Houston Ticket Prices Substantially Reduced
 

9 days out, ticket prices for Stevie's Houston show on August 12 have been substantially reduced with large quantities of tickets in ALL sections still available. Lower level seats are now as low as $79 to $104. Balcony seats are $59. The initial prices were very high in the first few weeks they went on sale.

The promotors might be wishing they had booked the smaller outdoor amphitheater like The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion instead of a large arena like The Toyota Center. Stevie played the outdoor pavilion last fall.

Had I waited until this week to purchase, I could have saved almost $200 on the total price of two tickets. If anyone is thinking of going, NOW is the time to buy.

How much were your tickets there at Toyota Center for the 24 Karat Gold Tour? I can’t remember the last time I paid $59 to see Stevie!

I just checked the Pittsburgh arena I saw the 24K Gold tour at. She plays there in late September. The arena is almost sold out. The seats I got back then are for sale $525.00 a piece. I never paid anywhere near that in 2017. I think they were about $250 for side seat shows. The people next to me were on the backstage VIP list. I got to see Stevie's dogs and saw her backstage before the show from the angle I was at.

So Stevie hasn't played this venue, Toyota Center in Houston, solo since the 24 Karat Gold Tour 7 years ago. Tonight is her first show in like 40 days and it is at Ohio State's enormous football stadium.

She's had plenty of time to have shaken the set up, well over a month. Here is a reasonable revised setlist for the rest of this year's tour.

1. Outside the Rain
2. Dreams
3. If Anyone Falls
4. Rooms On Fire
5. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
6. Ooh My Love
7. Leather and Lace
8. Gate and Garden
9. Wild Heart
10. Bella Donna
11. Stand Back
12. After the Glitter Fades
13. Rhiannon
14. How Still My Love
15. Gold Dust Woman
16. Edge of Seventeen
17. Think About It
18. Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You? (photos with Christine on the video wall)

Plenty of hits and some treats for true fans.

Hahahahaha…no chance she would change her set that much…or at all! Looks like last nights set is the same as before.

I don't know what she does with 40 days in between shows. Especially since she only did four shows before that 40 day break.

The most exciting thing about last night was she wore a different dress.

Here's a video of For What It's Worth. My eyes start to droop watching it. Such a boring song. She doesn't look like she's enjoying the performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T-M9exOqsI

I know she's laughing all the way to the bank playing these big shows and doesn't care what her die hards think of these performances just that they buy tickets, but this 2023 solo tour/Billy Joel tour is just sad. So much for that post she made saying she was working on a NEW SETLIST.

Edit: Here's an excellent version of Gypsy with high notes and an impossible twirl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJFO3MBroo8

It’s okay but to me, nothing special. The irony of Gypsy is that the studio version is so good it’s nearly impossible to pull it off live. I think the first few tours where it was trotted out, various versions of Mac and solo struggled to make it sound right musically. I think they finally figured out the music by 1997 and Stevie’s vocals during The Dance were still able to pull it off. Ever since then she just can’t hit the right notes.

The 1987 live version of Gypsy is actually really good. Sadly it was yanked from the set very early in the tour. But I got to see it live. She could still hit the high notes then. Chris's keyboard was more prominent too.

While not like the studio version, I always liked the 1982 Mirage tour version. Its sort of country and love when Chris and Lindsey both sing back up which is something that was dropped.

She has a new lipstick, takes time you know to get that right….

She has new twirls for Stand Back. I haven't seen this style before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNdC4SieWbY

Stand Back sounds awful. She needs to stop

was this show her headlining, or part of the tour with Billy Joel? That stadium looks rather empty. Anyone who thinks she can fill a stadium solo is nuts.

Yes stop..stop. You are spoiling all my beautiful memories.
She sounds dreadful, sort of talking the song, no shouting the song in a very flat tone..
And don’t get me talking about her hair.

I don't get it. The hair and make up look unkempt. I don't know if she has a new lipstick color on or she had her lips done. The outfit is so tired now. The tennis shoes are just awful. There has to be something more flattering she can wear. Check out Vionics. They make a good fashionable supportive shoe. And she really looks like she is not even enjoying it. The voice is pretty much shot now. The line endings are a bit wobbly sounding. Every one ages differently. And 75 isn't young. I really think her touring days are numbered. This should be it. Focus on other things in the future. You can't tour forever. If that is all you have in life then, that's pretty sad.

Debbie Harry is out there kicking arse at 78, singing high falsetto, and dancing like a kid. So much energy at a Blondie show.

The hair is dreadful; the dress is horrible, the spins are geriatric. Smh. She looks embarrassed, and I understand why. These are Billy Joel crowds. When she OPENED for Rod Stewart in 2012, I sympathetically told the people sitting beside me (who were just arriving) that she had just finished her set, and they looked at me like I was crazy. They had come to see Rod Stewart and really couldn't have cared less about SN. Her show came across like a series of funeral dirges when contrasted with RS. ...and that was over ten years ago. :(

She decided 40+ years ago that she was in the Army, and wasn't allowed to have a real life. It's all on her.

:sorry::eek:

Maybe she should accept using auto tune.

I recall one of her well-known interviews back around the Tusk days where she talked about wanting to be known as a songwriter and said something about not doing this (performing onstage) when she's 60. Then she laughed and said, "I probably will" but then added "I may not be dancing around QUITE as exuberantly when I'm 60, but I *will* be writing then" :eek:

There is some vocal alteration this tour you can make out in videos. Some have said reverb. The Sara from Sofi Stadium sounded auto tuned to me because her vocal was perfect like a studio recording. In this video: https://www.facebook.com/10005024099...5422024037296/ you can hear her voice after she’s dropped her head down

Also interesting is she only came out during Billy’s set on the first night.

I’ve watched clips here and there and she looks bored. Her set is boring, a lot of the songs just sound boring, the audience looks boring, it’s all a bunch of meh. I don’t think she sounds particularly worse than she has in recent tours, but she hasn’t sounded good in years now. I won’t rag on her for aging - if we’re lucky we’ll either all age or die trying. But she doesn’t look like she is having a good time and her choices in clothing, hair, songs, keys..it’s just all a mess.

And whoever thought it was a good idea for her and Waddy to share a hair person should be immediately fired.

She must make a ton of cash from doing these tours. I don’t know what else is the reason. I thought after the Rod Stewart debacle where she looked miserable, she’d only do something where she’s the headliner with someone else opening before her like The Pretender’s.

Stevie and Rod trying to duet Young Turks was the stuff of nightmares. I understand she probably likes the song but it doesn’t lend itself to whatever the hell they were trying to do with it by sharing vocals.

[QUOTE=jmn3;1286544]She must make a ton of cash from doing these tours. I don’t know what else is the reason. I thought after the Rod Stewart debacle where she looked miserable, she’d only do something where she’s the headliner with someone else opening before her like The Pretender’s.[/QUOTE


I don’t get why she needs to make anymore money she is so rich.
She has no kids no family etc to support.
So, why if she is bored (and yes she looks it) does she do it.

Do something more artistic, smaller venue acoustic concerts.
Where she could use a quieter voice and actually sing.
She has such a large repertoire she could do marvellous concerts….
Just do something bloomin different…

[QUOTE=sue;1286547]I agree with your premise about smaller venues etc

But I do think she is the main support for a TON of other people. You know she supports her brother, his (ex)wife and their kid... who now has a kid of her own, her mom (while she was still alive). She is the employer of so many people... not the least of whom is Karen, but also I'm sure she has other staff to run her personal/home life managed by Karen (housekeeper, groundskeeper/property maintenance, some sort of small office staff, etc). She has manager, publicist, accountants, lawyers (you don't think Stevie is Oprah and writes every check do you?) who are working on her behalf and must get paid regardless of whether she's on tour or not.

She's probably better now about having tons of pals on her payroll because most of them seem to have matured, gotten married/had kids etc... but...For years she was the sole source of income for Sharon, Lori, Christopher, Robin, Rebecca, Glen, and whoever all else, on top of her brother, his family, etc. She paid I'm sure for any education of her niece, for Matthew, and who knows how many of the gazillion god daughters she has. Now, she's the one who created this situation of having lots of dependents for sure, but I'm just pointing out that she does have dependents even if she didn't give birth to them.

Yes it was so bad. I actually felt sorry for Stevie. I could sense Rod's arrogance and it was sad how they had to find clever ways for them to appear on stage together. Correction: On Rod's stage. She was an opening act and came out a few nights to sing with Rod. They did Leather and Lace a few times and Rod looked like he never even practiced with Stevie. His singing was reduced to reading every word off the monitor.
Its all about $$$$$ money. The next few years Stevie was packing arenas. She did not need to do that just like she does not need to open for Billy Joel. She's on stage during the daylight with people fumbling around trying to find their seats. She does not need to sell out for such gigs.
But then again I say all the time. These concerts are not for us hardcore fans. They are for the bored masses who want to attend concerts in the summer.

I wish she'd cut herself some slack. Everyone gets older and adjusts one way or another. A smaller venue - such as a theater - would be fantastic. And, she might enjoy herself a bit more.

She could charge an absolute fortune and play in theaters which she would 100% sell out and put a show on that’s more fitting for a 75 year old who doesn’t have the mobility or voice to run around a stadium stage anymore. I know it’d be less money but I really think going that route and creating something special would be much more interesting than another blah greatest hits tour with an even more blah version of Rhiannon.

A Storytellers like tour would suit her very well now - she just needs a pitch clock to control the length of the stories.

it does sound like reverb, with one of her singers taking the high notes at the very end.

She really isn't even moving around much at all... not just her lower body, but the arm movements and all that she does to camouflage the fact that she's not moving around the actual stage very much anymore are quite diminished. She just shouldn't be doing stadiums. I mean, Elton and Billy sit at the piano for whole portions of their shows; but she has to be standing right up front, center stage the whole time. She can't do it any more.

[QUOTE=bombaysaffires;1286552]

[QUOTE=bombaysaffires;1286552]OMG…she should retire now…she’s working flat out ..well flat out for someone her age, to employ all of these people !!
So she is working to pay people.

There is no sense in that.
after she has paid everyone she comes home with a million or so…?

I would love to see her and the girls wearing the outfits from In your Dreams. Strip down the band, add a percussionist back in and get rid of the setlist and start again. Small venues like Lindsey does. I still remember how much I loved hearing her do Beauty and the Beast in 2005.

[QUOTE=bombaysaffires;1286552]This is very intriguing, and I never thought about it in these terms. Sure, I assumed she financially supported her brother and mother, but not the others.

Do you think Sharon Celani and Lori Perry have been on a continual salary since 1981, even in times when they were not touring - or do they just receive a lump sum for each tour. Also - Lori hasn't toured with Stevie for several years now. Is Lori still on the payroll? What does Jessica do for a career? I know that Chris handles merchandising, but how hard could that be?

If Stevie is 100% financially supporting the whole entourage, that's a bit much.

:)Stevie has progressed to wigs for this tour. The bangs are her real hair, the long curly locks are a wig that comes on and off each night.

Christine wore wigs onstage for the last two Fleetwood Mac tours and the BuckVie tour.

[QUOTE=WatchChain;1286562]Not sure how that works these days. Sharon has had a career singing backup for other stars.. ( I think she's sung on album(s) by Mick Jagger and others) and so.... And of course she's on the FM payroll when she tours with FM. Lori I dunno... I think she does get paid some kind of salary and does things for Stevie.. like she's mentioned in different interviews about how she sent Lori to go digging through storage units in Phoenix to track things like demo tapes down for her. Most performers have pretty impressive storage units where they keep all their stage outfits and instruments/equipment and whatever all else they need when they tour and all that. So someone has to inventory all of that stuff and fetch it as needed by the star. Lori chose to stay home and raise her daughter, but I don't think she was out doing a 9-5 job during that time... and what did her husband do to make money?? They lived in Stevie's Phoenix house as well (rent free? Just pay for your own utilities???)

I don't think Chris does her merch anymore and hasn't for a while.. but others on here will know far better about that.

Jessica was a make up artist at one point, but since then she's had a baby and not sure if she's still doing make up or what. I think she was living in Stevie's big house for a while, so the house was being taken care of and wasn't just sitting empty since Stevie lives and sleeps etc in her apartment.

I recall when Stevie was making the iYD album at her big house she talked about how one of her god daughters cooked for them every night big sit-down meals... I would think she would have been "hired" for that (doing the menus, shopping for the food, cooking and prepping it) but....that's just my guess.

Stevie thanked Taylor Swift for a song that Stevie listened to after Christine passed away and thanked the audience for helping her get through the loss of Christine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tti8WjLRf3M

I wonder if Stevie has regret for not wanting to make a new album or albums with Christine since Christine returned in 2014 (a period of 8 years) and for basically deriding Christine's album with Lindsey. Whereas Mick, John, and Lindsey jumped at the chance to make new music with her. I'd bet Neil and Mike wanted to make an album with her too. They (Stevie and Christine) could have spent so much time with each other in the studio and left something of value for the world on a disc or a vinyl record.

Reviewer said Stevie told her Milwaukee audience that she voted for the first time at the age of 71. Please God show her the way.

Maybe before then she was just writing ultimatums on the ballot.

New interview out with Minnie Martin that says Stevie removed Sara because it reminded her of Christine. When it was played at SoFi, I had said it was significant Stevie was playing this given the song starts with Christine playing it.

Minnie also says Stevie is so happy doing her solo shows that she may not want to do FM shows with Christine gone but never say never.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/m...es-1234797074/

Unless she voted in 2019, either the reviewer or Stevie misidentified her age.

In November 2020 she was 72.

The Primary was in March 2020 so she was 71 then.