Edge of Seventeen - Live at Red Rocks *Original Vocal*

[WatchChain]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Stevie faced the fact that she had to go rehab. But with this impending tour, she planned to get clean after she fulfilled her tour commitment. The first time I attended a Stevie concert was on this tour. At the time I was unaware of her predicament, but I was disappointed because she was a mess; she missed cues, seemed a little lost, and never sang any song with any consistency; just a lot of over-the-top wailing and blurting, with off-time ad-libs that ruined the songs.

Very grateful that she clean up. Yet the next time I saw her on her tour for The Other Side of the Mirror, it was the opposite situation. Her voice was consistent and she sang faithful versions of the songs. But she had very little stage presence, mostly standing still in front of her mike, exerting little or no energy. Only later did we became informed of the reason why.

I can certainly agree with the assertions of PenguinHead and Joe regarding this era of The High Priestess. At 15 years old, I attended the opening night of the Rock A Little Tour at The Summit in Houston, Texas on April 11, 1986. I was also quite innocent and naïve at this age and oblivious to Stevie's drug use. I just remember thinking that her performance was reminiscent of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. Girl, Stevie was a HOT MESS that night, and as far as I can tell, throughout the rest of the tour. Seeing the tour on opening night, I was lucky enough to see her perform "Gypsy" and "Sara" before they were dropped from the tour set list. Her ragged and possessed performance of "Sara" was interesting to say the least, she took that song to new and dangerous places. After the opening band Opus finished their set, I also remember her being quite late taking the stage. It seemed like forever, but it could have just been the anticipation for the Stevie fanatic like me. The LIVE AT RED ROCKS CONCERT video was a EDITING NIGHTMARE. I'm sorry, but all that footage NOT MATCHING just looks ridiculous. If I didn't look and sound good, I would just rather have not filmed the show.

Three years later, in 1989, I saw Stevie perform at the same arena on the OSOTM Tour. I had been attending Stevie/FM concerts since 1977, BUT I WAS ECSTATIC because this was going to be my FIRST TIME sitting in the front row at a Stevie concert. Those tickets cost a pretty penny from a scalper. The songs were sung beautifully, hitting each cue and note. But, alas, our girl stood at the mike for 90 minutes staring into space with glassy eyes and no emotion. She finally came somewhat alive at the END OF THE CONCERT as she told the audience that they were filming the music video for "Whole Lotta Trouble" and asked us to stick around after the set to be in the video. The band came back out and played "Whole Lotta Trouble" at least 3 times, back to back for some live shots to be included in the video.