Stevie's Touring Band- Is A Refreshing In Order?
 

Many of us now know of Jana's dismissal as a backup singer for Stevie, and this got me wondering (from a post from another person)- what do we think about Stevie's backup band, and is a refreshing in order?

We all know that Stevie for the most part has been playing with the same players for around 700 years, and I was just wondering if you all thought that a refreshening was in order, and whether or not it would be a good thing in the progression of Stevie's live sound?

I wouldn't be against it necessarily, and that has nothing to do with the fact I would love to play keyboards for Stevie! ;) I think, as I've mentioned before about the nostalgia thing, if she got a whole new crew in there, it could really spice things up. Like the Timespace band, if I'm not mistaking, that was a CRAZY different sounding tour from an instrumental perspective!

What do you think?

She has to keep Waddy and Jimmy Paxson. Darrell Smith on piano is good too. I would definitely ditch Brett Tuggle (if she hasn't already) and Carlos Rios. It would be cool if she could incorporate some alternate instrumentation too... like a violin, sitar, harpsichord, etc. It's high time to give her band an adult contemporary enema and infuse it with sparkly witchy drama in its place. Oh, and bring back Sara Fleetwood! :wavey:

Another Ledgie, I think it was GhostTracker or SortaSavageLike, mentioned once that with Waddy out of the picture, Stevie performs different material than her set in stone setlist. I agree, get rid of him.
And I totally agree: BRING BACK Sara Fleetwood!

I wouldn't mind a Waddy replacement, since his guitar playing isn't melodic enough for me. Lindsey and Steve Lukather are two melodic guitar players that come to mind. That being said, Stevie is NEVER going to replace Waddy- there is no way, he's her security blanket.

I definitely would love if Sara F came back! I was watching some SA Tour videos, and those backup girls were rocking it!!!

Stevie should also replace Brett Tuggle with me! :)

No, I said she needs to KEEP Waddy. I'm not sure how one can conclude that she is more adventurous without him. If anything, I think Waddy gives her the confidence to push out her comfort zone. I figure that Stevie has enough trust in Waddy at this point that she knows that Waddy will create the correct arrangement in the correct key for her voice. Waddy gives Stevie a raw, rocking kind of edge that her other guitarists in the past have not been able to deliver. And I think the tours without Waddy- OSOTM, Timespace, Street Angel, Enchanted, etc. tended to have a very generic, slick "rent-a-rock-band" kind of sound. And some of the live arrangements on those tours were just awful, e.g., "Twisted." Waddy helps to make Stevie's band sound like a real band, rather than just a hodge-podge of hired guns.

Gay gasp! Clutches pearls!!!
Do you really think 'Twisted' was awful? I loved it, I thought it went perfectly with the breezy Jones Beach evening. It was a highpoint of that show, for me..

Replace anyone with a chick. That would be a nice change. I know an awesome rockin' guitar player that toured with Pink over the last few years. Now that would be cool. :nod:. Then again as I've said many times it doesn't matter too much to me because I never pay attention to anyone on that stage but Stevie but change is good.

When I think of a breezy Jones Beach evening, I think of raw gale-force winds peppering my face with shards of blowing sand and salt. :eek: As such, yes, the live arrangement of "Twisted" definitely complements this perfectly. Otherwise, it hurt my everything. It was so perfect the way Lindsey produced it. Someone just had to go ruin it. :mad:

Waddy does need to go. He holds her back in regards to song selection, and the only thing he really brings to the table is his way-too-loud guitar playing.

I get the impression that he does not enjoy learnign new material, and it's just easier to keep playing the same material.

I'd really like to see Stevie tour with a band of not only great musicians - but musicians that are also fans of her music, rather than friends from years past.

It's not that I have anything personal against the guy, but when I think back to the shows I've seen, he was always the...fly in the honey, so to speak.

But wasn't Waddy the one who tried to get "Bella Donna" into the setlist not too long ago? I don't think it's fair to assume that Waddy is the culprit for the setlist malaise. For all we know, he could have been the one pushing for covers like "Rock and Roll" to shake up the setlist a little bit.

I hadn't heard about Bella Donna - that would have been nice! On the other hand, I don't like the covers. The variety is nice, I'll admit, but Stevie has so much of her own material. What I've heard is that Waddy is the one who discourages Stevie from trying new material, though I cannot honestly say where or when that was mentioned; it's just something that stuck with me from somewhere.

From Waddy's Ledge Q&A:

Everyone needs to go...Sharona too.
50% of the band members must be under 30.
33% of the band must be female.
1 back up singer must be male.

I would not mind if Waddy went either, I enjoyed most of the tours without him, the sound of the band actually was more refreshing, like on the Enchanted tour. And that endless guitar solo before Edge of 17 has so got to go!

Am I the only one that actually gets slightly angered by this? I do like Waddy, and I've never been a champion in wanting him replaced. But why is a song thrown away because it's a challenge... excuse us for making you have to work at something, Waddy!

Now if vocally Stevie just couldn't pull it off in a way that remotely worked, that's a different story of course.. and who knows.. that may have been the reason. I don't mean to criticize a scenario that I obviously had no part in... and he probably was just trying to be light-hearted in his response. And I'm certain the time factor of putting the tour together played a role. But that mentality just bothers me.

I believe most people didn't agree, but I LOVED when she had Peter Michael as musical director- it was right around 'Timespace'-- the live boots I have of shows Peter is in, the music sounds great and re-energized. Stevie herself was hit or miss those shows with the Klonopin in full effect, but I really liked Peter, really liked Cat Grey on the keyboards, and Les Dudek was great support, I'm still partial to that band. A guy from Heart was in the band then, also. It must have been Stevie's largest touring band, lots of guys onstage, of course a drummer, and a good sax player on 'IAF' and 'TTM'. Plus the singers, 3 of them I think. Waddy's fine. But I'd like to see Peter, Cat, and Les back. I'd also like more male backup vocals, generally, maybe that's why I like the clip of 'Everybody Loves You' so much.

This is sort of like how Stevie claims that 'I Can't Wait' didn't translate to stage well. I don't think that was true at all, it sounded rocking and hard and great.

Um, he did say "we". As in, the band & its vocalists. It was too much trouble for all of them.

I think Waddy should stay for sure. The only fault I have with him is I think his playing can be too loud. Other than that, he's on of the best session guitar players in the business. I don't think he's holding Stevie back either. I remember him saying he wanted and encouraged Stevie to mix it up and do something different...open up with something that would really knock our socks off - like Talk To Me!

I don't see her getting rid of Waddy at all - he only won't play with her if he is busy with something else. Same with Carlos and Brett Tuggle even, they've all been around for a while.

I really don't care too much about the backing band. I'm happy that we will only have Lori and Sharon on BG vocals. I don't think it would be a good idea to replace anyone else with a woman - they might outshine Stevie! ;)

I'm glad they didn't do Bella Donna - I don't think Stevie could pull stuff like this, or Wild Heart off these days.

And on the OSOTM & Timespace band, I found their arrangements to be annoying.

I would have to tend to agree that this is a hard song to pull off without it all sounding like a clunkering mess. Stevie probably hates it because 90% of it is sung in three-part harmony, and Waddy probably hates it because it is so full of stops/starts and changes time signatures from one verse to the next. I suspect that the only reason they could pull it off originally was because Roy Bittan and Russ Kunkel were in the BD touring band as well as the recording. It's one thing to get up on stage and attempt something like this when you're ten sheets to the wind, but when you're sober and full of stage fright, I don't think this is the type of song you would want to perform.

My apologies if I seemed too critical... I think part of it is frustration over the lack of bringing in other older, and less performed material. I just think that they if they really worked at it, the band could really pull it off... they are all seasoned, accomplished musicians. My sense is it probably would have to do more with time constraints, where the band may not have had the time to prepare a song like that.. and then, yes, there is the vocal issue.

Oh come on, my piano playing isn't THAT bad!!

I don't believe I have ever heard or commented on your piano playing.

I know- I really should post some videos, like Bryson used to do!!

I miss Bobbye Hall and Eliseria Wright.

WRIGHT ON!!!!

Totally forgot about those two- yes they were awesome!!!

Two words for you guys:

Roy.Bittan

Hell YES!!!!! Now they added some much-appreciated soul!

UUUGGGGHHH!!!


She wasn't dismissed.

Her contract ended, she had some relatively minor hopes that it would be renewed, but as everyone including Jana and Stevie expected, it was not; now they're movin' on as planned. End of story, i.m.o.

Anyhoo I personally think that she absolutely has got to keep Waddy; after all he's the Musical Director - and i.m.o. one *helluva* guitar player. And I feel that people who feel that doing the Edge of Seventeen riff steadily, night after night, without error, is easy - - - should try it sometime. And maintaining the same energy level during the Edge Walk night after night? "Priceless."

And I feel that she should keep Carlos Rios simply because he's her friend and he apparently gives her a lot of "moral support." (Also I don't know anything about him as a musician, except to say that clearly since he's been with her for so long, he's "got the stuff.")

I thought Stevie didn't do coke on stage anymore???

You really make me happy.

It's not that funny, is it? :xoxo:

Me too. Whenever I see her name I use my Whitney Houston voice and say "Bah-bayyy".

:rolleyes: :lol:

If he's the one who did that, I think he should not only be dumped from the band, but stretched by his limbs.

Michele

Even after all these years, that intro still gets me excited. I love the building momentum. I really loved it when we had the dueling percussionists in the mix too. I missed Taku on that intro, if for no other reason.

Michele

:laugh::laugh:

I've been wanting to ask you, how many unleashed shows did you attend?