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SRV!

Just watched an Austin City Limits special that featured all of Stevie Ray Vaughn's appearances there. I've always liked SRV and knew he was a good guitar player. But these live performances were something else and his ability to do what he did live really puts him up there close to the top in my opinion. His live playing is just note perfect and he makes it look effortless. And when I say note perfect I don't mean just like the studio recording. I mean that you can tell what he played was precisely what he intended to play. No slurred notes, no sloppy cover ups, perfect timing, perfect transitions, perfect pedal work. All while singing in that perfect Texas blues voice. And then there are the gimmicks that he also pulls off to perfection: playing behind the back, strumming the strings with his elbow, etc. Anyway, I don't think I've seen too many live guitar performances as flawless as these. And Double Trouble backs him seamlessly. If you get a chance to watch this special I highly recommend it. If you just thought SRV was 'good', you'll appreciate that he was great. One of the great ones, in fact.


If you always knew how great he was this will only confirm that for you.
n80
n80 OP
2,133 posts
 
@riley804 I've been a fan for years and heard all the hype for years but never saw him live and outside of a few videos never saw him play at all. So the Austin City Limits sessions were an eyeopener. Proved the hype I suppose.

@tvad I thought the 1983 session on Austin City Limits was amazing. He did not look good but his playing and singing were great. Vaughn never looked great, he was always pale and sweaty. However, in the 1989 session he did look healthier in general.
Possibly the most impressive thing about the 1983 session was when he played, and owned, Voodoo Child. Who would even try that?
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
I only had time to watch him play the first two songs on the Saturday night PBS Tampa broadcast TV show. Lot of passion and fire in SRV's playing! I rate him and Johnny Winter as the two best white bluesmen of our time!
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
The night that SRV died in that terrible helicopter crash I had just come out of a show at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY. Johnny Winter! August, 1990. 
tablejockey
3,958 posts
 
Apology for the bump, but Johnny's mentioned. Ever see the one?
Thanks to the internet, I would have never seen this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rervO5zUNDI&feature=emb_logo 

Johnny OWNED Johnny B Goode in that performance. It's almost as if the Chuck wrote if for Johnny!

SRV was a link to the blues. He played with some of the last surviving real deal guys.
tomcy6's avatar
tomcy6
2,608 posts
 
Thanks for the heads up. I've seen this in the past and it is a great show.

I wish ACL would show both of the entire concerts this show is edited from.  I wish they would do that for a lot of artists.  I'd love to have access to their vault, but I don't think any of that is going to happen.
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