Cleveland...From Curtis' View....

[ontheEdgeof17]

First of all, I wanna give props to Lori (paperflowers) and Amy....These girls rock!


I met these two at the venue around 6:30. I was there earlier (after a 3 hr drive in 95 degree weather....I have a tan on just one side of my body ) to hear Stevie's soundcheck. She sang Dreams, Stand Back, and half of OTR. I was worried. The soundcheck sounded terrible. She was singing really low and I dunno...it sucked.

When the girls arrived, we chatted around in the heat, met new (and old) fans, and just people watched until 7:30 rolled around. They were in Section 12 Row 2...aisle...and I was in the center section Row 3...6th seat. Needless to say, I wasn't even in my seat but 10 minutes...if that. 7:30 came and Vanessa entered the stage. She looked stunning. She had on a gold colored dress that was made from metallic fabric. GIRL CAN SING! She blew the roof off of the place. It was sad to see that no one was in the audience at the time.

She finished around 8:15 or so. She waved and said Hello to Lori and I as she exited the stage. Well, the girls and I were just talking away to the security guard during the intermission. We told him we were going to rush the stage immediately and he said that he didn't care. All of a sudden Bootylicious came on. We were already at the stage, so we just stood there. We danced around....Dreams Remix came on and everything seemed fine.

Well, security started putting people back in their seats. People were angry. The only ones allowed by the stage were the ppl in the front row. None of us had front row seats. Without even asking him, the security guard that was standing by us vouched for us and told other guards we had front row and it was okay for us to be there. WHATTA NICE GUY! We were going to buy him a beer after the show but never did find him.

About the crowd. It was about 25% filled. IT WAS BARE. 4th row wasn't even filled. Nothing was filled. The lawn was empty. It was a sad site. I knew she wouldn't be able to fill Blossom, but this was bad.

Anywho....back to Stevie....

So it was weird....it was just us 3...and the rest of the crowd had to stay back. I kinda felt bad about it....but that wore off.

We got mad love throughout the whole night. We were reaching distance from Sharon and Jana. They would give us lil hand gestures and winks....sometimes they spoke to us. It was neat. And when Stevie would look over to the girls, she saw us and gave us winks and smiles...and even sang HAEWAFY to us!!#$^%$$!@#!@#! FREAK THE MIGHTY!

Before I jump ahead of myself...the setlist rundown:

OTR: Same stuff she's been doing. She sounded great.

Dreams: Hula Dance...is all I can remember...security was being loud and obnoxious

Enchanted: Great. She was very upbeat and danced a lot.

SDMHA: I was in a daze. I don't remember a thing about this song.

Rhiannon: I've heard better endings outta her. It was still a strong performance. She was getting into the groove of the show.

Sorcerer: Very well done. She sounded great on this one. She did her lil yell and the end....very powerful.

Gold Dust Woman: The yell has been changed. It's less yell and more of a moan a la the CD version. Lori and I looked at each other and was like "eh".

This became the crowd interaction song. "Ohh pale shadows" and that whole area of the song, the whole crowd was singing along. It was echoing it was so loud. Gave me chills.

She did the "baby, baby, baby...if you could see me now" at the end, again. I swore I heard her say "if you could save me now" the last few times. I could be wrong. Is this new or has she said save before?

Stand Back: HO****! The kick was outta control. It looked like she was just going to walk off stage and BAM! she turned around and that leg went in the air.

INTK: "Take your violet and blue mornings with you" at the end was very loud and she screamed it into the mic. I LOVED IT!

HAEWAFY: THE MOMENT OF ALL MOMENTS. THE BEST VERSION I HAVE EVER HEARD. PERFECTION. EMOTIONAL. She introduced the song by talking about one.org and how it is important. She was like "One dot something...I don't do computers." Then, outta the blue she said something along the lines, "This is also dedicated to the person I wrote this for....and he is here tonight." WHOA! Joe Walsh was in the building. She killed that song. The vocal was unbelievable. The crowd was silent. She looked at the three of us quite a bit on this song. I was in tears by this point. Then, at the "And when they ask her about the men in her life".....she smiled, and shook her head in a playful way and was giggling. Very mysterious.....but the song was powerful. Kicked ass.

Fall From Grace: She hit the SURVIVE note by herself. I made a special note to watch Sharon and Jana....they didn't help her out and she nailed it.

Circle Dance: I thought this was dropped because it was before FFG on opening night. I loved it with Don, but this blew me away....just her....no backup except for the last two lines. Another moment I got chills.

Edge of 17: Since no one could get up front, the rush was a bitch. All three of us were slammed up against the stage....but I guess it was the price we paid for being able to stand there the whole night. It was a madhouse....and so was Stevie. She yelled and stomped around and threw her fists. It was a reallllllly good Edge. The walk took forever. She was leaning over ppl....her guard had to keep ahold of her cuz she was literally reaching five rows back to grab ppl. She was standing on speakers....It was pure rock-n-roll Stevie. The crowd ate it up. Lori and I got to touch her again. Poor Amy was still pinned up against the stage and missed her. Sorry, Amy! Stevie was so overtop of me, her midsection was touching my forehead. That's how far back she was reaching....I shook her hand....and then I grabbed her shoulder and gave her a lil pat on the back and kinda stroked her arm all the way down. hehehe. It was kinda cool to do so. She stood over top of me for a awhile. Total kick ass! Oh, and the white dress/apron thing was back into the mix....along with a ankle length jacket with rhinestones on it.

Been A Long Time: WOW! She really got into it. She did pelvic thrusts throughout the whole night. Those were making me laugh. She would just thrust forward and back...forward and back. I think she did a lot on this song as well. She had "the pants" on and her boots. She looked fabulous.

Beauty and the Beast: Those notes she hit on this song last night? WOW. Top notch performance. She wore her cape again....with the pants and boots. Great combo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like the cape over the pants better than over a dress.



After the show, we stalked the Ritz for awhile but didn't see anyone so we went to a local bar and talked Stevie for a few hours.

Today we went to Hard Rock Cafe. The have a signed guitar with a plaque that said it is the guitar used to write Wild Heart. They also had odd looking Tusk Tour Books....one was an After Party book....I've never seen this before. Oh, and they had a matchstick box from Chris and Eddy's wedding....I've never seen that before, either. Very cool stuff they had. Lori has picks...so I hope she can upload some for us.

It's shower time....If I think of more, I will make sure you guys will get the info.