Live LP Lookback: Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble ‘Live At Carnegie Hall’ – A True Gem Of A Live Album

“My best birthday ever… forever” – Stevie Ray Vaughan, October 4th, 1984

As long time readers know, I just recently saw former lead guitarist for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Mike Campbell and his band The Dirty Knobs in a wonderful concert at the Kauffman Center For The Performing Arts here in Kansas City. It was, as Campbell suggested, a wonderful night of “rock n’ roll soul healing.” This show was a little different for me in that it was held at the Kauffman Center which is typically a hall reserved for high end stuff. They hold ballets and operas in this place. They even had little screens on the back of the seats to translate the operas from Italian to English… if the person sitting next to me can be trusted. And who can you really trust these days? As I said, I’m sure they had to hose the place down after the show to get those rock n roll vibes out of the “theater appreciation” room.

When I was a kid, they didn’t let you have rock n roll concerts in high end opera halls. Venerable Starlight Theater was strictly for, gads, musical theater. You could go out there and see The Music Man, but when it came to rock n roll you weren’t gonna see any music, man. I think they were concerned about letting riff raff and the rough trade trample on their theater… which in my case was likely a valid concern. I think they only started allowing rock concerts out there when I was in late high school… they needed the money. It turns out musical theater isn’t the draw it once was. Who’d have guessed? Even though I’ve been going to concerts out at Starlight since I saw Elton John out there when I was in high school, I still feel a little weird in a high end room or theater watching rock n roll and the Kauffman was certainly no exception. When people behind me would sing along with some of the more well known tunes, it sounded like they were standing right behind me, singing in my ear which was equal parts cool and kinda creepy.

It was as I was leaving the beautiful Kauffman Center, which looks a lot like the Sydney Opera House, that I started thinking about a live album I’m fond of that was also recorded in a venerable high class theater, none other than Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble’s Live At Carnegie Hall. I don’t know much about Carnegie Hall, but I remember some insurance commercial when I was a kid depicting Andrew Carnegie overseeing the construction of the hall. One of his foreman, who was on the stage, yelled up to Carnegie up in the cheap seats and Carnegie responded in a whisper, Mr. so-and-so, “in this hall you’ll never have to raise your voice…” I guess the acoustics are that good. Which reminds me of the acoustics for the Dirty Knobs at the Kauffman Center.  Of course, I’ve also heard the old story where a guy asks a cab driver how to get to Carnegie Hall? The cabbie just shook his head and said, “Practice, practice, practice.”

We just love Stevie around here…I still remember where I was when I heard the sad news that we’d lost him. It’s hard to believe blues master Stevie Ray Vaughan and his great back up band Double Trouble (Chris “Whipper” Layton on drums and Tommy Shannon on bass) played at Carnegie Hall, but they did on October 4th, 1984. And here I’m still kicking myself in the ass every time I go to B.B.’s Lawnside BBQ here in town and see the advert flier for a SRV & Double Trouble concert in a tiny bar down town for like, $5. I missed that one too but I digress.

The concert was a benefit for a cancer charity and was recorded the night after Stevie’s 30th birthday. I don’t know what you were doing on your thirtieth birthday, but I wasn’t playing Carnegie Hall. Rumor has it that the record company didn’t want to pay to record this concert for a potential live album and Stevie and the band paid for it out of their own pocket as it was such a special place to play and special evening. Thank God they did! This is a blistering document of a band in their prime. I have to say, the sheer joy that pervades Stevie’s performance is captivating. I smile the entire time I’m playing this album… and I’ve been playing it a lot lately… maybe I’m just looking for a reason to smile… One reviewer at the time said that Stevie & Double Trouble had turned Carnegie Hall into a “stomping roadhouse.” Oh, how I’d loved to have been there showing the opera set how blues people get down.

After being introduced by record executive legend John Hammond who discovered, among others, Billie Holiday, Aretha, Dylan, Springsteen & SRV, Stevie and the band came out dressed like mariachi’s. The show started with just the three of them on stage. They tear through two searing instruments, “Scuttle Buttin'” and “Testify.” By the time they hit “Love Struck Baby” the band was full tilt “on.” Stevie focused on playing music by the folks who had inspired him like Guitar Slim and Albert Collins. They just killed on this night forty years ago.

During the course of the evening Stevie kept bring up additional musicians to flesh out the band. He brought his older brother, guitarist Jimmy Vaughan, Dr. John on keyboards and George Rains on a second set of drums. Eventually they brought out the Roomful of Blues horn section and blew the roof off the place.

“Honey Bee” just swings. “Cold Shot” may be my favorite SRV song. The crowd lets out a huge cry for that one. “Letter To My Girlfriend” is when the horns kick in and man, do I love that song. It skips along on the horns with Stevie soloing around them. I defy you to stay seated during that one. I really like the horns on “Dirty Pool” a track that gets to the heart of the blues. That leads to a white-hot version of “Pride And Joy.” I can only imagine that the entire band was levitating a few feet above the stage at that point in the evening. “The Things That I Used To Do” brings us a bit of a guitar duel between Steve Ray and his brother Jimmy… Oh, yes! Blues belter Angela Strehli comes out and delivers the goods on “C.O.D.” an old blues chestnut.

The album ends with three instrumentals. Everybody gets in on “Iced Over.” And then, Stevie Ray dismisses everybody else from the stage and delivers two solo instrumentals. Just Stevie Ray’s guitar and nobody else is playing. It was his birthday and he was gonna savor those last two moments. “Lenny,” written for his wife, is just an exquisite, sweet sounding song. I don’t know how he coaxed those notes out of the guitar. He raps it up with a feral “Rude Mood.”

And with that, the live album and presumably the concert were over. This is not only a great Stevie Ray Vaughan album, it’s a great live album and you know how we love our live albums around here… Unbelievably, it wasn’t released until 1997 when it was, obviously, a posthumous release. I’m not sure how they kept this one in the can that long? Record company people, sigh…

This one is a must have for all rock n roll and blues fans. It’s an incredible, joyful performance in one of Amercia’s most august concert halls. It certainly went a long way in making me more comfortable the next time I get to see a rockin’ band in a swanky hall, I’ll just think of this show. Hopefully it’ll help you get a few more miles down your road.

Cheers!