Stevie Nicks - Trouble In Shangri-La Tour Reviews

Trouble In Shangri-La Show on August 3rd 2001
Smirnoff Music Center Dallas, TX

"So-called" a review of Dallas Reviewer: Brian W. Johnson (estranged4life@webtv.net) from Carnegie, Oklahoma August 05, 2001 "Sort-of" a review of Dallas!!!

Hello. I just made it home from Dallas...And it was worth the 600 miles round-trip drive. I would say overall that the concert was great, But the most of the audience, (In my section especially), sat through all the TISL songs...I would give a more detailed review of the concert, but I had a seat over to the right of the Smirnoff Centre, (Section 200 Row AA Seat 3),And I wasn't able to see the whole stage...I however saw the left part ,(From my point of view) ,of the stage where Waddy was positioned to over where Sharon & Mindy were on the right. I couldnt see Lenny or Brett due to the amplification on the stage, Plus I wasn't able to see the backdrop behind the drummer.Anyways, I did remember the set list from the show
last nite. It was basically the same set list Stevie has used so far for this tour, Its listed below:

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around (The WHOLE crowd rose to welcome Stevie!!)
Enchanted (Good performance!)
Dreams (Another great performance!!!)
Gold Dust Woman (Best performance of the night!!! Loved the stage lighting...)
Sorcerer (Sounded very good live...)
Everyday (Much better live!!)
Rhiannon (Great version of THE classic...But the audience in my section sat on their rears during this jewel!!!)
Stand Back (Complete with THE kick!!! I love her shoes...LOL!!!)
Planets of the Universe (Sounded great...Wished I could have seen the backdrop better...)
Too Far From Texas (Brought a great response from the Dallas crowd for obvious reasons...)
Bombay Sapphires (Sounded a bit flat to me...Maybe just an off nite)
Fall From Grace (Straight ahead rocker...Way cool!)
Edge of Seventeen (Great intro-guitar solo by Waddy)
(Encores)-
I Need to Know (A real hard rocking song...Stevie seemed to be enjoying herself!!!)
Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You ( What can I say...Stevie looked like the legendary poet that she is...)

Stevie seemed to be having a great time last night. She was VERY talkative throughout the show, And her voice was back 100!!! Very strong and without an ounce of cracking. And DAMN, Did she ever look so SEXY!!!BTW, When I left the Smirnoff Centre, I went out the wrong entrance/exit. So I had to walk all the way around to the other side to find my car...While I was walking through the parking lot when I saw a few people,(About 10-15), Waiting outside the exit where the backstage area was...Anyways I kept walking a little further down from that exit HOPING to find my car, When I saw a Winnabago (?) that was parallel parked and idling. I thought that was rather strange being parked in a weird way...So I walked on by and noticed it had an Arizona license tag on it, No sooner than I looked back I saw Stevie's brother Chris standing outside behind the Winnabago!!! I nodded to him and he did the same in return. I would have went to talk to him but I was WAY too tired from all the travel I had. I just thought that was a rather strange coincident, First a vehicle with Ariz. tags then Chris Nicks...hmmmm!!! Well, I did meet Livia, And I really enjoyed talking to her,(She's very intelligent and a cutey too!!!). While I talked to
Livia, Lenny Castro & Al Ortiz were standing directly in front of us talking. Thanks for making me feel welcomed Livia!!! Anyways, I hope she can add alot to this "So-Called" review because she had a better seat than I did and may have seen more upclose...Not "Too Far From Texas" now, BrianPS-"Spinal Tap" moment of the day When I purchased my ticket
at Kroger's, The female clerk asked "For which show?", I replied "Stevie Nicks"...Her reply was, "How do you spell HIS name?"..I gave her my "Are you able to even spell your OWN name?" look...Hehehehe!!!! BTW, The opening act Bob Schneider was alright, Not exactly my type of music, But still very entertaining none-the-less.

Here’s my TISL Texas “review” – Since so much has been mentioned already about the set list, etc., I won’t go through all that – I just want to share my “overall” concert experiences and some highlights:

After flying in from Austin, I picked up my rental car (a white Mustang) and checked into my hotel. I was so excited, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I got ready and hooked up with “my people” at the VIP entrance of the venue (thank goodness for cell phones). The VIP pre-concert area had a full bar, but they wouldn’t let you take your drinks into the venue. So, I helped my new friends slam their frozen drinks and off we went.

Although they had let people into the venue, they weren’t allowing anyone to go to their seats yet, including the lawn. We milled around for a bit and checked out the merchandise. Two of the people with me had laminated passes, I had the “stick-on” kind. You may have seen them, they have a Buddha woman on them, they’re cool looking. Anyway, while Bob Schneider was still setting up, we asked one of the ushers if we could go in. He was kind enough to allow us into the empty venue. That’s when I noticed the 3 rows of folding chairs in front of the permanent seats. I asked the usher, “What’s considered front row?” He said the folding chair rows were 1, 2 and 3, then Row A. Like I said in my earlier post, if I had Row A, thinking it was front row, I’d be PISSED! Guess Colby Donaldson from Survivor (the TV show) is really milking his fifteen minutes…

Anyway, they started to let people in and it was really funny to watch the stampede of people on the lawn claiming their spots. We headed backstage at that point to seek some air conditioning. We ran into Lenny, Al, and Scott. I got a close-up look at Lenny’s dragon tattoo. He said, “How’s that for being committed to a band?” LOL We hung out with some of the crew and soaked up all the A/C we could.

I wanted to see Bob Schneider, so I headed back out to the venue to check out my seat. I think this was around the time Brian spotted me – he was sitting in the front row of the 2^nd section back. So that was cool, to meet a fellow Ledgie. J Al and Lenny walked up and were just hanging out, scoping out the scene. I pointed them out to Brian and then went to check out my seat. I had 7^th row, to the right of the stage, directly in front of the speakers. Not too bad, but I moved to the center with Julie (she’s in the tourbook too) to watch Bob.

Bob went into “Tarantula,” his “obligatory audience participation song,” which, being from Austin, I’ve seen 20 times. But he did get the crowd going. It’s a very uptempo, salsa number. And the chorus is very “Stevie,” actually….”there she goes, under the moonlight, under the stars, tarantula!” He’s probably not used to people NOT going nuts for him, so he said, “I hear Stevie Nicks is gonna be here tonight,” to get the crowd screaming.

The only thing I like about the Smirnoff Music Center is that they have a VIP concession line for people w/ passes. That was very convenient. And, it’s on the fairgrounds, the ferris wheel looks really cool behind the lawn, even though it wasn’t running. As far as amphitheaters go, the roof over this place reminds me of a parking garage. Not at all conducive to live music. After Bob’s set, I went backstage for another blast of A/C, used the restroom, took my place in the VIP concession line to get a drink and I knew it was almost time….

I went to my seat and was immediately recognized, “Hey, you’re the NicksFix girl!” Heh.

I was chatting w/ the diehard fans around me and then “Bootylicious” started. I instantly got goosebumps. I absolutely LOVE the TISL vocal re-mix intro. I could listen to just that over and over…

I was surrounded by TOTAL Stevie fans, it was great. I couldn’t see Brett at all, and I thought I’d wait a few minutes to see of any of those empty seats got filled from people arriving late. When Stevie started Gold Dust Woman, this guy, I’m trying to be PC here, uhhh, very effeminate, shall we say, started yelling, “OH…MY…GAAAAWD!” It was sooo funny! He was so thrilled that she was doing that song, he just kept screaming and jumping up and down. In the meantime, there was a woman in about the 3^rd row, right in front of us, who was wearing a duplicate of the TISL cover outfit, except it was pink instead of peach. I guess it looked more like the white outfit from the Mirage tour. Anyway, this woman seemed to be channeling Stevie, literally. She kept doing Stevie moves and seemed almost oblivious to what was happening onstage, ‘cause she was doing Rumours-Mirage era things, like that pose with her elbows pointed upward, hands under the chin, leaning over and spinning until she was on the ground. You just had to see her, she was freaky! And I hope she’s not reading this, and maybe she is a perfectly “normal” person, but she just struck me as one of those fans that security should keep a close eye on. It was funny at first, but after a couple more songs, I was just too distracted by her to enjoy the show. I did ask some of the band and crew afterwards if they’d seen her, they did, and kinda rolled their eyes. LOL

So, I made my move toward the middle and a few rows closer. I ended up 4^th row, behind the folding chairs and just to the right of Stevie. Several seats around me remained empty all night.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I think this stage is the most beautiful set she’s ever had. And whoever’s in charge of lighting should win an award! I loved the pillars of color with their roses dangling down to the ground – and the Buddha women with their skirts.

Stevie flubbed up a few lyrics here and there, but she always manages to recover nicely. Someone else mentioned her mike going out during the “surviiiiiiiive” part of Fall From Grace, that was a bummer. Stevie kinda looked at the mike, like “is this thing on?” I noticed she purposely changed a few lyrics here and there. In Planets, she sang, …leaving nothing left of us to “desire,” instead of “discover.” I liked that.

I didn’t take any pictures until I felt it was safe. I saw some people come up the side aisle and the usher actually told them it was okay to move up front to take pictures, as long as they came right back. So, out came my camera and I started snapping away. I got the kick in Stand Back, and when Stevie did the “sweep” during Edge of 17, I got a nice pic of her waving to the crowd when she was right in front of me. I didn’t rush the stage this time. Been there, done that, and it was too friggin’ hot!

My favorites – Planets (my favorite album cut) ROCKS live! Sorcerer does too, it just has that pounding bass/drum thing that reminds of, oh, I dunno, Fleetwood Mac maybe? Bombay Sapphires, wow! I wasn’t crazy about this song the first few times I heard it, but it has become one my favorites on the album. And it is SO good live! I also love the “meandering” ending, “I can mend your heart, mend your heart…” Fall From Grace was 10 times better than the Blockbuster performance, which rocks. I also love the end of that song, “MAKE sure, MAKE sure, MAKE sure…” It reminds me of Sister of the Moon live too. And I don’t know if it was the hat or what, but HAEWAFY was ultra touching this time. By this time, I had moved even closer to the center, where my friends were sitting. I was standing behind 2 couples – the guys were standing behind the girls, with their arms around their waists. They were swaying along to this beautiful ballad and I really felt the energy and love and magic that was all around everyone. It made me get all verklempt. These are the moments that I live for…

After the show, we were herded into the VIP room (which we nicknamed the holding tank) and quickly informed by security that if we left the room to use the bathroom or smoke, we had to leave the venue. Most of the band came in to chat and sign autographs, but no Stevie. L Lori Perry was there and apparently had several friends in tow. Guys with walkie-talkies kept coming in and out. Next thing we knew, we heard the crowd outside yelling and clapping and off Stevie went, in her black limo. So you see, being backstage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve been backstage at many Stevie shows, but only got to meet her at one. I know, POOR me, right? LOL But my point is, you just never know….a backstage pass is not a guarantee.

I hung out with my crew buddies for awhile before heading back to the hotel for some rest before doing it all again the next day…

Houston was, unfortunately, much hotter and more humid than Dallas. The entire time before the actual concert was stressful and extremely nerve-wracking. Mainly because: (a) I did not have my own vehicle and (b) the people I relied on for transportation were not as enthusiastic as I was about getting there early; nor did they fully comprehend the logistics of parking and having to walk a mile to the venue (walk, not sprint, as we were forced to do since we were so late), figuring out where the VIP entrance was, finding my friends to pick up our passes (again, thank goodness for cell phones), standing in line to buy merchandise, concessions and getting to your seat on time. ARRRGH! My friend friggin’ grew up in Houston, but she got lost on the way back to her dad’s after picking me up at the airport. I had originally planned to get a room near the venue, but she talked me out of it because she didn’t want to spend the money since her dad lives about 20 minutes away in Conroe. After driving around the outskirts of Houston for about an hour and by the time we get to her dad’s, we only had 30 minutes to get ready since we’d planned on meeting Jessica Leigh for dinner and getting to the show in time for the opening act. To make a long and grueling story short, after we finally took care of all our business, I was just paying for my drink and about to go to my seat when Bootylicious started. Lesson learned, I shall ALWAYS have my own transportation and lodging so I don’t have to rely on anyone!

Oh yeah, the passes in Dallas were red, I was wearing a black t-shirt w/ a red dragon on it; the passes in Houston were green, I was wearing a blue floral print dress. When I was putting on my pass, Jessica Leigh and I were laughing because, “it is green, it is aquamarine.” Heh. I was very color coordinated in both cities.

The Woodlands Pavilion is a perfect place to see live music. It’s surrounded by trees, and we had the full moon goin’ on. The venue is smaller than the one in Dallas, everything looked closer together onstage and the seating seemed more intimate as well. I had a 12^th row seat, on the extreme left. All I could see was Stevie’s mike stand and the girls and Brett. Like I said in my earlier post, my Sticketbastard should have noted this seat as “obstructed view” because it sucked so bad. I wasted no time moving to the (once again) many scattered empty seats in the middle section. I went up to Row CC with a borrowed ticket stub to get Jessica Leigh down there with me. We ended up in the 2^nd row behind the pit, just to the left of Stevie. I think this was all during Dreams or maybe Gold Dust Woman, but it was early in the show. My friend Bruce was on the aisle between the middle and the right section, I ran over to say hello to him real quick too. He’s a huge Stevie fan, every time I looked at him, he was absolutely beaming with joy. Aaaah, there’s that vibe I needed to calm down after my hectic afternoon.

Stevie flubbed lyrics in the exact same places she did in Dallas. I don’t know what that’s all about, Bruce said she must have a mental block. LOL. Anyway, the sound was better in Houston too. Of course, the crowd went nuts during TFFT, “there’s a room just outside of Houston…” Stevie dedicated it to Sandy Stewart, who was in the audience.

After getting the first show out of my system, it was fun to share Jessica Leigh’s excitement and see her reaction. We had a blast together, she’s very cool! The people around us had all hung out with the drummer, Mark, all day at the lake. After TFFT, the guy next to me asked me if that song was on her new album. Then he said he hoped she’d do Landslide and Silver Springs. Sorry he was disappointed, and he just didn’t seem to “get” my explanation about both of those songs not being the same without Lindsey, in my opinion. He and his friend were making fun of me for knowing all the words, but they were having a great time and it’s always fun to watch people becoming “Stevie-cized” for the first time! LOL The girl in front of me kept raising her arms during Stand Back and I wanted another picture of the kick. The guy next to me let me lean into his space to get it. Jessica Leigh and I also had him take a picture of us, with our backs to the stage and Stevie in the background. Can’t wait to see that one! I joined my friend Bruce again for HAEWAFY. Stevie was having a little trouble keeping that hat on, we were cracking up.

Afterwards, we were once again herded into the holding tank. My crew buddy informed us that Stevie was definitely coming in there. Sigh! Once again, no luck. We stayed there until we were told Stevie had left the building. But before that, was the “leaky pen incident” (see my earlier post) with Al. Heh.

We said our good-byes to my crew buddies (who were very apologetic that we didn’t get to meet Stevie this time). I told them that I knew 2 shows just wouldn’t be enough for me, and I’d probably see them in Vegas or Phoenix, if they add more dates. I just reserved my flight to Vegas today. J

If you managed to read all of this, bless you! LOL But, I know y’all understand. Like Stevie said when she introduced Sorcerer, “Who else am I gonna tell these stories too?”

Thank you, Stevie, for having that magic that uniquely touches all of our wild hearts!

22-09-2001 Chastain Park Amphitheatre Atlanta, GA

The Atlanta show was amazing - that woman can truly do no wrong. It was definitely worth flying all the way from England for! Chastain Park is a lovely outdoor ampitheatre-like venue, and Saturday was the perfect night for it - warm and clear (apparently, it rained a couple of nights before the show, and it was really bucketing it down when we left, so we were all very lucky). There were lots of fireflies in the sky once it became dark, so that was a nice touch. California opened - they weren't too bad. Their lead singer seemed quite amused by the fact that a lot of people didn't take their seats until Stevie started because they wouldn't let you smoke inside the venue - the smokers were sent to stand by the gate! LOL! Ooh, and the merchandise... the little teddy bears are sooo cute! I bought one for myself, and one for my friend Sarah (a recently converted Lindsey nut). Anyways, they played the whole of Bootylicious before Stevie came out; a lot of people thought it was actually starting then and scrambled for their seats, only to be like, "d'oh!" Bwahaha! But once the show did start, everyone was back at their seats and on their feet! It kicked off with Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, but I was quite surprised that only a few people remained standing for the duration of the concert. I was one of them, LOL, and that concert rocked straight through for me. From then on, we had: Enchanted, Dreams, Gold Dust Woman, Sorcerer, Every Day (this is gorgeous live - I love the song anyway, but it sounded really good that night), Rhiannon (probably got the most cheers, along with EO17), Stand Back (I can't believe I missed the high kick! How the hell did that happen?!), Planets Of The Universe, Too Far From Texas (with Sharon), Fall From Grace (out of the new songs, it was the most popular with the audience), Edge Of Seventeen (ROCKED! OMG!), and for the encore as usual, I Need To Know and Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You (sooo beautiful, especially in retrospect of all that has happened, and I love the "I want you to remember" part at the end - the only bad part was when some girl behind me screamed really loud in the middle of the song, but everyone from row 21 and forward turned round and glared at her, so she shut up! LOL!). Sharon and Mindy were excellent - my mother was very impressed by the girls. And I am liking these little jam sessions between Lenny Castro and Mark Schulman! Rhythm is gonna get ya! Stevie was flirting with Carlos again, and giggling manically - cute! She flirts with everyone! The only true downside was the fact that Stevie's mic was turned down too low during her little speeches, and no one further back could hear, so they started shouting. Of course that only made it worse, and I missed a lot of what she was saying. When someone finally got the drift and turned it up, the entire audience cheered! If anyone gets the chance to go to Atlanta, go! The whole city, and its people, are so nice and welcoming! Finally, Stevie fans are honestly the best! I know now! Our cab driver who took us from the airport to the hotel was going to the concert, and I had real good conversation with him about Stevie and the Mac! Then, at the concert, we talked to one of the security ladies for a while, and she was real sweet. Finally, we shared a cab back to the hotel with an older couple from out of town (we were all waiting for the bus, but it never turned up!) and they were nice people too! So, I really hope Stevie or the Mac come over to England soon, because I can't wait to see them again!

The truly enchanted Laura.

(with thanks to Laura Mountain who sent this review to me)

05-10-01 & 06-10-01 - Aladdin Resort and Casino, Las Vegas

London UK - Las Vegas USA. 17,000kms in a weekend.......you're kidding, right?

No....we did it. Anything for Stevie. We made T-Shirts especially for the trip saying how far we had come to see Stevie Rock-A-Little. We even made cards to hand out with our email addys.

Disaster - Stevie very sick. August 25th Concert postponed. Had to cancel everything at great cost and wait for a new date.

Surprise - Two dates! Wooohooo!

September 11th - The world in shock. Stevie very upset. Tour nearly cancelled. Is Vegas still on? Flights changed meaning we would be late for the first show.

October 5th - We left Milton Keynes early to miss the traffic. This was a very good move as we were put on an earlier flight to Las Vegas. Once on board we noticed that Stevie's Storytellers was being shown as part of the in-flight entertainment! What a great omen! By the time we checked into the hotel we had been travelling for 21 hours. We took showers and headed for the show. This was my first Stevie concert in 12 years and Louise's 2nd (she had made it to Boston this year)

We got to the Aladdin early to meet up with various internet buddies. Hello to Mishi, Kel, Jules, Kristin, Michelle, Courtney, Donna, Angela, Livia, Tori. We decided to try for better tickets...unsuccessfully. We now wanted to find a way to get our gift to Stevie, the gift being a beautiful painting called Rhiannon. After speaking to the right people we found ourselves waiting at the backstage door. After a while we were told that we can't see Stevie before the show as she was doing a sound check (we had guessed as much) and after the show she would be with her family. We were told to return Saturday at 5pm.

We went back to the theatre, purchased some merchandise and met John Kinney! He is a real gentleman and even signed our tourbooks.

To say that Stevie rocked on Friday night is an understatement. We danced the entire night and had a great time much to the annoyance of the people behind who wanted us to sit. They threw ice, beer and lemon slices at us but we had not travelled 6500miles just to sit down! And we told them as much!!

As Fall from Grace came on we picked up our bags ready to get to the stage. We noticed security getting into position to stop this from happening. We made it almost to the stage but were held back by very heavy handed guards who refused to let anyone but the golden circle approach the stage. Stevie came towards us and the crowd pushed forward and I was almost strangled by the security guard pushing us back. One man grabbed Stevie's hand so hard that it clearly hurt her. Louise managed to touch her hand but I just couldn't reach. As Stevie went along the stage Louise managed to put the cute toys we had brought with us onto the stage. They were two pigs and a bunny rabbit all of which walked and wiggled their noses! Waddy picked up the little pig and put it on the piano! We have since found out that Waddy kept that pig and Stevie claimed the white bunny!

It really was an amazing show and Stevie rocked...but the security guards were way out of line.

October 6th - We arrived early at the Aladdin again - too early to go to the stage door as instructed. So we brought a drink and sat down outside the limo rank. After a few minutes Louise spotted Brett Tuggle coming out of the hotel. Almost immediately Lenny Castro came out and waved when we called him. I turned my head and to my amazement saw Sharon Celani coming out. She was very friendly and signed out tourbooks and agreed to a photo despite having no make-up on! As we were about to take a photo Mindy Stein walked out! WOW! So she signed our tourbooks and we had pictures with both of them. They read our t-shirts and were amazed how far we had come. They were both lovely ladies.

We then went to wait at the backstage door. After standing there for around 15 mins a limo pulls up. The door opens and we see curlers!! Huge curlers! It was Stevie - no make up, hair in curlers, green tinted shades and she still looked fabulous!! Stevie got out followed by her two yorkies (very cute). A few other people got out one of whom was Sheryl Crow who seemed to have a mobile phone glued to her ear! We waited some more and could hear the sound check. I tried to imagine Stevie singing Fall From Grace in her curlers!!! It was at this time that Stevie's security guy came to talk to us. We told him how far we had come and showed him the painting. We asked for just 5 mins of Stevie's time. He took the painting to show to Stevie's assistant and on bringing it back told us Stevie couldn't see us as she was having a massage. He told us to return after the show. Lori Nicks was wandering around as was Sharon who waved at us!

So we headed back to the venue and waited for some friends. We saw Lenny Castro wandering by and he also signed our tourbook.

Our seats weren't as good on Saturday but we planned to enjoy ourselves. We swapped seats several times as we wanted to be able to dance and first we had a man in crutches behind us and then a pregnant lady! Eventually we settled right in front of the sound console.

The show was amazing and it was an added bonus to see Sheryl Crow. About half way through the show we were permitted to move to some empty seats that were around 6 rows back. We were in front of Sharon and Mindy who saw us waving the British flag. They laughed and waved at us!. We also saw Stevie's mum and dad in the audience looking very proud. Her mum looked frail but funky in cream snakeskin pants!!!

Once again Security seemed tight so we didn't try to get to the stage. AT this time a guy came up to us and asked us how big a fans we were. He had read our shirts and handed us backstage guest passes!

After the show we headed for the backstage door. We were stopped by Aladdin security a little way back from other people. We saw Stevie's parents leave in a limo and then saw a white limo pull up. Once again we spoke to the security guard who finally let us through. There were around 20 people waiting and we were told not to rush Stevie when she came out and that she would approach people.

Stevie appeared - she looked amazing and I couldn't believe we were this close. She spoke to a lady and then headed for the limo. My heart sank as I thought we had missed our opportunity to talk to her. As she got into the limo Lori Nicks looked across at me and said "Has she seen you yet?".... "No" We were asked this again by two more of Stevie's people and then we heard "You two only" and were beckoned to the other side of the limo as the security closed ranks around the other people. This was our private Stevie moment. The window was down and there she was smiling. She held both our hands and said "Hi, How are you?" I told her it was nice to meet her (quite an understatement don't you think!!) We were with her for no more than 2 minutes. We gave her the painting and she said "This is soooo beautiful" I asked her to sign our tourbooks which she did willingly and then Louise noticed Sheryl Crow in the limo and asked if she would sign also. I noticed Stevie's yorkies and they were so cute with little bindi jewels in their fur!! As Stevie handed the books to Sheryl we were told 30 seconds. Stevie said "Quick sign, they came all the way from England" She said she had planned to come to England but it got cancelled. She seemed genuinely sorry about that. Someone behind me shouted "Stevie, have you seen their shirts?" so I turned round for her to read.

Louise told her about another painting waiting for her in Sheryl Louis' office and I told her about my daughter Rhiannon. We thanked her, she held our hands and thanked us for coming looking us right in the eyes when she talked to us. And then she was gone! As the limo pulled away we saw her showing the painting around. Unfortunately we had no time to get a photo of her.

Our excitement didn't stop here. We stuck around with the band and crew. Chatted with Lori Nicks who seemed genuinely surprised when I asked for her autograph. She was very down to earth and friendly as was everyone else. We also got autographs and photos from Scott Plunkett, Chris Nicks, Al Ortiz and more with Mindy. At this time I remembered a bracelet made for Stevie by my 5 year old daughter Rhiannon. I spoke with Lori and she said she would get it to Stevie. She put it on her wrist and took a photo of Rhiannon. Chatted to Mindy and asked if she saw our British flag and she said " Yes, didn't you see me wave at you?" Of course we had but I just wanted to check it was us she was waving at! Scott overheard and said that he had seen us also!

We really didn't want the evening to end. I can still se Stevie looking right into my eyes and holding my hands and Louise feels the same. It was a moment we have both dreamt of and will cherish forever.

Thankyou Stevie for your music, your poetry, your courage and for spending those special moments with us

Pip Fidler and Louise Beard

(with thanks to Pip Fidler who sent this to me)

04-09-2001 Portsmouth,VA

A fan for over 25 years! First time I've seen her solo. I just got back. She was not 100% I would have to say 98.9% she seemed like she was trying to save voice. The song sets were great not as many in the other shows (I was so excited) I belive she skipped two or three songs. During the "Edge of Seventeen" she was not given too many gifts so I was trying to go up . NOT ! The Security would not let me go up (I was so pissed). But, as I was leaving I ask someone how could get these gifts to Stevie they pointed me the right way so I gave them to a man at the alley which lead to where she was (I just hope he gives them to her). With in the gifts I attached a note to her with my email & home addresses, maybe I'll hear from her (I wish) . She did two encores "I Need to Know" & "Has Anyone Written Anything for You?". Yes I'm very Happy to have seen her & would love again someday.

Review sent to me by D.R Roberts Jr. http://community-2.webtv.net/clawfour/TheGypsyDoveMs/

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Last Updated - 26 March 2003