In Step Tour

In Step Tour

Tour by Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
Associated album	In Step
Start date	May 4, 1989
End date	August 26, 1990
Legs	6
Number of shows	145
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble concert chronology

The In Step Tour was a concert tour by American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, which ran from May 4, 1989 to August 26, 1990, in North America. The tour turned out to be the last on which Vaughan performed before his death on August 27, and featured many songs from his fourth studio album In Step.

Background

During a European tour in 1986, Vaughan was hospitalized in London for substance abuse, and subsequently flew to Atlanta for treatment, with the rest of the tour dates cancelled. After a month of rehabilitation, Vaughan rejoined Double Trouble to tour in support of Live Alive with the Live Alive Tour, and visited countries such as England, Italy, and Germany.^[1] The tour signified the first in which Vaughan and bassist Tommy Shannon performed while sober.^[2] During the tour, Vaughan began writing new songs about his sobriety—often collaborating with musician Doyle Bramhall—and frequently performed them in concert.^[3] At the end of 1988, the band began studio sessions in Memphis and Los Angeles for In Step.^[4]

Set list

The set lists on the In Step Tour consisted largely of the songs from In Step, including "The House Is Rockin'", "Tightrope", "Crossfire", and "Riviera Paradise".^[5] A number of songs from his past three studio albums with Double Trouble were still included, however, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Look at Little Sister", "Couldn't Stand the Weather", and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)".^[5]

The following is a sample set list from the band's November 7, 1989 concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, which serves well as a sample set list for the tour.

1. "The House Is Rockin'"
2. "Tightrope"
3. "Look at Little Sister"
4. "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
5. "Let Me Love You Baby"
6. "Leave My Girl Alone"
7. "Wall of Denial"
8. "Superstition"
9. "Cold Shot"
10. "Couldn't Stand the Weather"
11. "Life Without You"
12. "Crossfire"
13. "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"
14. "Riviera Paradise"

• "The House Is Rockin'" and "Tightrope" were regularly used as the first songs in performances, and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and "Riviera Paradise" were regularly used as the last. A number of concerts in 1990 featured "Collins Shuffle" as the opening song, and in the later dates, songs like Guitar Slim's "The Things That I Used to Do" and Don Nix's "Going Down" were included, the latter of which was introduced at the October 25, 1989 Minneapolis concert. Freddie King's "In the Open" and "Pride and Joy" were also brought back to the band's set list.

Tour dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Support Act(s)
North America Leg 1
May 4, 1989	Vancouver	Canada	Orpheum	René Martinez
May 6, 1989	Everett	United States	Everett Civic Auditorium
May 8, 1989	Bozeman		Brick Breeden Fieldhouse
May 9, 1989	Missoula		Harry Adams Field House
May 10, 1989	Boise		Boise State University
May 12, 1989	Santa Barbara		Arlington Theater
May 18, 1989	Phoenix		Celebrity Theatre	Robin Trower
May 20, 1989	San Diego		Starlight Bowl	Robert Cray
May 21, 1989	Santa Clara		Great America
May 22, 1989	Santa Rosa		Luther Burbank Center for the Arts
May 23, 1989	Sacramento		Community Center Theater
May 25, 1989	Eureka		Eureka Municipal Auditorium
May 26, 1989	Salem		L. B. Day Amphitheatre
May 27, 1989	George		Champs de Brionne Music Theatre	Robert Cray John Hiatt
May 29, 1989	El Paso		Mountain Shadow Lakes
North America Leg 2
June 14, 1989	Ottawa	Canada	Ottawa Civic Centre Salon
June 16, 1989	Vaughan		Kingswood Music Theatre
June 17, 1989	Montreal		Centre Sportif	Colin James
June 20, 1989	Saratoga Springs	United States	Saratoga Performing Arts Center	Henry Lee Summer
June 21, 1989	Burlington		Burlington Memorial Auditorium
June 23, 1989	Old Orchard Beach		Seashore Performing Arts Center
June 24, 1989	Bristol		Lake Compounce Festival Park
June 25, 1989	Mansfield		Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts
June 27, 1989	Poughkeepsie		Mid-Hudson Civic Center
June 29, 1989	Pittsburgh		Melody Amphitheatre	Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers
July 11, 1989	Wilkes-Barre		F.M. Kirby Center
July 12, 1989	Darien		Darien Lake
July 14, 1989	Cleveland		Nautica Stage
July 15, 1989	Columbus		Veterans Memorial Auditorium
July 21, 1989	Toledo		Toledo Zoo	Stray Cats
July 22, 1989	Noblesville		Deer Creek Music Center
July 23, 1989	Cincinnati		Riverbend Music Center
July 25, 1989	Memphis		Mud Island Amphitheatre
July 27, 1989	Clarkston		Pine Knob Music Theatre
July 28, 1989	Saint Paul		Riverfest
August 1, 1989	Kansas City		Starlight Theatre
August 2, 1989	Evansville		Mesker Amphitheatre
August 4, 1989	Columbia		Merriweather Post Pavilion
August 5, 1989	Syracuse		Empire Court
August 6, 1989	Old Orchard Beach		Seashore Performing Arts Center
August 10, 1989	Moncton	Canada	Moncton Coliseum
August 12, 1989	Quebec City		Port of Québec Agora
August 13, 1989	Gardner	United States	Polish American Country Club
August 17, 1989	Clarkston		Pine Knob Music Theatre
August 18, 1989	Mears		Val-Du-Lakes
August 19, 1989	East Troy		Alpine Valley Music Theatre	Jeff Healey Little Feat
August 21, 1989	Morrison		Red Rocks Amphitheatre	B.B. King Taj Mahal
August 22, 1989	Park City		Deer Valley	B.B. King
August 25, 1989	Concord		Concord Pavilion
August 26, 1989	Los Angeles		Greek Theatre
August 27, 1989
August 29, 1989	Tucson		Tucson Community Center
August 30, 1989	Santa Fe		Paolo Soleri Amphitheater
September 2, 1989	Houston		Astrodome	The Who The Fabulous Thunderbirds
September 3, 1989	Dallas		Cotton Bowl
September 23, 1989	Austin		Auditorium Shores
October 10, 1989*	Austin		University of Texas at Austin (Austin City Limits)	W. C. Clark
October 20, 1989	Phoenix		Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum
October 21, 1989^1	Amarillo		Amarillo Convention Center
North America Leg 3
October 25, 1989	Bloomington	United States	Met Center	Jeff Beck
October 26, 1989	Minneapolis		Northrop Auditorium
October 27, 1989	Milwaukee		MECCA Arena
October 28, 1989	Chicago		UIC Pavilion
October 29, 1989	St. Louis		Fox Theatre
October 31, 1989	Columbus		Ohio Theatre
November 1, 1989	Montreal	Canada	Montreal Forum
November 2, 1989	Toronto		SkyDome
November 3, 1989	Detroit	United States	Cobo Hall
November 4, 1989	Pittsburgh		Palumbo Center
November 6, 1989	Landover		Capital Centre
November 7, 1989	Philadelphia		Spectrum
November 8, 1989	Worcester		Centrum in Worcester
November 11, 1989	New York City		Madison Square Garden
November 12, 1989	Troy		Houston Field House
November 14, 1989	Cleveland		Public Hall
November 15, 1989	Trotwood		Hara Arena
November 16, 1989	Louisville		Louisville Gardens
November 18, 1989	Birmingham		Boutwell Memorial Auditorium
November 19, 1989	Atlanta		Omni Coliseum
November 21, 1989	Miami		Miami Arena
November 22, 1989	Tampa		USF Sun Dome
November 24, 1989	Houston		Sam Houston Coliseum
November 25, 1989	Dallas		Fair Park Coliseum
November 26, 1989	Austin		Frank Erwin Center
November 27, 1989	Amarillo		Amarillo Civic Center
November 28, 1989	Albuquerque		Tingley Coliseum
November 29, 1989	Denver		McNichols Sports Arena
December 1, 1989	Los Angeles		Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
December 2, 1989	Sacramento		ARCO Arena
December 3, 1989	Oakland		Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
December 6, 1989	Vancouver	Canada	Orpheum
December 7, 1989	Seattle	United States	Paramount Theatre
December 8, 1989	Portland		Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
December 31, 1989	New York City		The Ritz
January 1, 1990
North America Leg 4
April 13, 1990	Ann Arbor	United States	Michigan Theater
April 14, 1990
April 17, 1990	Merrillville		Holiday Star Theatre
April 18, 1990	Cedar Rapids		Five Seasons Center
April 20, 1990	Fargo		Fargo Civic Center
April 21, 1990	Sioux Falls		Sioux Falls Arena	Ernie Isley
April 22, 1990	Omaha		Omaha Civic Auditorium
April 25, 1990	San Antonio		HemisFair Park
April 28, 1990	Memphis		Tom Lee Park (Beale Street Music Festival)	Albert King Etta James Johnny Winter
April 29, 1990	Tulsa		River Parks Amphitheater
May 2, 1990	Oklahoma City		Civic Center Music Hall
May 3, 1990	Abilene		Taylor County Expo Center
May 4, 1990	Austin		Auditorium Shores	Buddy Guy Ernie Isley Doyle Bramhall
May 6, 1990	New Orleans		New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
June 7, 1990^2	Burbank		NBC Studios (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson)
North America—Leg 5
June 8, 1990	Mountain View	United States	Shoreline Amphitheatre	Joe Cocker
June 9, 1990	Costa Mesa		Pacific Amphitheatre
June 10, 1990	San Diego		San Diego Sports Arena
June 13, 1990	The Woodlands		Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
June 15, 1990	Atlanta		Coca-Cola Lakewood Amphitheatre
June 16, 1990	Jackson		Mississippi Coliseum
June 17, 1990	Dallas		Coca-Cola Starplex Amphitheatre	Joe Cocker B.B. King Dr. John Irma Thomas
June 19, 1990	Pelham		Oak Mountain Amphitheatre	Joe Cocker
June 20, 1990	Nashville		Starwood Amphitheatre
June 22, 1990	Cuyahoga Falls		Blossom Music Center
June 23, 1990	Clarkston		Pine Knob Music Theatre
June 24, 1990	Cincinnati		Riverbend Music Center
June 27, 1990	Noblesville		Deer Creek Music Center
June 28, 1990	Burgettstown		Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater
June 30, 1990	Philadelphia		Mann Music Center
July 1, 1990	Manchester		Veterans Memorial Park
July 2, 1990	London	Canada	Dr. Rockits
July 3, 1990	Essex Junction	United States	Champlain Valley Fair
July 4, 1990	Bristol		Lake Compounce
July 5, 1990	Byram		Waterloo Village
July 7, 1990	Holmdel		Garden State Arts Center
July 8, 1990	Wantagh		Jones Beach Marine Theater
July 10, 1990	Hamilton	Canada	Copps Coliseum
July 11, 1990	Montreal		Montreal Forum
July 12, 1990	Hopewell	United States	Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center
July 14, 1990	Columbus		Capital Music Center
July 15, 1990	St. Louis		Fox Theatre
July 16, 1990	Kansas City		Starlight Theatre
July 17, 1990	Englewood		Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
July 20, 1990	Salem		L. B. Day Amphitheatre
July 21, 1990	George		Champs de Brionne Music Theatre
July 22, 1990	Vancouver	Canada	Pacific Coliseum
July 24, 1990	Anchorage	United States	Sullivan Arena
July 25, 1990	Fairbanks		Carlson Center
July 30, 1990	Saint Paul		Riverfest
North America Leg 6
August 24, 1990	Kalamazoo	United States	Kalamazoo County Fair
August 25, 1990	East Troy		Alpine Valley Music Theatre	Eric Clapton Robert Cray
August 26, 1990

*An invited audience for a filming of Austin City Limits; not part of the tour.

¹ A sales convention for Western Merchandisers; not part of the tour.

² A filming for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; not part of the tour.

Notes

1. Hopkins 2011, pp. 191-192.
2. Hopkins 2011, p. 154.
3. Hopkins 2011, p. 194.
4. Hopkins 2011, p. 197.
5. Hopkins 2011, p. 219: sample set list for the In Step Tour.

On June 15, 1990 Stevie played not only with Joe Cocker but also with Dr. John, Irma Thomas, and BB King. SRV played 4th, and BB King closed out the show playing 5th. It was a great performance, and I'm thankful I was able to see it.

References

• Hopkins, Craig. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Day by Day, Night After Night: His Final Years, 1983-1990. Backbeat Books; October 18, 2011. ISBN 978-1-61774-022-0.