The Best Live Rhiannon

[gldstwmn]

Rhiannon live HBO Special:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WV7J6UD8

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

Here's another really good one: (video quality sucks)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=yz5h3g-_N9w

I've never seen this-wow. I didn't start seeing Stevie live until Rock a Little, and didn't see FM live until SYW. I can't even imagine what it was like to see FM performances like that.

[LiamMcConville]

This RAL performance gets my vote, incredible vocals and wails, twirling, cape, the works:


Online Videos by Veoh.com

(Closer towards the end, watch how the security guards runs behind the stage to keep up with Stevie.)

[DavidMn]

I've always been partial to the Mobile Alabama version from 8-11-80. I know it may not have the all out kick ass vocals, but there's something about that version that has always sent chills up my spine.

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by LiamMcConville

This RAL performance gets my vote, incredible vocals and wails, twirling, cape, the works:


Online Videos by Veoh.com

(Closer towards the end, watch how the security guards runs behind the stage to keep up with Stevie.)

Watching that reminds me of how obsessed with her I was at that time. I was 17-18 and totally enthralled. Sadly, I have been comparing her live performances ever since. I know that many believe her RAL performances were awful, but the ones I saw were totally inspired and full of what made me love Stevie to begin with.

[David]

Originally Posted by jannieC

Watching that reminds me of how obsessed with her I was at that time. I was 17-18 and totally enthralled. Sadly, I have been comparing her live performances ever since. I know that many believe her RAL performances were awful, but the ones I saw were totally inspired and full of what made me love Stevie to begin with.

Musically, the only problem with the tour was the drummer, Marotta, who struck me (pardon the pun) as snare-heavy. (Mick Fleetwood did every show with Stevie out here, & I kept hoping he'd kick Marotta off & slip behind the kit). Otherwise, everything clicked beautifully -- even the backup vox team, who looked like very expensive escorts. It was all very L.A., as they say nowadays.

My favorite Rhiannon is still the one on the white album. Apart from its other beauties of sound & style, I hear no specific musical antecedents; it seems to have sprung fully formed from the band's collective subconscious knowledge of the cosmos.

[gretchen]

I just love The Dance version. It has this pull that is so magical to me.

[petep9000]

What I love about the whole tour, and you can even hear it on this clip, are the vocal spasms that she'd bleat out. Yes, technically it's not good singing (tearing out from her throat instead of pushing up from her diaphragm) but it was heavily resonant. It was very heavy, and she just doesn't put it out there anymore.

Listen at points 04:18, 04:25, 06:34 and 06:51 for the husky, shuddery, vocal freak-outs that she'd pepper the verses with. I don't know, I just felt it more. Felt like she was actually trying to bring us into her little mental world at the time. The new Vegas-type Stevie performances are fine for some, I guess. What the audiences today hear is Rhiannon. There's no suprise, and no one walks away from the show saying "gee, ya know she missed part of the verse" or "gee, she added a lot of 'wells' that I don't remember hearing on the CD". I just wonder if anyone is ever again going to feel Rhiannon.

P.S check out Eleschia Wright. What a hoot! Now THERE was a little soul injection into Stevie's band. Even icy Sharon was trying to keep up.

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by petep9000

What I love about the whole tour, and you can even hear it on this clip, are the vocal spasms that she'd bleat out. Yes, technically it's not good singing (tearing out from her throat instead of pushing up from her diaphragm) but it was heavily resonant. It was very heavy, and she just doesn't put it out there anymore.

Listen at points 04:18, 04:25, 06:34 and 06:51 for the husky, shuddery, vocal freak-outs that she'd pepper the verses with. I don't know, I just felt it more. Felt like she was actually trying to bring us into her little mental world at the time. The new Vegas-type Stevie performances are fine for some, I guess. What the audiences today hear is Rhiannon. There's no suprise, and no one walks away from the show saying "gee, ya know she missed part of the verse" or "gee, she added a lot of 'wells' that I don't remember hearing on the CD". I just wonder if anyone is ever again going to feel Rhiannon.

P.S check out Eleschia Wright. What a hoot! Now THERE was a little soul injection into Stevie's band. Even icy Sharon was trying to keep up.

I 100% agree with everything you've posted here. I've always said that while I'm happy Stevie was able to free herself from drugs, she sacrificed a lot of her dramatic flair and intensity for her sobriety. Back then, it seemed as though she was so INTO everything. The last few shows I've been to (well, since TISL, if I'm being truthful), she seems NOT to be very emotionally present. I think she sounds great, there's just almost no spontaneity anymore. I'm sure that people will want to give examples of recent Stevie fabulousness, and I agree that there have been some performances where the old Stevie pops out, but for the most part, it's a different show now. I hope I don't sound ungrateful- I love Stevie now just as much as I ever have. It's just a new, calmer sound/show.

[petep9000]

I don't want to hijack this thread, but this is sort of related. I apologize in advance if we've had multiple threads discussing this: has anyone ever positively ID'd the performance of 'Rhiannon' from the 'Tusk' tour where instead of instead of singing "Dreams unwind, love's a state of mind..." Stevie chanted "Is this what you want from me...?" before ripping into a mind-searing vocal freakout?

I dunno. I mean, Mick says it happened in his first book, anyway. I'd be curious to know if this was true, and if there are any recordings out there in the ether that someone might want to share with us.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by petep9000

I don't want to hijack this thread, but this is sort of related. I apologize in advance if we've had multiple threads discussing this: has anyone ever positively ID'd the performance of 'Rhiannon' from the 'Tusk' tour where instead of instead of singing "Dreams unwind, love's a state of mind..." Stevie chanted "Is this what you want from me...?" before ripping into a mind-searing vocal freakout?

I dunno. I mean, Mick says it happened in his first book, anyway. I'd be curious to know if this was true, and if there are any recordings out there in the ether that someone might want to share with us.

Oh yes, it's true. Now I have to remember which boot that is from.

[gldstwmn]

"Is this what you want?"

Rhiannon Mobile, Alabama 11/8/80

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=82CIEQ31

[David]

It's a little ad lib that you can hear on a lot of Rhiannons around that time. Listen to the tape of the 1st night of the Hollywood Bowl two-nighter -- it's there, too.

Just like nowadays she does that stupid "And you still cry out for her/Don't leave me, don't leave me/Nowwwwwwwwwwwwwww" drawing it out as if each syllable were portentous.

[nailatixela]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

"Is this what you want?"

Rhiannon Mobile, Alabama 11/8/80

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=82CIEQ31

I don't see anywhere to click to download the song on that "megaupload" site.

[darklinensuit]

Rosebud is my favorite, but she looks amazing in the Midnight Special. I also like the "Live" album one. I hate "The Dance" version - it drags, IMO.

- Jake