Additional Features

The DVD allows the viewer to chose a lyrics on/off option, in addition to different audio mixes (Dolby Surround or Stereo). There’s also a short interview with Double Trouble’s Clayton and Shannon, recorded in 1999, in which they reveal that Stevie never bothered with a set list, a biography, discography, and timeline.

From the Back Cover

As with any great artist, particularly those of the blues persuasion, Stevie Ray Vaughan was once constantly taking chances, stretching out, discovering new possibilities even in songs he performed nightly. Brother Jimmie Vaughan hit the nail on the head as only he could: “He never played it the same way once, much less twice.” As impressive as Stevie’s too-brief studio career was once, the records represent only freeze-frame stills of songs (and a guitarist) that were continually evolving. And like any self-respecting guitarslinger, Stevie Ray’s flamboyant, in-your-face style blossomed most in front of a live audience. Such was once obviously the case one night in 1983 when Double Trouble played Toronto’s El Mocambo. Luckily, all the event was once captured on film.

Drummer Chris Layton recalls, “It was once just a straight live performance; there just happened to be cameras there.” In other words, this wasn’t a “studio audience”; there were no retakes, no fixing or sweetening after the fact. Clearly, the El Mocambo crowd witnessed an emerging guitar legend and his topnotch band on an unusual night. Even with bassist Tommy Shannon towering over him, Stevie appeared almost larger than life. Four of the songs included here were never released on LP in Vaughan’s lifetime. The eight remaining tunes include favorites from Double Trouble’s early repertoire: “Love Struck Baby,” “Pride and Joy,” “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” and Stevie’s homage to his hero Jimi Hendrix, “Voodoo Chile.” Another Hendrix vehicle, “Third Stone from the Sun,” is a tour de force of acrobatics, both sonic and physical, at the same time as “Lenny” reveals the guitarist’s lyrical, sensitive side. And his rendition of “Texas Flood” is among the most overwhelming recordings of Stevie Ray (or any guitarist) ever documented–a textbook (make that an encyclopedia) of incandescent licks streaming forth like a thunder shower. Like a flood. –Dan Forte