SPOILER - Caesar's Palace Reviews
 

Ok People - Fire Away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Am On Needles And Pins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ME 2...I dunno if i can make it till like 1 30 when ppl starting coming on

lol

im DYING


Chris

T-minus 12 minutes!! (Give or take...)

I'll be here later for the first reviews..... :blob2:

She better have a red chiffon dress and platforms on RIGHT NOW...waiting in the wings ready to come out...lol

Chris

I hope someone at the show calls someone here during the first song so we will atleast know that...ANYONE??

Chris

I am feeling nervous for Stevie right around now... but I know our girl will be awesome :) :)

OMG I Know..how pathetic of me right? I'm like in an IM with my friend Jason counting down --2 MINUTES...lol
ughh i wanna be there

Chris

Well, if the show was suppose to start @ 8....that means Stevie won't take the stage until 8:30-8:45. :laugh:

well they say at caesar's they are pretty strict about starting on time, and finishing on time

Chris

i have butterflies in my stomach
this is so exciting :lol:

Well...
 

I had butterflies last night, Turns out I was just physically sick :shrug: :thumbsup:

aww i hope u are feeling better now :xoxo:

Feel much better today...
 

just awaiting for the spoilers to show up...

i think i am more anxious to find out if the show was able to be recorded ;)

Opening night set list
 

Bootylicious
Dreams (new dance remix)
Enchanted
Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
Outside the Rain
Dreams
Rhiannon (w/ piano intro)
Sorcerer
Stand Back
Landslide
Gold Dust Woman
If Anyone Falls
Fall From Grace
How Still My Love
Drum Solo
Edge of Seventeen
I Need to Know (encore)
Beauty and the Beast (encore)

Bootylicious... Much like how the TISL tour started out.

Dreams (dance remix)... My first thought was, is this The Corrs?? But no! It's a brand new vocal from Stevie set again dance beats. It was quite hip. Visuals of the I Can't Wait (of Stevie walking in slow motion against the white background) are shown throughout this segment. Lots of cheers from the crowd.

Enchanted... Much like previous performances, though Stevie actually sang the whole song, including the "wo wo wo...I hope you make it/ay ay ay I hope you make it," instead of walking to the side of the stage to play her tambie.

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around... Much like previous performances, Waddy doing Tom's part. Backdrop: "metal vines" and some rare mug shots maybe done by Herbie?

Outside the Rain... The first "surprise" of the night. It was nice to hear again, but it was a little lackluster. She didn't really belt out the end, and sang it in a much lower voice. Backdrop: "furious raindrops"

Dreams... Always a crowd pleaser. No surprises. Backdrop: "wavy lines in shades of red, orange and green.

Rhiannon... Scott Plunkett serves up another dark piano intro, leading into a standard rendition. Backdrop: "drawings of a porcelin-like boy, statues, and two white unicorns playing and running in the water" (very odd).

Sorcerer... Much "punchier" than the TISL live version. She sounded much more comfortable this time around. Backdrop: "kaleidescope"

Stand Back... Stevie came out wearing a different "Stand Back" cape, at least one she doesn't usually wear. It was black, had tiny glittery circles and what looked like fringe on the ends. Her hair was in a bun, similar to how she looked during "Sara" for SYW, with a small black bow/scrunchy. At the end of the song, she said to the crowd "time of your life." Background: "frantic black and white matrix/grid ending with (unnecessary) laser light show"

Landslide... "You may know this song... It would love it if you would sing along. It would take a little pressure off of me." A new arrangement, with Waddy and Brett Tuggle playing guitar, that was TOTALLY influenced by the Dixie Chicks' cover. Sharon and Jana sang harmony vocals in the chorus, similar to how the Chicks did it. Backdrop: "chandeliers that looked like jellyfish."

Gold Dust Woman... Stevie came out draped with a white/pink shawl. This rendition was a little reserved. She replaced the climactic "go hoooooooome" with a growling "ay ay ay ay." Backdrop: "A dizzying blue spiral" in the beginning and ending with "yellow 'fireflies'"

If Anyone Falls... Next surprise. Lori discreetly joins the other singers to sing on this song. The image from the video of Stevie and dancer Brad Jeffries is looped over and over again. Backup singers introduce some weird, new choreography involving their hands (I'll bet it was Sharon's idea).

Band intro... Big "welcome back" for Lori and continues to intro the rest of "The Three Birds of Rhiannon." Jana Anderson: "the little ball of love" Sharon Celani: "the dark woman" Waddy: "he's my angel"

Fall From Grace... Like on Sorcerer, Stevie is much more comfortable with the TISL material. The "make sure you surviiiiiive" part was a little weak, though. Backdrop: "white clouds moving very fast in the blue sky"

How Still My Love... Another surprise. I thought this was a great rendition. I would have preferred that she have dropped some of the rock numbers in favor of the slower numbers which seemed to fit the Vegas 'Dreams' motif better.

Drum Solo... Ho hum. Though I thought the new drummer (Jimmy Paxon) was pretty good.

Edge of Seventeen... Lights circle the stage slowly at first, then become more urgent when Waddy's riff kicks in. Backdrop: "visuals of Waddy from the Sorcerer video" and "one huge black and white white-winged dove." During the "Edge walk," Stevie made her way into the crowd as usual, but she let fans KISS her on the cheek!! There were at least three fans who got up close enough to plant sweet lil pecks. Some hugs too. When they asked if they could kiss her, Stevie replied "of course." Wow!

I Need to Know... Kind of looked like she was wearing the Gypsy outfit from the '82 In Concert vid. Moon necklace was very noticable here when closeups were shown on the big screen. As usual, no "take your violet and blue mornings" just the "....with you!" at the end of the song.

Beauty and the Beast... HIGHLIGHT OF THE EVENING. Definitely the emotional highpoint of the show. I haven't seen Stevie pour this much emotion into a song in years. She was literally shaking and getting VERY emotional. She was wearing a full black cloak which was fuzzy on top (it looked very similar to the burgandy one from the TISL press shots...the "alien/Star Trek outfit." Some lyric variation: "timeless is the teacher who is wise."

Overall, good show. The generic visuals, probably lifted from Celine's show, were totally unnecessary and often distracting. It was much more interesting when they had closeups of everyone displayed, which they only did occasionally.

Sharon was hanging out after the show in front of the Colosseum. Sweet sweet sweet sweet lady. Everyone was just so excited to see her that I'm afraid we probably overwhelmed her a bit. But she was very gracious and even agreed to take pictures with us. When fans talked about their stories, she listened closely and replied like she was actually interested. What a class act. She was there with us for a good 10 minutes. I told her that we appreciated her long replies in the Q&A. She said that it took her forever to answer them because she isn't a very good typist. Jana Anderson on the other hand types really fast apparently.

Thanks for the review/description, Daniel... I really would have loved to have seen this performance. "Beauty And The Beast," especially, sounds like it was outstanding.

I'm still holding out hope that they film one or two of the shows for an official DVD release.

The band / souvenirs
 

Lead guitar/musical director: Waddy
Lead guitar: Carlos Rios
Bass: Al Ortiz
Keyboards: Scott Plunkett
Keyboards/guitars: Brett Tuggle
Drummer: Jimmy Paxon
Percussionist: Machito (why do these guys only have one name??)
Singers: Sharon, Jana, Lori

There were two t-shirts on sale for $30. Two colors: black and brown. Front says "Dreams" in Stevie's handwriting with drawing of a heart with hair coming out of both sides (like heart pigtails) underneath it. Back had the tour dates written in a colosseum with an oval image of Stevie from the the back of the TISL CD (Sharon and Lori cropped out) on the right side. It was an unattractive t-shirt, the back in particular. Ugly fonts, ugly design. Probably the work of Chris Nicks.

One more thing...the show was captured on DVD. Not officially, of course :blob2:

:blob2: :blob2: :blob2: :blob2: :blob2:

Oh my!!!!

And thanks for the detailed review!!

Pip

So the 'never before seen' and highly vaunted "Dreams" show consisted of a few different shawl changes,a couple extra spins and a cheesy video show borrowed from Celine interspersed with a few clips from Stevie's old videos and not a single song that had not already been performed on past tours. I think I'll treasure my memories of old Stevie and Mac shows past before I plunk down any more cash on any of these foul rip off schemes.

Imagination is always alive
 

:xoxo: :xoxo: :xoxo: :xoxo: :xoxo: :xoxo: :xoxo:
ENUF SAID!!!~

Although I considered flying to Vegas from Europe, I decided not to, because the plane ticket would have been ridiculously expensive. And now I have read the reviews I'm still sad I can't be there, but not heartbroken. I am REALLY glad I got to see Stevie on the "Enchanted" tour where she really made an effort to do something different. I guess we'll have to live with Stevie performing from the same pool of songs until she retires...

Fortunately, I do get to see Stevie with Don next month, so hopefully "Highwayman" WILL make it into the set-list then!

So was it the black dress or what??? How was she dressed??

Chris

Thanks for taking the time for such a detailed review, Daniel! Hope you have a great time at your other shows:)

Thanks for the review!! :wavey:

Question though...did she walk around a little with the mic? If not, no biggie. I'm just curious.

~Jamie

Wow, Daniel, thanks for the details. Made me feel like I was there. :) Glad you had a great time - sounds like Beauty and the Beast was worth the price of admission alone. :nod:

Good...
 

kinda figured it would, By the usual suspects of course. :thumbsup:

:lol: :lol:
Christopher Nicks should come up with some more colorful and nicer images or newer ones that is for sure!!!

As much as I love Stevie's music
I was expecting more of a change in her song set and am rather disappointed in what was not selected and it just seems like a lot of the same old stuff, IMO. :shrug:

Firstly, LOTS OF LYRIC CHANGES!!! Absolutely amazing and beautiful show. Beauty and the Beast made me weep like a baby. Kelly and I agree that this song is worth the price of admisssion...completely and totally out of this world. She came out in time to the film wearing a black dress and a fabulous cloke-esque jacket with her hair pulled up. The reblachs are out in full force with leg warmers over them but she's wearing new black dress with some great beading on the bodice (she also wears a bit of pink as well as a white skirt overtop the dress) for the show. A friend of mine and I had upgraded to front row and were able to stand for the entire show (and did). Edge of Seventeen walk was great. Stevie was taken down across the stairs and shook hands, giving hugs and kisses to fans. Yes, I was able to shake her hand. Amazing time--looking forward to tonight for sure. After the show, we went over to Margaritaville to meet everyone (it was great meeting you all!!) and then back over to Caesar's to drink some more. Met Lori and another member of the backing band. Both were incredibly sweet and gracious--we had our picture taken with Lori (she looks amazing and sounds SO UN****ING BELIEVABLE). We also saw Cory Buckingham and Sheryl Louis gambling but we didn't want to bother them. Off to Paris for breakfast with the crew--will post more later!!

I have lots of footage and pictures and my friend recorded the entire show (audio) so as soon as we are able to put it up, we will :wavey:

Thanks for the reviews. :)

Sorry it wasn't more than just another show. I was really hoping you guys would have a freaking out of this world experience.

I don't know...the view from the front row was rather stellar :shrug: Stevie may not have moved away from the mic stand a lot but she totally rocked and put a lot of effort into this show :nod:

Hope u dont mind if I ask a few details questions..

Ok so did she do the Stand Back kick? Any good twirls?
Did she do the Edge of 17 scream?

How were her notes in IF ANYONE FALLS?

bangs, or no bangs?

gloves, or no gloves?

Any dedication for Landslide?

Did anyone bring gifts for Edge of 17?

Did she smile a lot?

Thanks for your post Marissa!! Sounds awesome! So glad you got to meet Lori too.. I have very happy memories of meeting her in 2001. Such a sweetie. Can't wait to see your pictures! (and hear the show!! ) Yay!

Pip

Seems like Stevie's imagination has gone the way of her dancing - into the ethers of youth past! I'm going to the show on Saturday night (last night's are usually the best), and am looking forward to my second Stevie-solo concert. But I still wish she would get a little energy and creative imagination in her shows! Why not use the technology available and do something special this time around, especially considering it's not a tour?

I'm hoping, that with Thursday off, maybe they will change the set a song or two? I'm there Friday night! :wavey:

Not many twirls, no SB kick, the usual growl on EOS. She did a cute little dance with her skirt during Edge, where she grabs both sides and shakes it side to side. Loved that! :thumbsup: The mic did not come off the stand, as she had theatened :D Someone in another post said that the stage was blocked off, which wasn't entirely accurate. The stage was just very large, so everything was spread out. There were also 4-5 steps between the stage and the first row.

IAF was great. I'd imagine most fans were thrilled to hear it at all. With that said, she did play it conversatively on some of the notes. When she came back to the first version after the bridge, it sounded much like the first time she sang it, rather than how it is sung on the album with all the variation and inflection. There were no ad lips at the end, but the song ended acapella, which was great.

Still of the Night was also great, though it was kind of "pitchy" as they say on American Idol. But I'm glad she included it in the set. The slower numbers were better suited for this smaller venue. The rockers (Sorcerer, FFG) seems out of place and just noisy.

She looked pretty much like she did on the SYW tour.

No gloves

No dedication. Just a request to sing along with her, which everyone did. An official sing-along! ;)

Mostly flowers, as far as I could see. She just kind of grabbed them and threw them behind her. It looked kind of like, "oh thanks, next." :laugh:

Lots! She was very appreciate of her audience, as usual. She didn't really say much in between songs. It was kind of the Mirror tour in that respect, where she almost said nothing, except for the usual thank yous.