Stand Back US Festival 1983

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by DashingDan

I do totally understand what you're saying with regard to the comparison. Yes, the codeine cough syrup lethargy of that show is the worse of those two evils. I actually saw the show the day before Largo, Worcester, and it was quite similar. The 15-year-old me, never having gone to a concert before, thought that when she disappeared to her tent after Dreams, "well, she's not coming back, she's ill." She sounded so...bronchial. I was startled. But, somehow, a minute later she popped out of that little tent on stage left with a little more spring in her step.

Ha ha! I was 13 and saw her one week before the Largo show. Very similar reaction. As a teen you are used to the music videos and Bella Donna show. Even at 13 I could sense something was wrong. My local paper described the Pittsburgh stop as a "What happened To Stevie Nicks Game Show" since she would disappear constantly and her band seemed as confused as her. When the US Festival footage showed up in the age of the internet, I was in complete shock at the show because it was nothing like the tour that hit the road just days later.
Speculation was she was ill around that time (last week in June). Her voice was rougher and she was so spacey. However I listened to the Philly show the day before on youtube and its completely different and she is peppy and having fun. I think she stayed up all night with Joe and never slept all day before the show. It really showed.
Besides never releasing the pro shot Largo show with the staged little girl. There was a radio show in late 1983 national broadcast of Stevie live. They played the Bella Donna concert with inserting only 3 Wild Heart songs....Stand Back, Leather and Lace, and Beauty and the Beast. I think it was recorded in Chicago and always got a kick of her confused introduction of Beauty and the Beast. "This is a story about a prince who was turned into a beast because we dont know what he did."

Yeah Ok, makes perfect sense!