The Best Concert I Ever Saw
Stevie Ray Vaughan played at the Peoria Civic Center on December 13, 1986. I was a freshman at Bergan High School. My brother asked me on the day of the concert if I would like to go. Although I was well versed in all things WHO and was beginning to learn about this crazy guy named Dylan, I was clueless to Stevie Ray Vaughan. I had about two hours of prep time to familiarize myself with him before I went to my first concert ever. I put the needle down on “Couldn’t Stand The Weather” and couldn’t believe my ears! I thought Jimi Hendrix had died years earlier!
The concert was general admission, no seats, lots of Harley looking dudes, and was held in the exhibit hall. The stage was a flat-bed trailer and there couldn’t have been more than a thousand people there tops. Stevie jammed full bore- guitar behind his back, picking notes with his teeth, busting guitar strings seemingly on every song… a fight up front required the Peoria Police Department and prompted a lecture from Stevie about loving your fellow man (this must’ve been a common occurance because the vinyl of “Live Alive” has a similar lecture; it was chopped to allow the double album to fit on a single CD).
My life would never be the same.
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After the concert he went to Duffy’s to jam with Bernard Allison. Oh the lucky few…
September 26th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
Hey, P.I.
Ever hear of the group Indigenous? The guitarist, Mato, is a cross between Stevie and Jimmy. The current CD is a bit more mellow, but CDs of theirs such as Long Way Home, Live at Pachyderm Studios and Things That We Do make you wonder if there is some sort of reincarnation going on. Have seen this group in concert twice and the guy can really shred a Strat.
September 28th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Kevin, I took your advice and bought one off eBay. I got their latest album only because when I logged in, it only had two hours left. Their others had several days left and I was anxious after your recommendation and reading a review on Amazon.
September 28th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
Wow PI, you’ve got a good memory. Well better than mine that’s for sure. I didn’t know we decided to go the same day, but what a good decision the older brother made, huh?
Do you remember being searched for knives and guns at the door? At that time we had only flown in a plane a couple of times at most, so a security check was a total novelty.
The flat bed trailer was genius and as far as capacity goes, I’m thinking it was closer to 500 because we walked pretty close to the front without much trouble at all.
Funny enough I had a semi deja vu moment when I saw Built To Spill (another band you should really check out!!! Try “Keep it like a secret” first) play in Milwaukee. The venue was the Rave which basically was a flat concrete floored hull that felt just like the SRV show.
I knew from my friends at co-op that he was probably show up at a bar and play a late night set, but since both of us were teens it was a no go from the start.
Indigenous! Dude, let me know if you like it because they play Madison at least once a year. You can bop up for it. They also play ‘em all the time on the native american radio station out of the Lac Court Oreille reservation by Hayward WI - WOJB.
CP
October 1st, 2006 at 6:06 pm
P.I.
Chasing The Sun is probably the mellowest of their CDs. So, if you reasoanbly like this one, but want to hear a harder blues edge, the ones in the aforementioned post are their “edgier” efforts…especially the live one. It really isn’t live; it’s recorded “live” in a studio. Its as if someone turned on the recorder and said “well, play!”
December 15th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
[...] concerts anymore, but I honestly haven’t seen such an intimate and inspired performance since I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in Peoria years [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
[...] been long known that Stevie Ray Vaughan followed up his Peoria Civic Center concert in 1986 with a blistering set at a bar with Bernard Allison. Well low and behold, there is [...]