If You Had The Chance...

Originally posted by chiliD
Uh...yeah. And, they did at the time, too. Stevie put on her best shows back then, "coked out of her brain" not withstanding. "Coked out" was, for the most part, socially acceptable at the time. There wasn't the "holier than thou" attitude that seems to prevail toward anyone who "self-medicates" these days.

The really sad part was that she was at her peak during a solo tour, not with Fleetwood Mac. It was all downhill after that RAL tour. The Red Rocks video/DVD is a very poor representation of the actual shows of that tour. I saw her in Costa Mesa, California on that tour (Peter Frampton opened the show) and I thought it was one of the best performances I'd ever seen by ANYBODY...at least, until Waddy's overly self-indulgent and way-too-long guitar intro for "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around". The show took a downturn after that.

well put....and, yeah, the Red Rocks show is way too overproduced to be a representation of the actual concert....

and if you want to get technical about it....she was most likely doing the stuff back in the Rumours days (and maybe before)...so you might as well dismiss all of them from the period of about 75-87 (yet Mick was still partying well into the 90's).

it's all personal opinion though...no, it's not technically a healthy thing to be all messed up like that....but, and i say this again and again, everyone came out ok...so, you can appreciate some of that craziness....i'm sure Stevie laughs about it now despite the serious message she often conveys in interviews...

but as chiliD said, it was socially acceptable back then...i'm 33 now and i do remember the tail end of that period...the socially conscious attitude that is now was pretty much nonexistent back then....drugs were an acceptable part of the rock culture.

[David]

Originally posted by diamondsnake
Enough is enough! Can someone please explain what is sooooo great about Stevie's Rock a Little tour? I have the red rocks dvd and it is nothing special. In fact, it is a borderline bad video because of all the fake closeups. Anyway, what is the big deal? Do people enjoy seeing Stevie coked out of her brain? I just find it sad.

The Rock a Little tour was outstanding, her second best ever. The Red Rocks video was a piece of ****. Its production values (I use the word hesitantly) make it completely disposable.

I loved seeing Stevie on cocaine. That was the norm back then: I don't mean that everyone took coke but that the giddy, uninhibited, sexy, frolicsome Stevie was the only Stevie that all of us ever saw, so that became the Stevie norm. That was our entire Stevie impression in the late 1970s & early '80s. If you find such a large portion of her career unpalatable, chalk it up to differing tastes as well as to the fact that her totally different onstage personality since 1987 has been the Stevie norm for you (& thousands of other fans). Personally, I find this entire phase (what I call the "Little Aunt Stevie" phase) dull. It's not rock & roll to me, & it's not scintillating or charismatic. I don't want Stevie Nicks to walk, talk & act like an older sister left to babysit me -- I want her to marshal her forces with a dancer's imperiousness & statuesque control over physical space. Differing tastes, different sets of impressions created by different time frames -- whaddya gonna do? [shrug]

As far as what tour I would want to see, that would be "The Dance". I have not made up my mind about Stevie's tours though. Prob. TOSOTM.

I'd love to have seen shows from the Bob Welch/Christine McVie years, back in the days when Fleetwood Mac was essentially a fairly hip college campus band. Secondly, I'd love to re-see Wild Heart tour shows from October & November. That Forum performance haunts me to this day.

[strandinthewind]

Probably the Rumors tour because they were still playing a killer version of "Why" and Stevie was just on fire (medicated or not ). I miss her dancing her a$$ off in that time period (1977 - 1985) and that voice is just my favorite ever for her even though I like her voice now.

Also, I just refuse to believe every last bit of that energy came solely from the coke. I think alot of that was her and the coke perhaps enhanced it (assuming she did it at every single concert from 1977 through 1985). So, while I get and for the most part agree with the whole drugs are bad thing and I think she is still great to this day, she was my definition of greatness then. Same for CM and LB.

My $0.02

Also, I would like to have seen Peter Green one time as well.

Finally, the RAL show in Baton Rouge, Louisiana rocked and rolled - no doubt about it

[Somajoseph]

I would have liked to have seen their "Day on The Green" performances at the Oakland Stadium on April 30-May 1st, 1976. This was done after their 90 date White Album tour in the fall of 1975, and while they were in Sausalito beginning to record the Rumours album. I loved the sets they were doing in 75 and 76, and even though that's when it seemed their cocaine use escalated, I think they were high on their success, and playing with a newfound enthusiasm. It was still a pretty new lineup at that point.

Joseph

[macmar71]

Rumours, Tusk and Mirage


Bella Donna and The Wild Heart

[diamondsnake]

Originally posted by David
The Rock a Little tour was outstanding, her second best ever. The Red Rocks video was a piece of ****. Its production values (I use the word hesitantly) make it completely disposable.

I loved seeing Stevie on cocaine. That was the norm back then: I don't mean that everyone took coke but that the giddy, uninhibited, sexy, frolicsome Stevie was the only Stevie that all of us ever saw, so that became the Stevie norm. That was our entire Stevie impression in the late 1970s & early '80s. If you find such a large portion of her career unpalatable, chalk it up to differing tastes as well as to the fact that her totally different onstage personality since 1987 has been the Stevie norm for you (& thousands of other fans). Personally, I find this entire phase (what I call the "Little Aunt Stevie" phase) dull. It's not rock & roll to me, & it's not scintillating or charismatic. I don't want Stevie Nicks to walk, talk & act like an older sister left to babysit me -- I want her to marshal her forces with a dancer's imperiousness & statuesque control over physical space. Differing tastes, different sets of impressions created by different time frames -- whaddya gonna do? [shrug]

I'd love to have seen shows from the Bob Welch/Christine McVie years, back in the days when Fleetwood Mac was essentially a fairly hip college campus band. Secondly, I'd love to re-see Wild Heart tour shows from October & November. That Forum performance haunts me to this day.

Well I guess I prefer the older, laid back Stevie. Or maybe that is just the Stevie that I fell in love with watching "The Dance". So I guess you are right, it is just whatever phase of Stevie you are familiar with.

This is just so weird for me though to think that not that long ago people were doing so many drugs and things were so much crazier. I mean, now, you can't go to school without going to a million drug education classes. Isn't that weird?

Anyway, I didn't mean to start a fire, it is just that the only Rock a Little show I am familiar with is the Red Rocks video which I was not too thrilled with. Not only are the close ups annoying, but her voice seems a bit too... high and annoying. I love her voice better now that it is low and deep and sexy and comforting almost. The vocals on that dvd leave me cold, while the vocals on the dance make me feel warm! Does that make sense?

[The Chain]

Originally posted by diamondsnake
but her voice seems a bit too... high and annoying. I love her voice better now that it is low and deep and sexy and comforting almost. The vocals on that dvd leave me cold, while the vocals on the dance make me feel warm! Does that make sense?

Oh, you haven't heard the real Red Rocks boot have you? Her voice is very, very, very deep... almost too deep ... I could try to send it to you if you want...

[diamondsnake]

Originally posted by The Chain
Oh, you haven't heard the real Red Rocks boot have you? Her voice is very, very, very deep... almost too deep ... I could try to send it to you if you want...

I'd love to hear it if you could send it to me. I PMed you!

[The Chain]

I PMed you back

[Johnny Stew]

There are two tours that I would have loved to have witnessed first-hand... the tour they did just as 'Fleetwood Mac' was released, when the band was full of optimism and exuberance; and the 'Wild Heart' tour, with all of Stevie's kinetic energy and playfullness.

[chiliD]

Originally posted by diamondsnake
I mean, now, you can't go to school without going to a million drug education classes. Isn't that weird?

"Drug Education Classes" in my day (late 60's/early '70's) were where a bunch of us would get together in the park across the street from my HS and practice rolling joints during lunch break.

I remember the assembly where they showed that farce of an anti-drug film produced by Sonny Bono from about 1967 or 68 (even more unrealistic than "Reefer Madness" & "Cocaine Fiends" of the late '30s)..then the local police drug enforcement unit brought actual samples of the commonly used drugs. They even burnt some marijuana so that people could learn what it smelled like. I thought, "Hmmm, that smells pretty good!".

[dissention]

Originally posted by diamondsnake
I have not made up my mind about Stevie's tours though. Prob. TOSOTM.

You'd be bored out of your wits at an OSOTM show. They were so...blah. She didn't spin or do anything, she just stood at the mic and sang...er, talked into the mic. She wasn't very energetic, vocally or physically.

And who else agrees that the version of GDW on that tour was awful?

I would've loved to have seen Tusk, Mirage, Bella Donna, and Rock A Little. Those were awesome tours!!!

[Neal]

Originally posted by dissention
And who else agrees that the version of GDW on that tour was awful?
[/B]

Really?! I love GDW from OSOTM! yes, it's very "synth-y", but I think thats what I like about it. Very different from the the standard "cowbell" intro...

[fleetfootmike]

Me? I'd like to see a couple of very early White Album tour dates... preferably the ones at which various songs were performed that haven't been done since ("Rattlesnake Shake" for one, as well as a number of others which David and chiliD can list)...

...and most important of all, I'd want to take a tape recorder

[jadegypsy]

I've only seen the SYW soo my wish list:
FM:
Tusk (possibly closing night)
Rumors (when Dreams and GYOW really ment something)
White Album tour (everyone was still happy)
Mirage (to hear gypsy sung when Stevies voice was still really good)

Stevie:
RAL (finally had enough solo songs, also I love the RAL album)
Belladonna (if she played ATGF this might be #1)
WH (I was never that enamored with this album)
TISGL (love the album, but would want to see prior to 9/11)