Yeah, the weird babbling stuff really seemed to start with the 83 tour, but I have a harder time listening to the 86 boots (sorry, I know a lot of you love it), she just seems so out of it.

Paula :distress:

Actually, I'm watching the Red Rocks DVD right now, and truthfully, she doesn't seem that screwed up. Except for the weird hopping around on occasion. But hey, she sounds great doing it!

On another note, the closeups in this video aren't as obvious as in the Tango video. :nod:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
That is a great one!

Actually, I believe it's "You're sinking!" (In refernece to the, of course, quicksand.):D

Another great moment.

Again, no one is trying to deny Stevie's drug use, or the fact that she most likely had a routine toot before this show...we're just saying it's unfair to attribute every aspect of Stevie's performance or demeanor to being high. She's an AMAZING performer without (and maybe some of the time, in spite) of drugs. I mean, the "Santa needs no help" line...I don't see what was so drugged out about that, she was just being funny. She IS just very funny as in "ha, ha"...not always funny as in incoherent due to coke and stress. Stevie just seems to naturally talk in a quite disjointed fashion anyway...some people just do. They may be brilliant in many facets of their life, but just are not great "talkers". For example, (and I'm not trying to say I'm brilliant in any way, shape, or form;) ) I am a decent writer, but I'm pretty much an idiot when it comes to intelligent conversation or speeches. Not that anyone has said anything downright cruel thus far in this thread, but we need to remember that Stevie's coke use spun out of control due to the stress of mainaining 2 careers (either of which us fans cannot do without!) and the death of Robin. Since she miraculously survived it all, I personally don't see anything wrong with the occasional chuckle over some of her incoherent and humorous comments, as long as we avoid being downright mean and remember how amazing it is and how grateful we are that she survived and that she IS a human being who was going through a hell of a lot.:)

:nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod:

I think it's undeniable that, from the very beginning, Stevie has been absolutely brilliant about the way she executed finding her niche and staking her claim in the music industry. I think a lot of these moments that people attribute to her being high are simply Stevie never being ashamed or afraid to be feminine or just be herself onstage, even if it sometimes means not being guarded about saying silly things or being playful. Maybe sometimes people think she's high because it's so unusual for a woman to do this. In trying to survive in a male-dominated industry, most women would not have let that side of themselves show in public, and this is what makes Stevie so unique. And Stevie's brilliance exists in the fact that she did all of this and still managed to be seen as an equal by many male performers, maintain long-standing friendships with them, and to quote Stevie: "keep up with them...although it did nearly kill me".
(I hope this did not come across as being from a feminist point of view...it certainly was not meant that way.)

I've always believed that, too. In terms of what made her what she was on the stage, it was just as much an emotional high (witnessing her audience grow year by year) & a psychological high (knowing she was young, sexy & the focus of millions of eyes made her giddy) as it was a chemical high. In fact, I think it's another aspect of her psychology -- & not middle age per se -- that has subdued her these past fifteen years. Certain things are on her mind, including her figure, her age & her sober anxiety at standing in front of 15,000 people, in ways that they weren't on her mind in 1980.

All my best Stevie Nicks memories are of concerts P.S.E. (Pre-Sobriety Era). I can remember minute details of shows in 1979 or 1983, whereas I can barely remember anything from her performance with Fleetwood Mac last July.

Of course, that could be my own natural aging process at fault.

Yes, I wish I had seen her live in those years.
I've seen Stevie live five times, in 1990, 1991, 1994, 2001 and 2003. She was best in 1994, but I've never seen her approach the energy I see in the videos of her performances from the 1970s and 1980s.
I wish she would bring some of that energy back. Not that I want to see her fall off the stage, or even twirl much. I don't care about the dancing at all, actually. What I do pine for is the intensity of the singing she used to do on stage. Now, she just stands there and sounds fine, but she doesn't emote like she used to.

Very well put. :nod:

:wavey:

I think she sounds more than "fine":), but I TOTALLY understand this pining (as I think we all do). At the same time it's okay to miss that Stevie and still accept the new one (not to say that she's not STILL filled with an extraordinary passion for her songs and performance)...just like it's okay to miss Christine and still LOVE what FM is now;). I think another aspect is that Stevie is extremely cautious about preserving her voice now. We all know she literally sacrificed the quality of her voice (referreing to the endless bouts of laryngitis and blown vocal chords) and her health to sing the way she did in the early days. I think she had to stop and take it more seriously that she may be left with no voice at all if she didn't take better care of it. I personally don't think she's any less vocally capable now...it's just a bit different in tone, etc. I mean, everyone's voice changes as they get older and she has continued to craft her songs around whatever her voice is at the time (although I do agree that she is still capable of tearing it up more than she does, but this comes back again to her having to develop a drug-free confidence. Or perhaps I'm wrong and she really does need to be that cautious with her voice. She does let us know it's "still there" on songs like Fall From Grace and Everybody Finds Out, and live in Gold Dust Woman and Edge Of Seventeen, etc.) Stevie herself said in a 1983 interview, "I'm getting enough older to where I don't feel I'll be as wild anymore."

:)

Interestingly enough, my uncle and I were discussing female rock and roll singers the other day.
We were going thru the latest BMG catalog, and looking at the boxed-sets, when he mentioned Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick.

Anyway, as we talked, I realized that Grace Slick never really moved around much. At least not in the footage I've seen of her.
She pretty much just stood at her mic and sang... I don't remember if she even swayed with the music.

I've also seen old footage of Blondie where Debbie Harry did the same thing when performing live.

Of course, not being a major fan of Grace or Debbie, I don't know if the clips I've seen are typical or atypical, but either way, even these days Stevie's more animated on stage than that. And despite her limited stage movements, I think she's still amazingly captivating... just in a different way than in, say, 1982.

I think she has a certain image she uses when in an interview. She's very intelligent and well spoken. Then she has her everyday persona, when she's hanging out with her friends or the band - she gets funny and silly and goofy. She also has that bit of California, growing up in the 60's, valley-girl-60's-flower-chic sort of lingo, you know what I mean? I think she's a riot, on or off the drugs. And even on drugs, people still show some of their real self. It's not all fake or make believe - hmmmmm....

I love the Bella Donna concert video. She might be a bit looped, or high, or had a few drinks. But I think she's just wired too, on natural energy and fun. I think she's been much more wasted in other shows...

I love the behind the stage talk. When she walks into the dressing room with all the presents from the fans, and someone yells out - "mother-f*cker! Who was that man, what a whore!" etc. That cracks me up. And when she's walking and you hear her bump into the camera (or camera man), that always cracks me up - she's so tiny, and trying to walk fast, with her arms full of stuff. Then the "santa needs no help" I am sure is just reference to all the gifts she was carrying. Also, when people know a camera is there, sometimes they talk and try and be normal, but are a little nervous and sometimes blabber.... who knows. But I love that video.

Is it still available?

(A)Certainly.

(B)I always thought the man was saying "Hey, Motherf--ka! What a haul!" to Stevie, regarding her armload of presents. Anyone?

(B) - WOOPS! LOL! Maybe that is what is said - hee! Gee, my mind wasn't too in the gutter! I did always think it was funny yet weird that it wasn't edited out - ha! Maybe it is "what a haul" - but then again, they left the "mother-f*cker" in. Now that I think about it, that's pretty strange, especially for a Stevie video - heh! I always put the "mother-f*cka" together with the whore thing, like she just got all these gifts from some man, you know? Like, joking around and picking on her.

I dunno....????? Pretty funny either way. :laugh:

Also, HomerMcVie - I think it is still available, but maybe hard to find. I'll go look and if I find some available, I'll come back here and post the links. I bought it ages ago, so I don't really pay attention much when I see her officially released videos for sale. But I think I have seen it here and there.... I'll go look around a bit...