Tell me everything you love about the Rock a Little tour
 

Be prepared to support your love with photos and videos too!
This is NOT the thread where you get to complain about the tour, or wistfully sigh and praise her for pulling out of her messiness. No, here is where you come out of your Rock a Little closet and tell the world (and me!) how much you loved to hear Stevie yodel her EO17 wails.

Go!

I loved the Rock a little tour. Stevie was amazing as she was on fire live. This was a great album in my opinion and has some of my all time favorite solo songs of hers. It seemed like forever since seeing her on the Mirage tour with Fleetwood Mac just a few years back but those were the days to see her in younger days. I’m glad I was there.

Rick Marotta on drums. Good God he beat the hell out of those things. He is the master of groove and I wish Stevie used more of him. He is another the main reason Ooh My Love is so good. If it was not for his drumming the song would not have the strength it has.
Only staying positive as the OP's request.
My answer: Rick Marotta

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I loved her crazy ad libs. I didn't know WTF she was saying sometimes but those and the interpretive dance movements and twirls that accompanied them made her so compelling to watch.

Out of this world fantastic tour. The last great tour until Enchanted.

Stevie was raw and let her vocals rip.

I saw the Shoreline show. During the Edge walk, she falsely thought people were dangerously rushing the stage. She started scolding us, yelling Get Back. Then she abruptly stopped the song and left the stage.

She came back with her hair soaking wet. She said “I just didn’t want you hurt” then dang Rhiannon and HAEWAFY.

I also loved her babbling during Outside the Rain and bluesy Talk To Me.

I wish the Red Rocks video wasn’t ridiculously overdubbed.

I love petep9000's love and devotion to this tour :)

He helped us discover the first lines of Whole Lotta Trouble on the RAL tour in New York. For some reason after Stand Back, Stevie launched into Whole Lotta Trouble lyrics LMAO. I could not understand what she was saying but once he deciphered the words, I could hear it. Its a WFT moment for me but hey its pretty cool!

This sums it up tbh:

I love that Edge wail video so much. The one at 00:28 is so good, it’s almost like an insane mixture of Janis Joplin and Yoko Ono. She had some epic ones on that tour, I don’t think she ever topped them.

They were all weird. And they were all different! God bless the RAL tour for that-it's been pretty static ever since.
Ricoh

Love it and I’m glad i got to see her live in 1985 and glad.....Stevie is still alive!

Ditto and ditto!

Stevie eliminated the Edge wails during the "iyd" tour. And it never came back. She eliminated the entire "well the sky never expects it" part too, that leads into it 😓

Where to begin? As you know, John, I don't think it was her most exciting solo tour, like you. It was crazier than the 1983 tour but not as thrilling. (Those of us in the audience in 1983 when the drum machine started for Stand Back surely remember the amazing sensation of seeing Stevie do a club/dance number in front of 20,000 for the first time in her history. THAT was excitement.) And she couldn't bellow as well in 1986 as she could in 1983 (September–October–November). But she still commanded that stage.

One of the things I liked best about this tour, in retrospect, is that she was still wearing all her old clothes—the tablecloths, the shawls, the boots, and top hat, and so on. She dressed essentially the way she did in 1983 and in 1980 before that. No bustiers yet, thank God. And no bunched-up satin with shoulder pads. (Someone once compared her in 1989 to a zaftig African American woman attending Sunday service in Biloxi.)

Stevie's best stage dance was during How Still My Love at the end 1983. She would dance and make goofy faces to the audience.

Begins at 5:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if0lkSZM8Ag


I agree with you about the clothes and a reminder how crazy the Wild Heart Tour was. I was 13 and was afraid at times. LOL A strange feeling to feel at a concert.

So Stevie thought this song didn't work live, but there's atleast one video that proves her wrong (and I love her dancing here!)

She had her best Edge walks during this tour

She's full of crap. If the song didn't work why did they play it the whole tour? She dropped tried and true numbers like "Sara" yet kept a song she didn't like? Not buying it. To me, the song works as well as any she did on that tour. She should have dropped "I Need to Know" and added another RAL track, she only did four from the album. Some promotion.

The mood shifted a bit there :laugh::xoxo:

I'd have been interested in some more RAL album tracks though. Happy that "No Spoken Word" was chosen among the non-singles as it really had some fire live and is probably the best non-single from the album.

I honestly wouldn't have minded one of the dumb pop numbers like "Some Become Strangers" or "If I Were You" were played as well. A live band arrangement might have fleshed them out a bit.

But if she had picked another RAL song my luck would be she'd have chosen "I Sing for the Things", "The Nightmare" or "Sister Honey". I'm not sure if any new arrangement or energy could save those :/

What I liked the most about the RAL Tour was the setlist. "I Can't Wait" *did* work on stage. Early shows in the tour proved it. This tour had some great adlib / creative moments. I miss some of that now - scripted.

I was lucky enough to see 5 RAL concerts but the one that really stands out was either in April or May of 1986 in Philadelphia. Tom Petty was an unannounced guest and they performed I will Run to You as well as Stop Draggin' but the biggest highlight of that night was Stevie adding Gypsy into the setlist and at the end of Gypsy the band extended the music and she went all across the edge of the stage collecting flowers and gifts like she does in Edge of 17. She collected more gifts during Edge of 17 as well. It was one of those rare shows where everything she did created magic with the audience. The cheers were deafening in a great way of course.

Wow, how the tides have turned :laugh: Her RAL tour used to be lambasted, but now people seem to be appreciating it more. Watching the clips here, it's clear she's not well due to her drug use, so it's hard for me to see the nostalgia. However, I agree I Can't Wait was exciting to see live, and it would be awesome if it ever returned to her set list. As far as why Stevie doesn't perform it live anymore, I'm going to do some armchair analysis- she said I Can't Wait did not translate well live, but I think her drug use at the time was the real problem, not the song itself. Starting a concert off with I Can't Wait would have the crowd going wild, it's such an up tempo song.

I was going by the title of the thread. In truth I went to 5 RAL shows and one of them was great and the other four were horrid.

Cokey is better than Pokey, is my long-held opinion. A dull Stevie is DULL.

OMG, how amazing!

Oh WOW. That sounds incredible. First I heard of such a night. She double backed to Philly during the tour. What an amazing night you got to experience. I will run to you plus Gypsy in 1986.

I liked her stage looks. Her hair was very cool and totally in style, where I come from that was THE hair. She wore lots of different things on stage, her wardrobe mistress must have been busy. She wore lots of things on the OSOTM tour but they all seemed to be the same puffy sleeved satin bathrobe just in different colors.

The best thing about the Rock a Little tour was that it was finally over and she got the help she needed to avoid becoming an overdose statistic. The whole thing was an embarrassing mess as was the album. Sorry folks.

This is not the thread for you then. I clearly stated this thread was all for people who wanted to enjoy talking about what they liked about the tour. Obviously I can't stop you from ****ting on my thread though.

Hey nothing personal Pete, and don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't a life long fan. Just speaking truth to what I bore witness to in 1985. If you want to see the real Stevie, have a look at some of the white/Rumours and Tusk footage. I'm not in the hater's club although clearly articulated how her current self has lost me.

I don't understand why I Cant Wait never appeared live since 1986. I do believe and take Stevie at her word that they practiced it live during her Vegas shows (mid 2000's). I do believe that if you removed all the disco crashes and played a full rock version, it would work really well
The story of why not performing Sara for years was bogus, I agree. It always sounded fine live.