I just had a comment posted to my old blog by Kim on something I wrote about Bill Hicks back last May. She was stunned that I saw him live about a year before he died and wanted some details. It is odd timing that she posted now considering I’m just back from Austin. But I was also thinking about Bill when I was over there.
I was in the airport and spotted some Stevie Ray Vaughan CDs. I’ve liked him for years but wouldn’t be a fanatic. Having said that, the man was a genius with a guitar. His Voodoo Chile is probably as good as Jimi’s. I managed to see him live too in Stuttgart in 1988. We were really going to see The Hothouse Flowers who were playing support but every other person in the stadium was there to worship Stevie. The CD I bought on Saturday was a recording of a tribute concert with the likes of Clapton, BB King, Robert Kray and others covering Stevie classics. Bloody good. Ripped to MP3 already (if IRMA want to take me to court). Here we have two guys from Texas, both the very best in their field, I see them perform live and they both croak it wayyyy before their time. Coincidence? I think not. Let’s just say Willie Nelson, Michael Dell and ZZ Top better stay the hell away from me.
But back to Kim’s question’s about Bill. It was in 1993 I think so we’re talking a long 13 years ago. I can’t remember what I did yesterday so the details of that long ago are pretty vague. We saw him in the Tivoli theatre in Dublin (Ireland). We were to the side of the stage about two rows back. I had seen his videos before so some of the material was familiar but the switch from smoking lover to hater was a bit of a shock. He was also doing his “big opening” with smoke, lights, a big hat and Hendrix music. Didn’t really work for me but the show more than made up for it.
My main recollection of the night (apart from Goat Boy) was that my sister was rotten drunk and kept shouting “Yoh Bill! Woo hoo! yeah!” after every punch-line. His material is still hilarious after all these years. I couldn’t believe it when Gulf War II was building up and the media started using the phrase “Elite Republican Guard” all over again. Some things never change. [tags] Bill Hicks, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Texas, Goat Boy, Tivoli Dublin[/tags]
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