 The powerful spin Stevie takes after her denial scream.

10 Stevie begins her butterfly flight in the dark. All we can see is a suggestive but just visible flutter of silk fabrics while Christine and John jams.

11 Stevie starts growling, holding her arms over her head with her sleeves draping and fluttering in front of her face. Then she slowly lowers them and simply puts her veiled hands on the microphone repeating her old chant, this time highlighting each line with an haunting "I know".

12 After a powerful "take me like the wind baby take me with the sky...", rapidly gets away in a silk vortex and comes back at the microphone flapping her wings. With her hands wrapped in voile she sings religiously under the red light: "all the same...all the same, Rhiannon...all your dreams unwind but your love's a state of mind"

13 The spotlight is turned on and Stevie unleashes her Rhiannon Rage: she slightly bends down and glares with fiery eyes, shaking her clenched hand, pointing her finger and screaming "dream on, you silly dreamer, would you try hard? you can't leave her..."

14 The band plays roughly, while Stevie improvises fiercely, building musical tension: "no, your love doesn't unwind and your love's not a state of mind, I know". Both these two elements will be taken to the extreme during the latter part of the Tusk tour, in 1980, whose climax for me is the Rotterdam performance.

15 The camera rapidly shoots up close Stevie's and John's face. Stevie stomps her feet and jabs at the audience. She gesture at herself with her hand like a claw "try on, try on, try..." before spinning away with an exhausted look on her face.

16 Stevie comes back, leans her hands on the microphone with her long sleeves hanging down and belts out her last words: "so long..."

17 After a last twirl, she collapse on the floor shaking her sleeves over her head and bending her knees to finally curl up wrapped in her fabrics.
The mystery is about to be solved - she's about to pop right out of that dress in the photo at the bottom.In fact it looks like her right areola is showing a bit......Oops! Great performance though!

Last edited by teedeerocks; 02-26-2015 at 04:14 AM.. Reason: wrong pic
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Old 02-26-2015, 12:56 PM
bombaysaffires bombaysaffires is offline
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The mystery is about to be solved - she's about to pop right out of that dress in the photo at the bottom.In fact it looks like her right areola is showing a bit......Oops! Great performance though!
and she just couldn't figure out why everyone was saddling her with that 'sex symbol' label!!
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Old 03-02-2015, 05:33 PM
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Default my favorite Rhiannon is every Rhiannon: part11

17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe


1 This is from the famous White Winged Dove concert, recorded the 13 December 1981 on the last night of the White Winged Dove Tour at the Wilshire Theatre and aired the 8 April 1982. The tour lasted only 17 days but Stevie had surrounded herself with accomplished musicians: Waddy Wachtel, Roy Bittan (E-Street Band), Bob Glaub (Jackson Browne), Benmont Tench (Heartbreaker) Russ Kunkel (James taylor et al.). This channel on youtube posted an upgraded version of the whole video few months ago: https://www.youtube.com/user/sandybeagan/videos

2 This version starts with a ballad rendition of the first two verses; the song will be performed in this same way much later during the Dance tour by whole Fleetwood Mac. About working with Stevie on the live rendition of Rhiannon, Roy Bittan says: "She's the only artist I toured with other than Bruce. She asked me to go on the road, and I had some time off – I couldn't pass up the opportunity. It gave me a chance to reinterpret some of the Fleetwood Mac stuff. We began 'Rhiannon' real slow, almost a classical version of it. Then after the first verse the whole band would kick in. It was a fantastic experience."

3 Stevie's voice is readjusting to a lower but more powerful register; in fact at this time she was labeled as a contralto, while during the Rumours years she was still considered a soprano. Early eighties are, after mid-late seventies, the best years for her voice.

4 Stevie hilarious replies to a very attached fan: "I'll never forget you either!" at 1:39 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG3yyCGlByk#t=99

5 The classical Rhiannon ad-libs reflects those of the current days: "Rhiannon, some ask...Rhiannon, you say...Rhiannon, don't go...Rhiannon...".

6 Stevie's hair during Bella Donna is glorious, blonde and feathered, but backcombed and blowed by a fake wind, almost a revisit of the 70s Farrah Fawcett style in the 80s tone.

7 During this performance Stevie is very emotional for two reasons. One is that this is the end of her short solo tour, and the following day she must join Fleetwood mac in France at the Chateau D'Hérouville to record Mirage; the second is that her best friend Robin was recently diagnosed with terminal leukemia. To quote her words: "That should've been a time when I was the most happy and felt the most self-confident and successful. But actually, I really felt the most helpless, because all the money in the world couldn't save this woman's life. It was a very sad, yet balancing, thing for me." This is my favourite Rhiannon solo performance because of this heartfelt and fragile delivery.

8 Starting her new solo career, Stevie felt the need to reinvent her style, turning from the iconic black Rhiannon dress on the Rumours cover to the white dress on the classic cover of Bella Donna: "The white outfit I'm wearing is the exact opposite of my black outfit on Rumours. Over that it says, 'Come in from the darkness.'The dark side of anyone, the side that isn't optimistic, that isn't strong. I've got to become stronger because I am very sensitive, and everything really touches me.". On tour Stevie adopted a stratified style with velvet legwarmers, white clothes, lace, miniskirts, arabesqued wrap-dress and sparkling and colorful shawls and, since she couldn't go backstage and change after every song, she simply stripped the layers off or changed shawl between songs. I love this period because Stevie blends elements of the 80s fashion in her own style, adapting her tastes to new trends and personalizing fashionable pieces, making her style timeless. The beautiful lace blue shawl that she wears draped on her head is the same from the opening performance of Gold dust woman and Outside the rain.


9 The mad look on her face at 4:01 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG3yyCGlByk#t=241

10 The way she swings her hips at 4:08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG3yyCGlByk#t=248

11 Stevie's band playing is a bit more "scrambled" than the classic Fleetwood Mac Rhiannon. Also Stevie's performance is less ceremonial and more lively and genuine. Stevie twirls in the middle of Waddy's Rhiannon guitar solo, not during her Rhiannon dance; in fact this solo performance, as any other, also lacks her characteristic "Rhiannon rage".

12 At the last "would you even try?" Stevie moves her hair away from her face and twists her hand around her microphone. During Waddy's guitar solo, instead of temporarily leaving the stage to give way to the guitarist, she stands behind him rythmically waving and flapping her shawl like it was a pair of blue lace wings. Stevie then goes kissing bassist Bob Glaub and saluting drummer Russ Kunkel with her index finger.

13 Stevie turns back to her microphone stand looking forlorn and shuts the entire band with a single gesture, her hand lowered down and her legs kneeled. She starts to sing again: "dreams unwind love's a state of mind" with her voice broken from crying. This rendition stops at "take me like the wind child, take me with the sky" after which Stevie goes waving and hugging her percussionist Bobbye Hall and her beloved backup singers and friends, Sharon and Lori. Instead of an exorcism, this Rhiannon coda is a farewell.

14 Stevie returns to Waddy and victoriously lifts her fist up holding her shawl between her fingers. She turns her back to the audience and raise her arms over her head with her fingers intertwined and a foot on the drums step, waiting for the band to finish.

15 While the band is playing the last notes, Stevie opens her long hands, showing her extremely long fingers, and at last rapidly spreads her arms and closes her fists while the lights turn off.

16 Both the performance and the tour are over, everyone is moved and hugs each other, Stevie above all; then all the band members gather and bow at the audience. Stevie tearfully pronounce a few meaningful words of goodbye: "Thank you for being with us on this very special night, goodnight!" and after a last wave of her hand, everyone goes backstage with Stevie.

17 This Rhiannon leaves a different aftertaste than Fleetwood Mac interpretations: it is less angry and potent but it's warmer and more joyful; it conveys a sense of belonging.

Last edited by SisterNightroad; 03-03-2015 at 08:14 AM..
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Old 03-11-2015, 05:27 PM
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Default my favorite Rhiannon is every Rhiannon: part12

17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe


1 This Rhiannon is from the Mirage HBO special recorded on the 21 and 22 October 1982, a fan-favourite also because the Mirage tour, which only went on for two months, is the last tour that features the Rumours band formation until the 1997 reunion. The VHS contains a total of 13 songs, Rhiannon being the only one that was filmed during the 21st, however the tapes are still unreleased in their entirety.

2 There's another unreleased taped show of Fleetwood Mac headlining the final night of the 1982 Us festival. Part of the footage was to be released in a documentary about the event in 2012, but the release date has been postponed several times since then. A snippet of Rhiannon performed that night is visible on the 1982 Fleetwood Mac interview "Two on the town": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luxK918mcoE&t=179

3 Stevie wears the same white Rhiannon dress of the Bella Donna cover. During this tour her style morphed once again, consisting of highly contrasted colors, a lot of white and black balanced with touches of red or (less often) pink, a slightly backcombed revisited shag with very light gold hair with darker highlights, black smokey eyes and coral red lips. This style combined the most romantic elements of the fashion of the decade, such as black lace, voluminous discoloured hair and dramatic make-up, in stevie's personal style and creates a twenties vintage allure. In my opinion Stevie looks especially beautiful during Mirage and this era defines her image in the eighties even better than her later solo career.

4 At this time Stevie's voice change started during Bella Donna is complete, sounding more profound and confident. She's lost a great part of her upper range but added a lower and stronger quality to her huskiness. New York Times said about her 14 September performance at East Rutherford: "She has lost the reedy fragility of her mid-1970's voice. But she compensates with a hoarser, rougher rock contralto, and her stage demeanor blends glamour and a kind of dangerous charm."

5 Nearly two weeks before this concert Robin Anderson, Stevie's best friend, passed away from leukemia. This practically destroyed Stevie but also made her performances on this tour the most heartfelt and wild of her entire career, giving birth to the mythical "speaking in tongues" version of Sisters of the moon.

6 Starting from Tusk, Sisters of the moon gruadally takes over Rhiannon as the fan-favourite show highlight, inheriting that same "rage beast" elements that made Rhiannon seem like a demonic possession. By 1982 Rhiannon has metaphorically transformed from an exorcism to a prayer, becoming more wistful and brooding rather than angry and desperate.

7 Stevie appears completely wrapped in white silks, and starts singing very roughly. Vocally this is not one of the best performance of the tour, also because this night she still suffered from the flu, but visually this is one of my favourite Rhiannon to date.

8 Also Lindsey (despite what Carol Ann Harris wrote) has a wardrobe change with new pale dandy outfits complete with vests and hats and a longer haircut. However his playing during the Mirage tour is cleaned out of the Tusk excesses but it doesn't really regress to Rumours, that had a polished but stripped-down sound while Mirage has lost the more progressive elements but abounds with virtuosity and flourishes, seeming like an attempt to adapt the Rumours sound to the eighties canon.

9 The Stevie-Christine eye-sex at 1:49, a recurring theme through the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VENy0tvEpM&t=109

10 Stevie's slow spin at 2:22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VENy0tvEpM&t=142

11 During this tour Stevie replace "taken by the sky" with the verses that close the studio version of Rhiannon: "dreams unwind, love's a state of mind". This may have been Lindsey's idea and you can hear Stevie and Lindsey working on this part during the Mirage rehearsals here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ijjtda7vf...arsal.mp3?dl=0

12 Stevie does perhaps the most graceful and hypnotic Rhiannon dance of her entire career, spinning in her white flowing dress, lapping her silk wings and then swaying her hips with balletic moves as she gets closer to the microphone.

13 Stevie hoarsely sings again the part, progressively lifting her voice until she screams "Dreams unwind, love is hard to find", then she hastily turns her back to the audience wavering her long sleeve. She puts hand and sleeve back on the microphone and continue singing but then restlessly turns again flapping her opposite arm. This time she grabs again the microphone whith both her veiled hands, finally belting out "take me like the wind child and with the sky, no" before lowering her gaze and her head.

14 Stevie crouches stomping her feet in a glorious pose. A famous magazine once called this exact posture "hidden dragon" and included it among her best stage moves: "There’s something imposing about this great stance, like something serious is about to happen. Stevie digs her feet in, assumes the position, and just lets loose, like in this unforgettable performance of “Rhiannon” from Fleetwood Mac’s 1982 Mirage tour."

15 Stevie lets herself go in one of the last glimpses of her old Rhiannon rage, improvising one of the most particular ends of the song "baby you don't change her and I don't change her...we're all the same, Rhiannon" frantically passing the microphone's shaft from a hand to the other. This same lyrics can be heard on the Baton Rouge performance of Sisters of the moon.

16 After her last lines Stevie tiredly turns around and wraps herself in her silk sleeves, slowly stamping and swinging her hips at lindsey's guitar solo, waiting for its end.

17 Stevie sings out her new lines for the last time, spins around and, after a high kick with spreaded arms, she lets herself fall down waving the fabrics around her body.
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Old 03-12-2015, 12:43 AM
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This is definitely one of my favourite Rhiannons. And YAY!! You used my youtube video.
The intensity in her deliverance along with her rusky voice adds up, for me, to be one of the best (and sadly last) awe-inspiring Rhiannons.
Love your 17 breakdowns!!
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Old 03-12-2015, 07:34 AM
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Originally Posted by Andyleo View Post
This is definitely one of my favourite Rhiannons. And YAY!! You used my youtube video.
The intensity in her deliverance along with her rusky voice adds up, for me, to be one of the best (and sadly last) awe-inspiring Rhiannons.
Love your 17 breakdowns!!


Aww, thank you! I didn't know you were on The ledge!
I used your video because it was the better quality for Rhiannon!
With the passing of the time I began to love every Rhiannon, this one is special because, after Rumours, Mirage is the second best era for Stevie's voice and image.

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Old 03-25-2015, 05:36 PM
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Default my favorite Rhiannon is every Rhiannon: part13

17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe


1) This is Stevie's encore on the third and final day of the 1983 Us festival, a "music and culture festival to bridge state-of-the-art technology and new music" held the 30 May of 1983. This event was recorded and later Showtime broadcasted and released as a compilation dvd three Stevie's performances Outside the rain, Stand back and Stop draggin' my heart around. Due to technical sound problems Stand back and Stop draggin' my heart around had to be overdubbed; you can see them in this video for Japan TV with some alternate scenes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qGo3iWI13U

2) We probably see the pinnacle of Stevie's solo career: after Bella Donna in 1981 and Mirage in 1982, with The Wild heart she has a top album for the third year in a row. This tour setlist is probably the best of Stevie's entire career, mixing classic Fleetwood Mac material (Gold dust woman, Dreams, Sara and Rhiannon), Bella Donna's biggest hits (Leather and lace, Stop draggin' my heart around and Edge of seventeen), meaningful deep cuts (Outside the rain, How still my love and Beauty and the beast), her freshest hit with Fleetwood Mac (Gypsy), and her new album most striking hits, destined to become classics (If anyone falls and Stand back). On this particular date Stevie surprisingly replaces Sara and Gypsy with Angel and Gold and braid.

3) This is just the second date of The wild heart tour and Stevie is nervous and somewhat shy having to perform solo and being filmed before a crowd of 200'000 people alone while the previous year she had participated with Fleetwood Mac. More than once she stated during her interviews that when she had to perform for videos she had to be relatively sober and restrained from cocaine. That's why her performance here is very demure but enthusiastic and filled with moments of absolute cuteness (see How still my love performance).

4) Stevie's voice during The wild heart doesn't have particularly severe problems, as there is hardly an occasion in which she isn't able to sing, but it has an overall scratchier and partially forced sound, anticipating the change that will happen during Rock a little.

5) The scene opens with Heartbreaker Benmont Tench playing a very beautiful Rhiannon intro. Recently Roy Bittan's work with Stevie has been praised a lot, but it shouldn't be overlooked either Benmont Tench's skill, as he was behind songs like Kind of woman, Gate And Garden, Enchanted, Nightbird, I Will Run To You and participated on both albums Trouble in Shangri-La and 24K gold.

6) Less than a year before Stevie's best friend Robin died and, as she admitted herself, at the time every song still brought her to tears. Just before Rhiannon she introduced Edge of seventeen With a dedication to Robin: "I would like to make one dedication tonight, and that is to my best friend who is a white winged dove". On her solo tours, Rhiannon is the song that brings out most sentiment in Stevie.

7) Stevie starts singing with her voice weary from the shrieking and the emotion, giving a heart wrenching interpretation of the classical Rhiannon intro: "Rhiannon, some say...Rhiannon, you ask...Rhiannon don't go...Rhiannon"

8) After that the whole band kicks in Stevie starts singing ponderously in her light-gold shawl, progressively bending with her microphone.

9) She rules her life like...what? https://youtu.be/GsXl1X3Jfm8?t=227

10) Sweet moment with ‘Wizard’ during the chorus: https://youtu.be/GsXl1X3Jfm8?t=268

11) Stevie turns and grabs her microphone again, continuing to sing despite her deep feelings overflowing. During the second chorus she starts her farewells: she wanders on the stage, bows before her drummer (Lybert Devitto) and salutes him, then goes to the guitarist that kisses tenderly Stevie on her nose in a comforting way.

12) Stevie returns to her microphone with tears streaming her face, bends down and sings giving her all despite barely being able to be heard.

13) Eventually Stevie finds her voice again, despite the microphone that nearly shuts down its sound during the Rhiannon coda: "Your dreams unwind and love's a state of mind"

14) During her last few notes, Stevie spreads her arms wide like a pair of wings and slowly drifts away towards the public.

15) A relieved Stevie finds consolation in the bond with her audience and waves her hands in front of the fans that sings with her, following the rythm of her lifted arms.

16) Stevie is finally happy again and satisfied by the incredible experience of this grand event and says a moving goodbye to the audience: "I want you to know that you're so very very special to me. Goodnight".

17) A voice out of field declares rightfully: "Ladies and gentlemen, the first lady of rock and roll Stevie Nicks...we will remember this for ever!"
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Old 08-01-2015, 03:31 PM
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Default my favorite Rhiannon is every Rhiannon: part14

17 Reasons This 'Rhiannon' Clip Is the Coolest Thing in the Universe


1) This Rhiannon is performed on the 19 April 1986 in Iowa City at the Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It is just around the 5th date so Stevie is still at the beginning of the Rock a Little Tour, the peak of her self-indulgent lifestyle (it is at the end of this tour that she got into the Betty Ford Clinique). Other videos of this tour can be found on Mistralwindbebe’s youtube channel, that features performances from Ames, Cuyahoga Falls, Jones Beach, Lincoln and Dallas (which includes a rare Sara performance, since the song was dropped after just four dates): https://www.youtube.com/user/mistralwindbebe/videos

2) It is during the Rock a Little era that Stevie’s voice shows the greatest change and damage, so this tour marks a relative point of no return for her career as a singer. This early performance however is particularly noteworthy because it shows a very energetic but still present Stevie, with shrill but powerful vocals. At the time she had already lost most of her higher range and her voice sounds uncomfortable to the point of losing some of her signature emotional expressiveness. However she makes up with an even more overdramatic and histrionic stage behavior and a desperate, bleating singing. The Philadelphia Inquirer says, in a review of the 6 May concert: “Stevie Nicks...possesses a first-rate rock-music voice - throaty and intimate, pitched low and just a little bit ragged around the edges. It is an alluring, confiding voice, yet Nicks often uses it to belt out loud, fast songs. Therein lies the central aspect of her appeal: she sounds like a delicate waif who has decided to get tough - sheer heaven for listeners who like to think of themselves as sensitive, but not suckers…Nicks inspires devoted fans who adore her loopiest apostrophes to gypsies and wood nymphs. But the most skeptical observer would be very hard pressed to deny that she is a very good rock vocalist, and occasionally an inspired one…Nicks sang with the delicate balance of passion and befuddlement that this marvelous work deserves.”

3) On this tour Stevie truly experimented with the 80s fashion, sporting big back-combed hair, fluo streaks, ruffles, lace corsets and all-eyelid makeup. On stage she brought out all her different outfits from the previous years; to quote her about her style, she doesn’t really change, she just keeps “adding layers”. For this Rhiannon performance, she wears the same black velvet cloak of her Wild Heart album cover:

4) The song starts with its usual slow intro featuring the amazing sound of flutes before Stevie’s voice kicks in.

5) She switches some lyrics but doesn’t even blink an eye.

6) Stevie’s voice is throaty but powerful. She interposes parts in which she belts out the lyrics to parts in spoken verses. During this parts Stevie, enveloped in her cape, resembles a renaissance poet or a priestess that recites a mystical poem.

7) When the second part of the song begins, the lights switch on and we can get a glimpse of Stevie’s sparkling black dress under the cape while she starts singing out with her signature trilling voice.

8) Stevie’s voice sounds uncertain and she herself seems nervous fumbling her arms about the stand. However she recovers herself during the chorus when the audience starts singing along, gaining her confidence back with her vocalisms and clapping her hands.

9) During the second chorus she takes down her hood and lets loose with her improvisation, her voice now a plaintive warble: “Oh she rules her life like a fine skylark babe…” flapping then the hems of her cape like wings before closing them tight around her body and starting to growl low.

10) After the mid-song pause, Stevie begins her Rhiannon chant, with a spin that opens her cloak wide after each verse “Dreams unwind love’s a state of mind yeah…” then also flipping her hair “I know you know that your dreams unwind and love is hard to find…”

11) After that the lyrics starts to grow more and more unrecognizable as Stevie takes the microphone in her hands, bends down and slowly steps back. Soon her vocals turn into a simple wavering lament. This is the closest, and also the last, that we see her signature “Rhiannon rage” solo.

12) After the end of the Rhiannon coda, Stevie can’t help herself to return screaming at the microphone twice.

13) Stevie twists and turns her arms and hands daintily while pacing around the stage, slowly walking towards her fans.

14) When she gets to the stage boarder she has the crowd in her hands. During this Rhiannon edge-walk we can see that she’s still totally capable of doing it, just like the Tusk documentary performance of Sisters of the moon.

15) When Stevie reaches the end of the stage she bursts into a frantic spinning string, her arms spreading out her cloak and revealing the brilliant mass of her black silk gowns that now billows in the motion.

16) She finishes in a shrill cry barely distinguishable: “Oh, take me to the sky, dreamer!”

17) Spreading out her imaginary velvet wings Stevie turns her back and crouches on the floor with her head down in a worshiping manner until the last note fades.

Last edited by SisterNightroad; 08-06-2015 at 07:58 AM.. Reason: grammar
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Old 08-16-2017, 04:26 AM
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Flashback: Stevie Nicks Delivers a Scintillating 'Rhiannon' in 1981
E Street Band keyboardist Roy Bittan helped her find the hidden "Thunder Road" inside the Fleetwood Mac classic



Stevie Nicks' 1981 debut solo LP Bella Donna was her first chance to shine outside of Fleetwood Mac, but that doesn't mean she did it alone. To make up for the absence of her bandmates she cobbled together an incredible supergroup of stars from many of the biggest acts of the late 1970s. Not only do Tom Petty and most of the Heartbreakers play on the album, but so does Don Henley of the Eagles and Roy Bittan of the E Street Band along with session pros Waddy Wachtel, Donald "Duck" Dunn and Russ Kunkel.

Many of them were unable to hit the road with her that summer because of their own commitments, but it happened to come when Bruce Springsteen was beginning a long hiatus from the road following his grueling tour in support of The River. It gave keyboardist Roy Bittan time to go on a rare tour with someone other than Springsteen. "She's the only artist I toured with other than Bruce," Bittan told Rolling Stone in 2015. "She asked me to go on the road, and I had some time off – I couldn't pass up the opportunity. It gave me a chance to reinterpret some of the Fleetwood Mac stuff. We began 'Rhiannon' real slow, almost a classical version of it. Then after the first verse the whole band would kick in. It was a fantastic experience."

Check out video of the incredible version of "Rhiannon" he's referring to right here. It begins almost like "Thunder Road" from Springsteen's Live 1975/85 box set and is almost a glimpse into another world where Roy Bittan wound up in Fleetwood Mac instead of the E Street Band.



http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...n-1981-w497763
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