My thoughts on Houston, Dallas and Red Rocks

[Livia]

First of all, it was so fun to hang w/ a few Ledgies again at these shows! Travis, I will never forget your face in Houston when Stevie was 5 feet away and almost touching you! And Jake, literally, in Bliss Land and walking on air after finally getting to touch Stevie after she dissed him on TISL tour.

Best performance, imo, was Houston. The crowd was great there as well...Best overall experience was (duh) Red Rocks. I'll break it down show by show...

Houston - thankfully, not as hot and humid as it could have been, especially in July.

I can't believe no one's mentioned this yet, or maybe I missed it, but Stevie did the funky chicken dance during SB - on the "I need a little sympathy..." line. It was hilarious!

Landslide was dedicated to Stephanie, who "takes care of all of us," and her daughter Maxine, was in the audience. I found out later that Stephanie is the band masseuse. Nice gig. I loved the video footage in the background!

She tossed the tambo in Rock and Roll...

The GDW ending was bizaare, I was like, "Does she need some aspirin?" As others have mentioned, no "baby, baby, baby..." ending...just holding her hands over her ears and sometimes her face and just sauntered around like that for a few minutes.

Dallas - great venue!! I can't find my notes, haven't finished unpacking yet. We were in the 5th row on the right and these two guys were a few rows behind us. They were clearly having a ball, but people behind them kept yelling for them to sit down. Since the 2 other seats in our row were empty (yes, there were only 4 seats in the row), we invited them to come down w/ us, since no one in our section was sitting. They were a blast to hang out with! They rushed the stage for EO17 while we held their merch and binoculars. Not sure why, maybe my claustrophobia was kicking in, but I just had no desire to rush the stage, although it would have been really easy. But, I should have a really nice pic of Stevie waving to our side of the crowd...

Red Rocks - OMG, words cannot describe the beauty, the power and the spirituality of this magical place. I climbed to the top, before the show started, to check out the visitor's center and view. My calves are still sore today...anyway, the visitor's center isn't much, just a hallway with plaques listing all the artists who have played there, and a few posters along the walls of some of 'em. I took a pic of the Stevie one and the plaque with her and Peter Frampton's video/DVD show.

When she first greeted the crowd, she said something like, "As most of you know, 20 years ago, I made a film here and it's one of the things in my life I'm the most proud of."

OTR - A lyric change, instead of "No love's that hard to find," she sang, "No love's that hard to change..."

The sound cut out for a second in the beginning, and again during Rhiannon, for a few seconds. The crowd around me all went, "Aaawwww." A friend of mine who was at the top at the time said that everyone up there just kept singing.

Even though I know and have heard the HAEWAFY dedication many times, hearing her tell it to the locals, and their reaction, made me get a little verklempt.

Landslide - she mentioned the cat thing again - "It's like the cat that keeps showing up at your back door and lies down and goes to sleep."

EO17 - one of the best I've ever seen - she didn't quite speak in tongues, but almost. I can't describe it, but it was a great wail! And "Sometimes deep in the middle of the night, MY BABY I still think about you!" The entire ending after the stage sweep, she was on fire! She was literally screaming "I know what it soooooooounds liiiiiiiiiiike!" Goosebumps!

Rock and Roll - hands down, the fiercest version of this song I have seen - including the boots on the internet and Dallas and Houston. She walked out w/ the tambo, but put it down on the drum riser. I kept willing her to go pick it up and play it cuz I wanted her to toss it again. But, her singing more than made up for it. She nailed that song through the dense red rocks and back again!

BATB was gorgeous!!! Perfection!

The moon played a role in this show as well, creeping up over the rocks on the right side of the stage. At first, it was huge, and kinda orangey....as the concert went on, the moon got higher and brighter, with different cloud formations going on all night. I would consider another trip to Denver just to see anyone play at Red Rocks!

My only disappointment there was that all the video footage was distorted, since it was on the rocks rather than on screens. The rocks made Stevie look like the elephant woman. I was anticipating the crowd there going nuts when they noticed the overhead shot of Red Rocks, from the video. But you couldn't really make it out unless you'd seen it already and knew what to expect. They should have used the side-stage screen for Landslide instead, like they do for BATB.

Back to reality. I'll post more when I can remember- I wanna watch Six Feet Under and veg out....

[GardenStateGirlie]

Welcome back! Glad you had a great time. Even though we weren't there to see it, Jake gave us all a mental image of what he did before, during and after the Edge walk (the after we're all a little frightened about ). Not to mention, we have photographic evidence of an elated Travis. Rest up! Reality is always a bitch

[Hawkeye]

Your review makes me really hope this new DVD comes out.

[pianogirl04]

I can't believe no one's mentioned this yet, or maybe I missed it, but Stevie did the funky chicken dance during SB - on the "I need a little sympathy..." line. It was hilarious!

I was going to mention that after I heard you talk about it -- but I didn't see it and I didn't want everyone to be like "chicken dance? tell us more about the chicken dance!" since I don't know anything about it. I had all eyes on Brett the whole time. Got some good pics of him too, I just don't know if anyone would want to see them but me...

I had a feeling Red Rocks would be fabulous -- I really wish I'd gone. Good to hear you had a good time!

[Dreammms]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Stevie's shows. Glad you had a great time.

[estranged4life]

a great time at the shows.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Livia

Red Rocks - OMG, words cannot describe the beauty, the power and the spirituality of this magical place.

It is indeed a very magical, spiritual place. That green ridge across the highway is known as the Dakota Hogback. On the other side of it are dinosaur tracks (preserved of course). That's how old the place is. It's very special.

[wondergirl9847]

Thanks for the reviews, Livia! Sorry I missed you in Dallas. Nokia is a wonderful venue!

[EnchantedSLN]

Great reviews! I love hearing about back to back shows from someone who was there multiple nights like that. Puts a different perspective on things.

[darklinensuit]

It was SYW where I got just the wink. On TISL I was too far anyway.

I didn't mention the chicken dance because I figured she had done it at all the shows. I figured bells would ring and the heavens would part if she were trying something new.

Nice to see you.

- Jake

[WelshWitchPMD]

Sounds like you had a magical experience.

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Good to have you back Livia!!

Pip

[eclipse]

Thanks for sharing your highlights..
I love reading everyone's different perspective on the shows-Glad you had a great time
sweet dreams~~
~~eclipse

And I bet the Moon was beautiful.
BTW- Always lovely when it is the full moon (blessing moon in July)
Too bad she didn't add Sisters of the Moon in her honor

[MirrorInTheSky]

Livia, I'm still insanely jealous that you got to go to Red Rocks, but I'm so glad we were able to hang out in Houston and Dallas. Frankenbock mission accomplished!!!

[cliffdweller]

It was cool seeing everyone Houston. Travis, I am so beyond jealous that you got to touch Stevie. I was looking for your orange shirt down there during the Edge rush. Maybe I'll get my chance one day. Jake, sorry I missed you!