The Texas Flood World Tour was a concert tour in North America and Western Europe, undertaken by American blues rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble in 1983 and 1984. The band had released their debut album, Texas Flood, a week before the tour began.
The first leg of the tour took the band through the United States and Canada, and then on to Europe where they toured for two weeks. They then returned to North America where, during a leg that lasted more than three months, Vaughan and Double Trouble opened for Men at Work and The Moody Blues. The tour concluded in the Mid-Atlantic. The band returned to the studio in January 1984. The tour resumed the following month. The final leg incorporated return stops to several cities, and a visit to Hawaii, before the band returned home in late February.
The tour provided the band with widespread exposure and was a commercial success. Vaughan continued to tour in the ensuing seven years before his death in a helicopter crash in August 1990.
Background
Vaughan was one of two children born to Jimmie Lee "Big Jim" and Martha Jean Vaughan. His brother Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan was born March 20, 1951; Stevie (Stephen Ray Vaughan) was born on October 3, 1954, in Dallas.Patoski & Crawford (1993), pp. 6, 8 His brother began to teach himself to play the guitar when he was twelve. Vaughan observed him intently, and his musical education was aided by exposure to his brother's constant practicing and playing.Patoski & Crawford (1993), p. 10 According to Vaughan, "he made up three songs the first day. He didn't have to try. It just came out". Steve Stevenson, a family friend, noticed that within a few days Jimmie was able to demonstrate what he had learned.
Vaughan was playing the guitar by the time he was seventeen. In that year, 1972, he brought his band Blackbird to Austin to play at the Rolling Hills Country Club, and later at the Soap Creek Saloon.Patoski & Crawford (1993), pp. 45–6 Vaughan then joined a band called Krackerjack for a three-month stint.Hopkins (2010), pp. 67–70 He had accepted offers from several local bands, but within six years of arriving in Austin, Vaughan and his own group, Double Trouble, were playing at the Rome Inn. Among those present was Manor Downs accountant, and future business partner, Edi Johnson who remembered, "I'm not an authority on music—it's whatever turned me on—but this did". After an appearance before record producer Jerry Wexler, Vaughan and Double Trouble were invited to the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982.Patoski & Crawford (1993), p. 145 The audience disliked the band's music and booed their performance.Patoski & Crawford (1993), p. 148 Vaughan and Double Trouble met Jackson Browne the following night. He offered them free use of his personal studio in Los Angeles where they recorded a full-length album in November 1982.Patoski & Crawford (1993), p. 149
As the band gave several performances toward year's end, they began to be noticed by music industry representatives. At the end of a two-night stand in Austin, Vaughan and Double Trouble earned more than $7,000 for their efforts.Patoski & Crawford (1993), p. 150 The group signed with Epic Records.Hopkins (2011), p. 9 The label's approval encouraged Vaughan to pursue further opportunities.Hopkins (2011), p. 17 On a trip to New York, Vaughan and Double Trouble were the opening act at a Bryan Adams concert.Hopkins (2011), p. 16
Tour itinerary Preparations In a memorandum to executives at the southwest branch of Epic written before the tour, marketing Vice President Jack Chase agreed to break Vaughan and Double Trouble out of Texas. After a branch meeting he said: "The prize is having Stevie Ray Vaughn [sic] on our label and in your bags to promote and sell". Chase said it was his duty to break Vaughan nationally, otherwise "the pride in selling a 'Men at Work' is long gone". He went on to describe Vaughan as a "remarkable artist".Hopkins (2011), p. 19 Author Craig Hopkins has suggested that the success of Texas Flood was largely dependent on Chase's expertise in breaking a new artist: "John Hammond has received the most accolades [for the album's success], but without Jack Chase, the record might have been just another of those grapes withering on the vine", according to Hopkins.Hopkins (2011), p. 18 However, there is no evidence to suggest that Hammond was less involved in the making of the band's subsequent studio albums; it seems that he trusted Vaughan's abilities as an artist.Hopkins (2011), p. 11
Chase wanted Vaughan and the band to begin touring as soon as possible—the longer the album took to breakout, the more competition it would face. The itinerary he initially planned included the Eastern and Southwestern United States. The additional legs were only added after the growing international success of Texas Flood. The plan was for the band to begin the tour performing nationwide then tour Western Europe. They would headline theater dates in Texas playing for their immediate statewide fan base.Hopkins (2011), p. 38 Agents Rick Alter and Alex Hodges provided marketing assistance. Their philosophies and techniques in the major markets led to the band eventually performing arena tours, which enabled them to earn bonuses for reaching specific ticket sales plateaus.Hopkins (2011), p. 39
Vaughan and Double Trouble prepared for the tour by performing showcases in Dallas and Houston. These were attended by various musicians, radio station personalities, disc jockeys, record store owners, music critics, and record company executives.Hopkins (2011), pp. 22, 24 The band also made promotional appearances.Hopkins (2011), p. 23 On tour, even during the busiest traveling days, they would fit these into their daily schedule. The band would later find them exhausting.Hopkins (2011), p. 28 Before the tour could begin, Vaughan and Double Trouble needed the support of radio stations, Dallas' Q102-FM in particular.Hopkins (2011), p. 22 At first disc jockey Redbeard received only negative reactions from listeners when he played the album. Nevertheless, he persevered and played Texas Flood for an additional two weeks leading to more album sales in the Southwest. At least 15,000 units were shipped to record stores.Hopkins (2011), pp. 19, 23
Opening leg (June–August 1983) The tour began on June 22, 1983. On the second night Vaughan developed laryngitis, requiring the cancellation of three performances.Hopkins (2011), pp. 24–5 He used this time to rest his throat.Hopkins (2011), p. 25 In Philadelphia, on July 8, the band played at Ripley Music Hall and recorded the show for a radio show broadcast.Hopkins (2011), p. 26 The next stop was Providence, where they appeared before a capacity audience.Hopkins (2011), pp. 26–7 The group moved on to New York, where they performed for another packed house in Rochester.Hopkins (2011), p. 27
The next extended stop was in Canada. Vaughan and Double Trouble played four concerts including a July 20 appearance at the El Mocambo in Toronto. From there the band took their newly purchased tour bus back to New York, where they played additional concerts.Hopkins (2011), pp. 27–8 One of the concerts was organized by tennis players Vitas Gerulaitis and John McEnroe as a benefit for the Special Olympics. A review of the concert described it as "one of the lightest turnouts of the season", adding that Gerulaitis and McEnroe "still cannot lure hordes of teenagers to a concert, even a benefit for a worthy cause". However, the review praised the band: "The concert opened strongly with the ubiquitous Texas guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan leading his trio Double Trouble through a workmanlike set of blues and boogie-woogie."Holden (1983)
The group proceeded to the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and East South Central regions of the US.Hopkins (2011), pp. 29–30 Returning to Canada, they reached Montreal, where they performed before over 38,000 people, at the Olympic Stadium. The concert also featured The Police, Talking Heads and Peter Tosh, earning nearly $700,000 in gross revenue. The band proceeded through the west and Midwestern U.S., an area that encompassed Michigan, Illinois, Colorado and California, arriving in Grand Rapids, on August 11.Hopkins (2011), pp. 31–3 After two performances at ChicagoFest with opening act Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, ("I'll open for them", Vaughan told his agent Rick Alter),Hopkins (2011), p. 31 Vaughan and Double Trouble gave a performance as the warm-up for Sammy Hagar on August 19.Hopkins (2011), p. 32 In late August the band departed for England.Hopkins (2011), p. 33
Europe (August–September 1983) On August 27, 1983, Vaughan and Double Trouble arrived in England. The band hoped for a positive reception from the crowd at the Reading Rock Festival in the county of Berkshire. However, in a lineup with mainly hard rock and heavy metal artists, Vaughan and the band stood out and were not received well by the audience, some of whom began throwing bottles of urine. One person who took particular note of this was the band's road crew member Byron Barr, whose journal records the reaction in demeaning terms: "Played Reading Festival. People were rude bastards. They threw bottles full of piss & all kinds of rude shit." Uber Rock writer Andy P's own recollection, written in 2014, was similar: "He kinda stuck out a bit like a sore thumb and like Steel Pulse the day before he caught the attention of the bottle throwers. Unlike Steel Pulse who ended their set early with bottles clanging off their steel drums he persisted with real flair asking the crowd politely, 'I know it's fun but put a stop to it'."
On August 31 the band traveled to Paris for two shows. There they received their first gold records from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) for selling 50,000 copies of Texas Flood. In Paris they also visited the famous Eiffel Tower, then the Arc de Triomphe—"...where Hitler marched through on horseback. Pretty scary to think that all that shit happened just 40 years or so ago", wrote Barr in his journal.Hopkins (2011), p. 34 A further concert was played in Berlin on September 4 at a nightclub in the borough of Kreuzberg.Hopkins (2011), pp. 34–5 The next day Vaughan and Double Trouble's first German television appearance was broadcast—a brief interview with Vaughan and a performance of four songs from Texas Flood. The interview featured a male and female host. The male host asked questions in English, and the female host translated Vaughan's responses into German. Hopkins comments that the female host came out wearing Vaughan's trademark flat-brim hat, which he did not appear to find humorous. On September 8 the band arrived in London.Hopkins (2011), p. 35
Vaughan and Double Trouble's first London show was at The Venue on Victoria Street. They were advertised as a "special guest at the Reading Rock Festival" with their "new album Texas Flood". The group's London performance proved successful; according to The Guardian, Vaughan's "technique and command are something quite extraordinary".Brown (1983), p. 8 This was, as former bandmate Billy Alford put it, "just a major drug fest". Referring to Vaughan's escalating substance abuse, Alford said, "I knew he was going to be a star, that he had it. It was just a matter of timing and whether he would kill himself before he got there."Hopkins (2011), p. 36 The final European concert was performed on September 9 at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. The band then returned to the U.S. for a tour of the East Coast.Hopkins (2011), p. 36–7
North America (September–December 1983)