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Originally Posted by SillyDreamer
Yes, yes, Rosebud, Rockhoppers, Midnight Special, Live 80, blah blah blah.
All awesome performances. None bring fresh debate to the table.
I would like to contend that the best performance of Rhiannon in that last 20 years has been Live at The House of Blues 1994. Yes, The Street Angel Tour!
It has an extended intro not remarkably dissimilar to that of the Dance Tour. The actual body of the song, aside from Stevie taking a lot more liberties vocally, is not overly distinguishable. And yes, Lindsey is not playing guitar. Tear.
However, the ending, beginning with "Dreams unwind..." is all sung the EXACT same way as it had been nearly 20 years before! There is less screaming, but the DREAMS UNWIND, STILL IT'S A STATE OF MIND etc. etc. are all done on that high G or whatever it is, I used to know it. The note that Stevie sings a full octave lower these days. It's crazy. When I first heard it, I hadn't thought she had been able to hit those notes since at least 1982. And here she was, singing Live 80 all over again. The very end manages to stay in her upper register, never dipping to the depths it saw during The Dance or SYW Tour, yet still captures "Whooaaa.. you still cry out to her, and he says, don't leave me, DON'T leave me........." It works very well high, and makes me wish she never got lazy.
Another gem from this performance is Stand Back, which I believe to be the definitive version. Again, she's not afraid to take all the chances, even some we'd never heard. What a groundbreaking concert!
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I hate to break it to you, but that end part is all a studio overdub.
I went to the show the night before the taping, and her voice was pretty ragged. I was also there the night of the taping in question, and it was being simulcast on a local radio station - KLSX if my memory serves me correctly. I taped that live broadcast and it was dismal. Her voice was in terrible shape.
Every offical ''recording" with those strong high notes that I have heard gives itself away quickly. If you listen closely, you can hear that she is singing over a very low volume track of her original vocal. They were either too lazy to take it off or her vocal wasn't recorded on a separate track.
I agree it is a good version - but a live version it wasn't. There were some great renditions of Rhainnon on that tour. I saw the tour 7 or 8 times. But none of them were nearly as strong as that studio overdub. Not even close.
For the record, my favorite versions of this song were from the Tusk tour. Like I have said many times, the song now needs to be retired. I no longer like it. It's essentially a fluid break for me.