ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MAY 12, 1989
By Steve Newton
There were some rather unusual sights at the Orpheum Theatre last Thursday (May 4). The ornate home of the Vancouver Symphony does not normally attract long-haired biker-types with death’s-head tattoos and Harley Davidson jackets, and the building’s delicately carved walls do not often reverberate with the raunchy wail of a Marshall-backed Stratocaster.
The grandiose setting of the Orpheum is the last place you’d expect to see rowdy Texas guitar whiz Stevie Ray Vaughan churning out his down ‘n’ dirty roadhouse blues, but the bizarre choice of venue didn’t faze his local fans, who easily sold the show out weeks in advance.
As if he knew he was playing in a classier joint than usual, Stevie Ray hit the stage dressed to kill. His trademark cowboy hat was replaced by a wooly tam, and the previous t-shirt ‘n’ jeans approach gave way to an upscale Miami Vice-type sport coat and fashionably baggy pants.
Vaughan hasn’t released a studio album since 1985’s Soul to Soul, but he showcased a few tunes from his upcoming LP, In Step, including the flat-out boogie number “The House is Rockin'”. He raged through his own hits like “Cold Shot” and “Pride and Joy”, and the inevitable cover of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”. His powerful fingers were continually busting strings, which kept his roadie as busy fetching guitars as the fat lady in the “Cold Shot” video is at taking them away.
The high point in the show came when Vaughan invited buddy Colin James up to jam out on three tunes from Stevie Ray’s first LP, “Lovestruck Baby” and “Texas Flood”. When the road crew finally got James’s amp set up right, he practically stole the show, but Vaughan got his last licks in during the set-closing instrumental rave-up, “Scuttle Buttin'”.
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