Red Rocks
 

Hi,

I just revisited my Red Rocks Collorado DVD. IS it just me, or is Stevie actually totally off her head on klonopin or something? She gives amazing performances, but the close ups of her reveal how she looks so vacant, as if she doesnt really connect to what shes doing!

Its an amazing concert, but i really think she was on something...

Ne1 know?

Russ:)

She wasn't on Klonopin then

Chris

According to the September 2001 Downtown feature, that was Stevie's last coked-out performance.

The close-ups were filmed later than the actual song performances, so she was probably tired.

- Jake

Yeah - it was so obvious that the closeups were shot at a different time. If you look closely at the actual concert performance shots, she really does not look her best.

She would THINK she'd atleast do her hair the same for the close ups

Chris

In thge Timespace liner notes, Stevie says "I also remember Mick and I years later at the Red Rocks Rock A Little video. He had come by himself to play, and he stayed there with me all night (in the rain) to do close-ups . . . everyone else had left." I always took this to mean that they shot the close ups that same night after the audience had left.:shrug:

Yeah - I remember reading that too, but it really does look different. And she really doesn't look tired in the closeups, which I would expect after that performance.

Re: Red Rocks
 

At that point, she had been a coke user & a drinker for several years. She was a committed, adept performer who knew how to use cocaine & booze in order to give exaggeratedly passionate concerts. Stevie's fan base as a solo artist was cemented during these years.

Her alleged Klonopin dependency came years later, & left a far worse effect on her performances.

Downtown may not have heard that Stevie took her show to Australia for a couple of weeks in September of that year. She hadn't yet cleaned up.

But sobriety was just around the corner, & the Third Age of Stevie Nicks was about to be ushered in.

Hey guys,

Thanks for those replies...

I knew she was on something - coke would actually make a whole lotta more sense than klonopin..i forgot that she was on that from 90s.

I would love to believe though that her performance of U can talk to me/Edge of seventeen and Stand back were NOT due to her being totally off her case.... As i loved the semi scream at the end of Stand Back..u kno.. "Well u can be stAAAAANNDDIIN in IIITTT"

She was 38 in it .. a hell of alot younger than 55. I think the way she gives performances recently is better anyway.

The one part in red Rocks which gets me almost crying everytime i watch it is, Beauty and the Beast and Has ne1 ever written. Stevie herself cries in Has ne1 i think.. Its in one of them anyhow.

I laugh hyserically at the dove part..especially when the dove wont fly away from her hand..then shes escorted away, probably fearing for her sanity.

I love her so much! on coke or not on coke..shes ace. I am glad shes kicked all of that now though..Shows how strong she is

I meant to post this a little while ago cause i read that people are under the impression that the Red Rocks performance was the last time she used cocaine....However, as David pointed out, she later went to Australia where, according to Mick's book, "her drinking worsened and she actually fell off the stage"...now he doesn't mention cocaine but i think we can assume that she was still using it....she couldn't possibly stop cold turkey in the middle of a tour....even Mick says that in his book.

Stevie always contradicts herself and doesn't even realize it, so no one really knows when she stopped doing cocaine. She's said that she went to her doctor *before* she went out on tour in '86 and that was when he told her that she could die. She's said that she went out on tour with that in the back of her mind but that she continued to do it because she couldn't quit cold turkey; she did just enough so as not to get sick. She wasn't in Australia with Bob and Tom in late-'86, she was there in the beginning of '86, months before she would bring her solo tour there. She's said that she checked into Betty Ford right after Red Rocks and that was the last time she did cocaine. The stories are always bleeding into each other and no one but her really knows when she stopped. I would give my guesstimate that she stopped in October of '86 because she was quite "high" in her solo Australian shows.

As for Red Rocks, I think the whole video is awful. The concert that you're watching isn't even the actual concert, it's all redubs and post-production. If you can get ahold of the uncut Red Rocks boot, get it! Then you'll really hear the *real* concert. :laugh:

I disagree thought,

Red Rocks is a good package, yes it has re-dubs - but it all adds to the dimension of the performance and in my view enhances it.

Tho id love the raw version yes, as much as the next person would...however theres never really the raw version available as its always tweaked!

Russ

You're right they did. They were unusable. They weren't all alone, although that may be how she remembers it. Some things were going on pretty blantantly, according to an acquiantance of mine who was there before during and after the show. People were seriously worried about her. And then Australia...Dear God. There was a photo in her BTM from that era. She was so puffy from the drugs and alcohol. Thank goodness she made it through.

Nope, you can get the uncut version on bootleg. :) It's really eye-opening to listen to the released version and then the uncut version; it truly seems like a different concert. :D