Location North America, Europe No. of shows 116 Associated album Texas Flood | Legs 4 End date December 31, 1983 Leg 4 | |
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Start date June 22, 1983 (1983-06-22) | ||
The Texas Flood Tour was a worldwide concert tour by American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Presented in support of their debut studio album Texas Flood, it the group's first tour as an international act. After receiving positive reception for the album, the tour brought the band to further commercial and critical acclaim. Like all of the group's other tours, the Texas Flood Tour was a basic, minimalistic production. Although Vaughan and Double Trouble never followed a set list, all ten songs from Texas Flood were played at least once during the tour.
Contents
Consisting of four legs and 116 shows, the Texas Flood Tour began on June 22, 1983 in Bloomington, Indiana and concluded on February 25, 1984 in Honolulu, Hawaii. After the first leg in North America, Vaughan and Double Trouble visited Europe, where they made an appearance at the Reading Festival in England. They then returned to North America where they opened for acts such as Men at Work and the Moody Blues. For the final show in Honolulu, the band opened for Bryan Adams and The Police.
Background
After Texas Flood had been released on June 13, 1983 the tour began three days later at Club Tango in Dallas. The band played 38 shows which were mostly nightclubs. Their July 11 performance at the El Mocambo was recorded for what turned out to be a concert film entitled Live at the El Mocambo; a rendition of "Texas Flood" was included on the compilation album Blues at Sunrise in 2000. A sold-out performance at The Palace in Hollywood was recorded, with three songs from the concert released as bonus tracks on the re-release of Texas Flood in 1999.
The next leg went to Europe for five shows and a television appearance in Germany. They went back to North America to open 17 shows for The Moody Blues on October 17 through December 3. The Ripley Music Hall performance on October 20 was broadcast for the King Biscuit Flower Hour syndicated radio program. An Austin City Limits appearance on December 13 was also released on the video Live from Austin, Texas. The tour ended in the United States including a performance at the Wax Museum in Washington, D.C.
Concert overview
Out of all the concerts performed during the Couldn't Stand the Weather Tour, each show had a different set list, ranging from 7-21 songs performed by the band.
Main set
Each concert usually opened with "Testify", "So Excited", and "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)." The band went on to perform covers like Howlin' Wolf's "Tell Me" and "You'll Be Mine"; "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Texas Flood", and John Lee Hooker's "Hug You, Squeeze You." "Pride and Joy", "Love Struck Baby", and "Dirty Pool" were also played at most shows. The end of the set usually featured a Jimi Hendrix medley of "Little Wing / Third Stone from the Sun."
Encores
The encores typically consisted of "Lenny", "Rude Mood", and a cover of Lonnie Mack's "Wham!"
Additional songs
Vaughan sometimes covered Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do", which was released on the band's next album Couldn't Stand the Weather, and also did an early version of "Honey Bee" in later shows. Other occasional performances included "Come On", "Hide Away", "Manic Depression", "The Sky Is Crying", and "Crosscut Saw."
Live releases
On July 11, 1983, the concert in Toronto was filmed for television broadcast. In 2013 Epic and Legacy produced a double disc version of Texas Flood which featured a partial recording of the Ripley Music Hall performance. In November 1991, Sony released the video Live at the El Mocambo on VHS. The video was edited footage from the show, and featured many of Vaughan's greatest hits. The VHS releases have since been out of print; however, a DVD version was released for the first time in December 1999. In 2000, the album Blues at Sunrise was released and featured "Texas Flood" from the El Mocambo show. Although in 2014 Epic and Legacy released a box set of all of SRV's official studio and live recordings and it featured the complete El Mocambo performance on CD for the first time.