Stevie Ray with his Steel String Singer

[Structo]

Watch carefully at the beginning.
He turns it up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3J59QpE01g

[Reeltarded]

Hard to believe that was so long ago, huh?

Rippin tones..

[Structo]

Yes, what a tragic loss.

I live near the state fairgrounds and he played there in 1989.

I think it was like two weeks later when he lost his life.

He had so much more to give.

[John_P_WI]

Yeah, how young they all looked. I remember sitting in my car thinking about going to that last concert - decided not to at the last moment because of lack of funds and that fact that I had just seen Clapton a short time before and was underwhelmed. I really didn't want to sit through Clapton again....

From my friends who went, they said it was an unbelievable performance from SRV.

Damn, such a tragic loss that could have been avoided.

[Reeltarded]

Jeff Beck and SRV 3 nights in a row. They flipped for who would open, and then jammed..

SRV was intense, but Jeff Beck... omfg... together they were just murderous.

[vibratoking]

I saw two of the Beck SRV shows. And have seen them both, individually, more than a dozen times. First time I saw Beck was in Philadelphia 1976 with Jan Hammer. Wow! That version of Freeway Jam is on the live album. Saw Stevie for the first time at a tiny little bar called Rosa's in Colorado Spings in 1983. Maybe 100 people there. Those guys can sure grab your attention. Jeff and Stevie together was a dream come true for me. Saw Stevie at Red Rocks quite a few times. Intense is a good description. He just kept on coming. Was backstage and/or under-stage as it were for two of them. Got to meet him briefly. That was memorable. I still catch Beck every chance I get. Wish I was still doing that with Stevie. Beck is one of those guys that takes so many chances live and just when I think he has played himself into a corner, he escapes with a move I never imagined. Seen him do it so many times. Stevie's loss is especially sad because I feel his true creativity was just starting to explode when he passed. He was really finding himself and the muse, I thought.

[Bob S]

Sadly never got to see Stevie Ray live.
Must've been an experience.
Thanks for posting.

[M Fowler]

My wife and I really enjoyed his performance in Fargo, ND it was so damn good.

[sepulchre]

His passing was very much like losing an old friend. I saw him a few times before he got big and popular, playing in Austin and around Houston. What an incredible talent.

[jeff12]

Saw him in 1986 in South Bend, and in Kalamazoo at the state fair friday 8/24/1990 the weekend he got killed. What a loss.

[boots]

I saw SRV and Joe Cocker at the Gorge at George (in George, WA - yes, there really is a town named that in WA state!) just months before he died. It is the coolest outdoor venue ever, but it was so crowded up near the stage that I watched from way back. I strolled in front of the stage once just to say I did, but people weren't giving up their spots. I still remember Voodoo Chile Slight Return drifting on the hot summer breeze. It was incredible. Sure wish I could have seen him again, in a more intimate venue.

Sometimes I think people that incredibly talented, like SRV and Hendrix, were from another world, and were dropped in amongst us for a while, then taken away just as suddenly as they appeared. Like a divine visit, if you will.

[Chad]

Saw him in 1986 in South Bend, and in Kalamazoo at the state fair friday 8/24/1990 the weekend he got killed. What a loss.

Wow,my two uncles went to the Kzoo state fair show. I at the time got a ticket for my 14th bday which was a a few days later on Aug. 28th 1990 I was not allowed to go with them (my uncles) because they were not quite trustworthy enough and could not get another ride, my asshole brother said it wasn't worth his time to take me still love him of coarse My mother said I could go next time he came around again He has been my biggest guitar inspiration in my life made me pick up the guitar.Never was a next time. I was mad for awhile as one could imagine. I still have the unused ticket in a glass frame.I would have damn near given my left nut to have seen Stevie My uncels said it was a fantastic show they had already seen him twice before.Mabey I'll see him in the next life.... Chad

[boots]

Good God Man, I just watched part of the video. I don't think there has ever been another guitarist who understood Hendrix, and classic Blues, and rolled it all together as well as SRV. It's hard to believe that someone so young could have such a mastery of the guitar. I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and I don't think I will ever come close to halfway of what those guys could do. I work pretty hard at getting better, but for those guys, it just flowed out of them. It's got to be some kind of divine gift.

[sepulchre]

Sometimes I think people that incredibly talented, like SRV and Hendrix, were from another world, and were dropped in amongst us for a while, then taken away just as suddenly as they appeared. Like a divine visit, if you will.

+1 to that brother. I grieved Jimi's passing for years, still do really. Then Stevie... Giants, both.

[jeff12]

Saw him in 1986 in South Bend, and in Kalamazoo at the state fair friday 8/24/1990 the weekend he got killed. What a loss.

Here are a couple of my pictures from 1986 show. Reese just joined the band. They played the just finished and still unreleased Soul to Soul album start to finish.