Just working..listening to some favored blues over here and thought I’d share some Stevie Ray Vaughn. I love his music. I was there the night he died in East Troy, WI at the Alpine Valley Amphitheatre. It was an awesome concert with a tragic ending.
Stevie Ray Vaughn Tribute - Life by the Drop
On August 25, 1990, Vaughan and Double Trouble finished up the summer leg of the tour with shows at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, just outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. The show also featured Robert Cray and his Memphis Horns along with Eric Clapton’s set. Alex Hodges, Double Trouble’s tour manager, arranged flight by helicopter with Omni Flights.
The next morning on August 26, 1990, Vaughan had what was described as a “horrible” nightmare. He dreamt that he was at his own funeral and saw thousands of mourners. He felt “terrified, yet almost peaceful”. He shared this story with his bandmates and some trusted crew members. The band played that night, as bass player Tommy Shannon hopped a helicopter already back to Chicago.
Eric Clapton played his set next. At the end of the show, as fog settled over the audience in the arena, Clapton introduced Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray, Robert Cray, and Jimmie Vaughan. The musicians chose the appropriate titled “Sweet Home Chicago”, a blues classic written by Robert Johnson.
After the 15-minute jam, the lights went up and the musicians went backstage to trade compliments. Clapton and Vaughan talked about future dates in London to pay a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.
Double Trouble drummer, Chris Layton, recalls his last conversation with Vaughan backstage. He then remembers Vaughan saying he had to call his girlfriend, Janna Lapidus, back in Chicago. He headed out the door to the helicopters.
The musicians expected a long bus ride back to Chicago. Vaughan was informed by a member of Clapton’s crew that three seats were open on one of the helicopters returning to Chicago with Clapton’s crew, enough for Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, and Jimmie Vaughan’s wife Connie. It turned out there was only one seat left, which Stevie Ray Vaughan requested from his brother, who obliged. Stevie strapped himself next to Clapton’s crew. It was 12:44 am. Pilot Jeffrey Browne guided the copter off the ground as the lights flashed below. Seconds later, the pilot banked the copter into a 300-foot high hill with the twisted metal scattered over an area of 200 square feet. All on board were killed instantly. No one realized that the crash had occurred until the helicopter failed to arrive in Chicago, and the wreckage was only found with the help of its locator beacon.[5] The main cause of the crash was believed to be pilot error.[6] Chris Layton, Jimmie and his wife were waiting for their copter so they could leave. However they hadn’t found out about the news until they returned to the motel in Chicago. The next morning Stevie Ray Vaughan’s brother Jimmie and good friend Eric Clapton were called to identify the bodies.
We get a lot of electrical storms around...
1:40 am on August 11th, 2007
Things like that make you remember how fleeting life is… hold the moment. xoxo
5:03 am on August 11th, 2007
Wow…I was at that same show. I had just moved to Milwaukee and bought the lawn seats to celebrate. I remember hearing about the crash the next day and was just in total shock.
12:26 pm on August 11th, 2007
I was just thinking of you, or rather telling your SRV story to Boy #1 the night before last. He is now also a fan of SRV and we were going through YouTube playing every video we could find. He said I should send you the links and I told him that knowing you as I do, I was pretty sure you’ve found all of your favorites on there already.
12:33 pm on August 11th, 2007
Jammie J - life is fleeting, indeed it is. We all know how we come into this world, but most of us have no idea how we’ll leave it.
12:35 pm on August 11th, 2007
Michelle - Wow, small world! I have yet to run into anyone who even knows what Alpine Valley is! I used to go to concerts there all the time…it’s been forever since I’ve been there, though.
It was a total shock hearing about the crash the next day.
12:36 pm on August 11th, 2007
Chelle - you would be right
But tell the kid I’m happy he thought of me.. that’s really nice of him 
3:15 pm on August 16th, 2007
Wow, I sort of envy you! Gotta have to sweet old blues!
4:16 am on December 21st, 2007
Thank you Lisa for this article. I remember the day the crash was reported. Not being a fan of Stevie back then, I was still bummed out and shocked. I’m a big music fan and over the years seeing footage of his work, I’m a fan of his now and wish I could have seen him when he came through the Detroit area. I always catch his concerts on Austin City Limits on P.B.S.. The main reason I searched for this article was I always thought Eric Clapton was suppose to be on that same flight but was late getting there so it took of without him.I see it was his road crew that was on it.
THANKS, CHUCK