Three Cheers for Stevie

May 30th 1998

I saw Stevie at Pine Knob on Friday and WOW!!! She rocked!!! I took my older brother with me and he was absolutely blown away. He loves FM but he isn't familiar with Stevie's solo stuff so he was really skeptical and after Boz Scaggs played amazingly he was like "It would suck if Stevie was out played by her opening act." Well, let's just say it took him the entire 2 1/2 hour ride home to get his foot out of his mouth! And now he's going to buy Bella Donna; I'm so proud!!

We got there while Boz Scaggs was playing and he sounded really good, great opening act. I bought myself a beautiful blue t-shirt and a calendar, which was kind of a mini tour book, I guess. Good merchandise! I also got a cup of those Dippin' Drop things (little ice cream balls pretty much) and they were really good. If you haven't tried them, it's an experience all in itself!!

Then out walked Stevie. Omigosh, she looked amazing!! We were in row SS so I had to whip out my handy binocs. Everytime I looked at her she had a huge smile on her face and it was so obvious that she was having such a blast. The coolest thing, I thought, was that she told us the stories behind some of her songs. And the fact that she did this only confirmed my notion that she is the coolest person on earth!! She talked to us like we were old friends over for dinner, or something; it was so great and everyone ate it up!

She opened with Outside the Rain, which was so cool!!, and went right into Dreams. Dare I say it, she sounded even better than she did on the FM tour! Then she sang Enchanted, which I'd only heard once before, which then led right into Gold Dust Woman. We were afraid that she wouldn't play any of her FM stuff, but boy were we wrong! Gold and Braid was next, which is totally my new favorite song! Why this didn't go on an album is a mystery to me. Then they rocked Stop Draggin' My Heart Around. The guitarist did a fabulous job singing Tom Petty's part, and he wailed on guitar all night! They did a little unplugged set next, with After the Glitter Fades, Garbo, and Rose Garden, and it sounded great. Rose Garden is my second favorite song now because...well...it was so cool!! And she explained that she wrote it when she was only 17 years old. I'm 17 and all I could think was "Holy cow!!" They went back to their positions, or whatever, and broke into Sleeping Angel. I almost lost it!!! I screamed at the top of my lungs until everyone around me started glaring! I love this song so much and the fact that she sang it totally made the concert for me. Unfortunately, some people weren't as overjoyed as I was so let me just say, Stevie, I loved it!!!!!

The next thing they played was Stand Back, and everyone got on their feet and danced and yelled and sang, it was great! Stevie even did the little "Stand Back dance" with one of the guitar players. Too cute!!! Time for another FM song! What was it? Landslide. I was kind of disappointed that she sang this because it was the same set up as the FM tour (hug and all) and to me, this is just one of those songs that isn't the same without Lindsey, but she still sounded gorgeous! During "Time makes you bolder," someone riffled a teddy bear at her and she almost caught it but it bounced off her stomach instead. She started cracking up in the middle of the song, which was too funny for words! Then the piano guy played the intro to Rhiannon (WOW!!). I'd never really cared for Rhiannon all that much, but her performance made me a believer! She sang her version of Twisted, which I almost like better than the soundtrack version. What a great song to hear live! Whole Lotta Trouble rocked and she said "If you need to get rid of some anger, sing that song." Rock on Stevie!!! They ended with Edge of Seventeen and I think that she sang the wrong verse the first time. It was kind of funny because Sharon and Mindy stopped doing their little coordinated moves for a bit and they didn't do the background vocals, then you could almost see them thinking "Oh, okay!" when they broke into the second verse. There were smiles all around! Stevie said hello to everyone in the first couple rows and got a whole bunch of cool stuff, no doubt. It is my mission to get seats in the first couple rows for a concert, I swear!!! It took a while to get them out for encores, maybe 10 minutes or so, but it was worth it. I Need to Know was amazing and Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You was really emotional. Tears were definitely flowing! The concert was over before it even started, it seemed!

It was such a fabulous experience and I think I might have to try to get to another date later on this summer because it was so amazing!!! All of you guys who have tickets for later this summer, YOU'LL HAVE SUCH A BLAST!! If you don't have tickets, GET THEM!!!!! Three cheers for Stevie!! :-)

Still In Shock!

May 30, 1998

I haven't really had the time to post on the Ledge lately, so you guys may not recognize me as a "regular" poster, but I absolutely HAVE to share my experience at the concert last night, so I figure this is the one and only place to do it! Just to let you know, I am still very much in shock.

I drove down to Michigan from Toronto with my family. We had two tickets, and I was planning to attend the concert with my younger brother, and my parents would find something to do in the meantime. Well, once we reached Clarkston we realized there was not much for them to do, because Pine Knob Theatre is located in the midst of suburbia. I think there were a couple of convenience stores around, but that was basically it.

So my parents decided to purchase tickets - and I did warn them ahead of time that they would probably end up on the lawn. BUT -- strangely enough, the box office had two EXCELLENT seats available for some odd reason, in Row A, which was the FIRST row, but a little bit to the left of the stage....And so, they bought them - AND GAVE THEM TO MY BROTHER AND I!!.

My parents took the tickets they had originally purchased over the phone (unfortunately, they were second or third last row), and I sat in the front....I mean, Boz Scaggs was practically spitting on me!! Ok, so when Stevie came on stage, I just about passed out. She looked so beautiful, I was completely awestruck. And she ROCKED. The whole show was like a dream, I was beside myself the whole time, so it's difficult to remember the exact order of the set list (similar to the first one, I would imagine). She kicked off with Outside the Rain, Dreams, Gold Dust Women, Enchanted (I think)...then she did a little acoustic set, with After The Glitter Fades, Garbo, and Rose Garden. If I remember correctly, she then sang Stand Back (AWESOME - everyone went nuts - she was really moving around, dancing, and twirling to that), Rhiannon, and Landslide. During Landslide, someone threw a teddy bear at her...she tried to catch it, but missed....and laughed while singing, shrugging her shoulders. She picked up the bear afterward, and held it until the end of the song. Everyone sang along - the venue was totally packed, by the way. People were screaming hysterically, crying, I was even on the verge of tears.

I remember her singing Sleeping Angel (completely flawless performance), Whole Lotta Trouble (absolutely kicked ass, I couldn't believe they did that one). She then did a really wonderful version of Twisted, very different from both the recording on the Twister soundtrack and on the boxed set.

Well, here is the climax of my little story...Edge of Seventeen had just started, and everyone was on their feet. Near the end, she did exactly was she had done in the "Live at Red Rocks" video. We all rushed toward the stage...the man next to me gave her a beautiful silver chain, and she thanked him, practically in tears herself. I reached out, hoping for the best....suddenly I felt her hand in mine, and I think I then went totally numb with excitement. The next thing I knew, her hand was still in mine, but she was talking to the girl beside me, who was crying hysterically, rambling to her (could not make out what she was saying - I doubt Stevie could either)...Stevie touched her cheek, consoling her, whispering something like "I know, I know". She let go of my hand and went down the first row, and she was given roses, bouquets of flowers, stuffed animals.. ...everything. There was one little girl on her father's shoulders, waving her ENCHANTED cap in the air. Stevie gave her a hug, and whispered something in her ear....

She then left the stage, and we all had to get back to our seats. She came back on the stage for two encores, she rocked to Tom Petty's I Need to Know, and then sang Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You.

I just want to stress to the Ledgies how truly breathtaking Stevie is in person....she was so BEAUTIFUL!!! She wore four different dresses, and (of course) sported her infamously fabulous looking platform boots. I can't believe I HELD her hand!!! I would absolutely do anything to go to another show....all of you going to her concerts this summer have a whole LOT to look forward to!!!.