Las Vegas!!!

[Crystal_Elle]

Originally Posted by badanimals87

First off...I'd like to say that I agree that on paper this show looks like the same old crap but it was anything but. There were several factors that made the show so magical to me. First as someone mentioned, the video normally projected behind the band was not working and I believe Stevie's lighting rig was not being used due to the same computer problem. She mentioned that they were lucky to even have lighting and how dark it was onstage. I don't know much about stage lighting but it seemed like they had to rely on some of the Coliseum's basic lighting. There was only a row of purple and a row of yellow lights almost directly above the band and pointing down and out, some red lights at the front of the stage pointing inward, and a couple spot lights. The only reason I mention this is because it looked so different and absolutely beautiful not having such bright lights behind Stevie and the band. During the end of GDW Stevie and Waddy's dance was stunning to watch because of the simple lighting.

I've seen Stevie about 20 times since Enchanted and this was the most "in the zone" I've ever seen Stevie. We all know how it goes with Stevie where some nights she's just going through the motions and other nights she is TOTALLY ON. I guess she felt the need to really dazzle us since there no visuals behind her to distract. Another thing I noticed was her approach to the older songs vocally. The way Stevie sings on the new album is so subtle and emotional at times and just so unlike the "full volume" almost yelling she has been doing for a little while now at live shows. By the time she was singing Dreams I went from singing along to bawling my eyes out, and I've never cried at a Stevie show. Usually I have perma-grin for days but this time I was a mess! For a song like Dreams to make me cry when I've heard it live SO MANY TIMES and it's just not that exciting anymore...until last night. The recording process with Dave Stewart seems to have helped Stevie in so many ways and it totally shows IMO. I should mention that a stale setlist would not stop me from seeing Stevie (even though I would love her to shake it up) because you never know when one of these truly special nights will transpire.

Now the ugly part. :-(

I have never been to a ROCK CONCERT with so many jerks sitting around yelling at people to sit down. Our seats were in ORCH 4 row 7 and almost dead center so we had a perfect view. I'm 6'1" and Mark is 6'5" so we tried to "go with the flow" and sit when the people in front of us sat down but there were nasty people yelling at 2 girls sitting in front of us and to the left a few seats. Now I can understand being frustrated because you want to sit and you cannot see with someone standing in front of you, but I heard many rude comments that were just unnecessary and it took every fiber of my being to keep my mouth shut and not tell these people to **** off. I wasn't about to let anyone ruin my time with Stevie so I did my best to ignore. Security sucked beyond belief at the Coliseum. We tried to make a break for the stage once Edge started but were told to go back to our seats. We complied but once Stevie was headed for stage right we ran back up only to be stopped again. I noticed a woman making her way to the right side of the stage so I just followed her and walked past security as if I did not hear them and made my way to the stage. Unfortunately I missed shaking Stevie's hand by seconds but I waived to her and she waived back so I was happy. :-) Stevie dedicated Landslide to a "friend of a friend" which was kinda weird. She said her friend was not there but her friend's friend was and that she was asked to dedicate it to her.

Despite the jerkoffs sitting around us and the bogus security this was a fantastic show and I was very grateful to be there. Yes I was dissapointed with only 11 songs and no new songs besides Secret Love, but the simple lighting and lack of visuals made for a truly magical experience. For those that feel Stevie's live vocals in the past 4-5 years have been a little harsh...please don't let this stop you from seeing her again. A YouTube clip absolutely does not due justice to the real thing.

Sorry this was so long and not worded too well but I just had to share my experience with you guys. Those of you going to the LA show are in for a real treat...and if you have general admission you're guaranteed not to have anyone yelling at you to sit down!

Tim

I am quite familar with the colosseum due to seeing Cher there a lot. In my experience, sec 4 is usually the worst section to sit in as a fan of the person performing. It appears that this section is where Caesars sticks a lot of the high rollers who get comped free tix. No offense, but they are usually the ones yelling at fans to sit. Getting yelled at to sit during the shows was such a common thing among us fans. We got yelled at in every section, but 4 was usually where security had to get involved and threats were made. A friend of mine even got punched in the back one night over it. I love the venue, but hate the typical crowd there. They don't understand that it's a concert, not a movie or some broadway show.

It totally sucks that the standing thing was an issue at this show too. At least the show was fabulous. I'm glad to hear great things.

[jkmaletic]

Originally Posted by badanimals87

First off...I'd like to say that I agree that on paper this show looks like the same old crap but it was anything but. There were several factors that made the show so magical to me. First as someone mentioned, the video normally projected behind the band was not working and I believe Stevie's lighting rig was not being used due to the same computer problem. She mentioned that they were lucky to even have lighting and how dark it was onstage. I don't know much about stage lighting but it seemed like they had to rely on some of the Coliseum's basic lighting. There was only a row of purple and a row of yellow lights almost directly above the band and pointing down and out, some red lights at the front of the stage pointing inward, and a couple spot lights. The only reason I mention this is because it looked so different and absolutely beautiful not having such bright lights behind Stevie and the band. During the end of GDW Stevie and Waddy's dance was stunning to watch because of the simple lighting.

I've seen Stevie about 20 times since Enchanted and this was the most "in the zone" I've ever seen Stevie. We all know how it goes with Stevie where some nights she's just going through the motions and other nights she is TOTALLY ON. I guess she felt the need to really dazzle us since there no visuals behind her to distract. Another thing I noticed was her approach to the older songs vocally. The way Stevie sings on the new album is so subtle and emotional at times and just so unlike the "full volume" almost yelling she has been doing for a little while now at live shows. By the time she was singing Dreams I went from singing along to bawling my eyes out, and I've never cried at a Stevie show. Usually I have perma-grin for days but this time I was a mess! For a song like Dreams to make me cry when I've heard it live SO MANY TIMES and it's just not that exciting anymore...until last night. The recording process with Dave Stewart seems to have helped Stevie in so many ways and it totally shows IMO. I should mention that a stale setlist would not stop me from seeing Stevie (even though I would love her to shake it up) because you never know when one of these truly special nights will transpire.

Now the ugly part. :-(

I have never been to a ROCK CONCERT with so many jerks sitting around yelling at people to sit down. Our seats were in ORCH 4 row 7 and almost dead center so we had a perfect view. I'm 6'1" and Mark is 6'5" so we tried to "go with the flow" and sit when the people in front of us sat down but there were nasty people yelling at 2 girls sitting in front of us and to the left a few seats. Now I can understand being frustrated because you want to sit and you cannot see with someone standing in front of you, but I heard many rude comments that were just unnecessary and it took every fiber of my being to keep my mouth shut and not tell these people to **** off. I wasn't about to let anyone ruin my time with Stevie so I did my best to ignore. Security sucked beyond belief at the Coliseum. We tried to make a break for the stage once Edge started but were told to go back to our seats. We complied but once Stevie was headed for stage right we ran back up only to be stopped again. I noticed a woman making her way to the right side of the stage so I just followed her and walked past security as if I did not hear them and made my way to the stage. Unfortunately I missed shaking Stevie's hand by seconds but I waived to her and she waived back so I was happy. :-) Stevie dedicated Landslide to a "friend of a friend" which was kinda weird. She said her friend was not there but her friend's friend was and that she was asked to dedicate it to her.

Despite the jerkoffs sitting around us and the bogus security this was a fantastic show and I was very grateful to be there. Yes I was dissapointed with only 11 songs and no new songs besides Secret Love, but the simple lighting and lack of visuals made for a truly magical experience. For those that feel Stevie's live vocals in the past 4-5 years have been a little harsh...please don't let this stop you from seeing her again. A YouTube clip absolutely does not due justice to the real thing.

Sorry this was so long and not worded too well but I just had to share my experience with you guys. Those of you going to the LA show are in for a real treat...and if you have general admission you're guaranteed not to have anyone yelling at you to sit down!

Tim

I'm glad you had fun despite the negative parts with security and the people yelling at you to sit down. I knew I was kind of lucky in the fact that people behind me weren't asking us to sit down. They were standing pretty much the whole time too. I was in section 5, row 3.

Yeah, security was totally out to lunch. It seemed like they really thought all these people were going to march right on up the stage. I made a "note to self" that next time Stevie plays Vegas, to call security that day, and speak to a manager and inform them of this tradtion. Obviously Stevie's people should be doing that but I guess it slipped their mind this last time, or maybe they assumed that security would remember this tradition from the last time Stevie played there.

And yeah, you're right- ain't NO ONE gonna tell people to sit down at the Birthday Show !! 10 more days......


Jamie

[wheart]

Originally Posted by jkmaletic

Okay. Sorry if some of you were waiting. First thing I did when I got home was look into a way to retrieve the lost video on my flip camera. I contacted someone in support and they tried but were unable to help me. They gave me a case number and a case manager will be calling within the next 48-72 hours to walk me through retrieving those videos. They aren't the BEST videos in the world, but certainly will give you a taste of how Stevie really was in Vegas. I shot them from the 3rd row. So, hopefully everything will work out with that. I took some pics with my cell phone but they came out bad- too much light on Stevie I guess, so they are mostly blurry. Not worth posting or showing you guys.

Notes on the show-

Wore black boots entire show.

Stevie mentioned her illness. She said something along the lines of, ' would you believe the DAY my new record comes out- May 3rd, I come down with pneumonia?'
She kind of laughed when she said it , like, what are the odds? She went onto say that she was home in bed, just her and her little dog, and she'd call her assistant Karen and go, 'Well, how's it going with the record?' and Karen would say, 'I think it's doing well'. Then Stevie said she'd call her again three hours later, asking the same thing, and Karen would tell her the same thing. She also said very proudly that, "This is a very good record."

She said she LOVED playing here in Vegas and that she loved this theater. She also said, "What happens in Vegas, (then whispered) stays in Vegas."

There was a time between songs where she looked down at her monitor and said, "oh- it says, ' go get your cape' - I'll be right back!" Then she went into her little tent to get her cape.

She mentioned that normally there is a big screen behind her with lighting effects and stuff, but for some reason it wasn't working. So she said, tonight's show will just really be about her and the audience. Everyone cheered.

The theater was full, and the crowd was into it. I was surprised to see lots of people standing most of the time, even in the comped-ticket areas.

This is hard to describe, but Stevie did this little thing I believe at the beginning of Dreams before the lyrics start, where she kind of walks along the edge of the stage and sprinkles her hands out at the audience like she's putting pixie dust on everyone. I hadn't seen her do that since I saw her at House of Blues in Dec. 99. It's really cute, like she's kind of blessing eveybody. She was smiling the whole time.

She dedicated Landslide to a friend in the audience who she's known since 7th grade, and also to anyone who's lost someone. She said you never know how long you have your loved ones so keep them close. Landslide was the only song that I could hear a little (very little) congestion in her voice. She sang all the songs fabulously. The Gold Dust wail was slightly modified from normal. All in all, I really truly believe she is feeling 97% better. You guys will see soon enough if I get those videos back or certainly on Dancing With the Stars this coming Tuesday.

Ok- the Edge walk. This was the strangest Edge walk I've ever been involved in because of security. They clearly were not informed about it. I thought for sure at the start of the drum solo for Edge I'd see people start filing doen the aisles toward the stage- nope. Finally, when Stevie came out and started singing, people were trying to come down, but were told to go back to their seats by security. I could tell security was like, what the heck is this?? It was only when Stevie went over to the side of the stage and begun waving and shaking people's hands did people kind of plow through and get to the stage. Security kept telling people, "Don't go on the stage!!" This one girl answered back, "I'm NOT! I just wanna shake her hand!" Being in the third row I didn't have a problem getting up there. Stevie actually had to kind of back up to shake my hand, because I was right where those stairs that lead up to the stage kind of jut out. She looked down at me, smiling, then took my hand and squeezed it. I yelled to her that I loved "Italian Summer", but I don't think she heard me. That's ok though, her smile said it all. My girlfriend Kim got up there too, but Stevie missed her. Normally at this venue, Stevie goes down about two steps on those stairs then goes across and does the hand-shaking. But this time she just stayed on the stage. Someone towards the end gave Stevie a little flower wreath which she put on her head- really cute. After the Edge walk, security was yelling at everyone to get back to their seats. I did manage to tell one of the security guys that the Edge walk was something that she always does, like a tradition. Lack of communication I guess between Stevie's people and security. Retarded.

Love Is was amazing. People even stood for it. Afterward she told everyone to pray for this world we live in because there's a lot of crazy stuff going on right now. She said to take care of each other.

I was so happy and excited after the show I barely slept last night. The "Stevie High" was super strong!


Jamie

I'm glad you had such a fabulous experience! It's baffling to hear Stevie praise her record and then not do any songs from it except one...whatever.

[kathy1]

did they have any new merchandise at the show?

[BTFLCHLD]

[Wildheart82]

Security was fully informed of the Edge Walk prior to the concert. I spoke to security before the concert and they knew about it, but wasn't sure if she was going to do it because of her recent illness. So I wait till after the drum solo and head to the stage, from 4th row sec. 6 -- they send me back, so I wait until she has literally started shaking hands and they try to send me back again. Security actually grabs my arm hard and tries to pull me back. I removed his grip from my arm with my other hand as Stevie is walking by, reach up shake-her hand and then the security guy says, "there she shook your hand, now get back to your seat or I will throw you out"!

The guy was a totaly jerk, I filed a formal complaint with Caesars, but this is not the first time I've been "handled" during the Edge Walk, anyone remember Soboba

Oh well, the concert was amazing, Stevie was magical it was a very special night!

[RockAlot]

Originally Posted by Wildheart82

Security was fully informed of the Edge Walk prior to the concert. I spoke to security before the concert and they knew about it, but wasn't sure if she was going to do it because of her recent illness. So I wait till after the drum solo and head to the stage, from 4th row sec. 6 -- they send me back, so I wait until she has literally started shaking hands and they try to send me back again. Security actually grabs my arm hard and tries to pull me back. I removed his grip from my arm with my other hand as Stevie is walking by, reach up shake-her hand and then the security guy says, "there she shook your hand, now get back to your seat or I will throw you out"!

The guy was a totaly jerk, I filed a formal complaint with Caesars, but this is not the first time I've been "handled" during the Edge Walk, anyone remember Soboba

Oh well, the concert was amazing, Stevie was magical it was a very special night!

I've wondered about this, weather they ever tell security that this happens at Stevie's shows. The Indio security was just as bad, its pretty much the end of the show and untill this point everybody is staying in there seats so just let us "have at it" for the last 2 songs!

This always seems to be a issue with the casino shows?

[STEVEHEDRICK]

I was section 4 row two went to the left stopped me cold in my tracks went to the right let me right in! Stevie gave me a warm smile and held both my hands! I was thrilled with my moment! FU caesars guard on the left! Many thanks to the cool guy on the right! I touched Stevie! for the fourth time!

[jkmaletic]

Thanks for posting those two videos! As you can see, she was totally rocking out!

I really hope I can get my videos retrieved.

Jamie

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by RockAlot

I've wondered about this, weather they ever tell security that this happens at Stevie's shows. The Indio security was just as bad, its pretty much the end of the show and untill this point everybody is staying in there seats so just let us "have at it" for the last 2 songs!

This always seems to be a issue with the casino shows?

Yes, the security guards were total A$$holes! About 4 of us tried to get down during the drum intro to Edge from center, row 11 and was given the look of death from 2 security guards. I will never attend a casino show again I hate to say.

Originally Posted by badanimals87

First off...I'd like to say that I agree that on paper this show looks like the same old crap but it was anything but. There were several factors that made the show so magical to me. First as someone mentioned, the video normally projected behind the band was not working and I believe Stevie's lighting rig was not being used due to the same computer problem. She mentioned that they were lucky to even have lighting and how dark it was onstage. I don't know much about stage lighting but it seemed like they had to rely on some of the Coliseum's basic lighting. There was only a row of purple and a row of yellow lights almost directly above the band and pointing down and out, some red lights at the front of the stage pointing inward, and a couple spot lights. The only reason I mention this is because it looked so different and absolutely beautiful not having such bright lights behind Stevie and the band. During the end of GDW Stevie and Waddy's dance was stunning to watch because of the simple lighting.

I've seen Stevie about 20 times since Enchanted and this was the most "in the zone" I've ever seen Stevie. We all know how it goes with Stevie where some nights she's just going through the motions and other nights she is TOTALLY ON. I guess she felt the need to really dazzle us since there no visuals behind her to distract. Another thing I noticed was her approach to the older songs vocally. The way Stevie sings on the new album is so subtle and emotional at times and just so unlike the "full volume" almost yelling she has been doing for a little while now at live shows. By the time she was singing Dreams I went from singing along to bawling my eyes out, and I've never cried at a Stevie show. Usually I have perma-grin for days but this time I was a mess! For a song like Dreams to make me cry when I've heard it live SO MANY TIMES and it's just not that exciting anymore...until last night. The recording process with Dave Stewart seems to have helped Stevie in so many ways and it totally shows IMO. I should mention that a stale setlist would not stop me from seeing Stevie (even though I would love her to shake it up) because you never know when one of these truly special nights will transpire.

Despite the jerkoffs sitting around us and the bogus security this was a fantastic show and I was very grateful to be there. Yes I was dissapointed with only 11 songs and no new songs besides Secret Love, but the simple lighting and lack of visuals made for a truly magical experience. For those that feel Stevie's live vocals in the past 4-5 years have been a little harsh...please don't let this stop you from seeing her again. A YouTube clip absolutely does not due justice to the real thing.

Tim

Jamie & Tim pretty much summed up the night. not really too much to add. There was a crazy spontaneous moment towards the end of Edge where Stevie started flailing and whipping her hair around. bopping her head side to side then flipping her head/ hair up and down - I haven't seen her do that since the RAL tour during SB!! But other than the technical difficulties - lighting & no screens/video AND the predictable H&S setlist Stevie was ON - she was in HIGH spirits and seemed to be in a great mood and talked more than she usually does. The boots were a shock, she probably did feel she had to up her game a little bit because of the lack of video theatrics & lighting...and she succeeded. It's been a long time since I've witnessed her happiness on stage being so palatable, it came through when she talked and in her singing, which was not harsh at all, as Tim pointed out. In fact her vocals were what impressed me the most. She was singing softly and sounded beautifully rested. I went in not knowing what to expect vocally (esp. after her illness & the Ellen performance of SL). It was worth it alone to hear "Love Is" ~ it was the highlight for me. Just gorgeous. And her voice was golden on it.

[STEVEHEDRICK]

I was dissapointed with no new songs but after the show ended I didn't even care the show was that good! the merch was the same from what I could tell love the brown shirt, has las vegas at the end!

[GODDESS6]

Originally Posted by STEVEHEDRICK

I was dissapointed with no new songs but after the show ended I didn't even care the show was that good! the merch was the same from what I could tell love the brown shirt, has las vegas at the end!

my good friend bought me the brown shirt, i adore it, not only the pic, but i love the font & the outline as well~

[Macfanforever]

All the commotion with the security .I'm very surprised she didn't say "If you muck with my people" routine.It looks like the venue security never spoke to her security earlier in the night in the prep talk .Ok thanks for the videos.she sounded great.

[Josh2003]

Originally Posted by BTFLCHLD

Well she definitely sounds good, and seems to be moving around and dancing a lot. And I'm glad to see the Stand Back kick has returned :-)

[CreepingDeath]

Originally Posted by GODDESS6

my good friend bought me the brown shirt, i adore it, not only the pic, but i love the font & the outline as well~

I got the brown shirt and both black ones. I also got a button and two different key chains. They forgot to charge me for the button and key chains, but it was a small consolation for the pricks at Caesar's. I've been there many times, and I've gotten to where I can't stand that place. Overrated as f*ck.

I loved Sevie's performance, though.