Watch Stevie Ray Vaughan Tear it Up at the “Biggest Party In History”
This rare footage captures one of Vaughan's final performances in his home city of Dallas, Texas.
In the summer of 1989, Miller Lite – desperate to revive their flagging sales – decided to hold something it called the “Biggest Party in History.”
Held primarily in Houston and Dallas, Texas, the festivities attracted hundreds of thousands of attendees, who braved the boiling summer heat to enjoy a bill that was headlined by The Who, but also featured Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble.
A portion of Vaughan’s September 3 set at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas – his second of two performances at the festival – can be seen above.
The video begins as Vaughan and co. are ripping their way through their opening number, “The House Is Rockin,'” and captures “Mary Had a Little Lamb” before sadly cutting out in the middle of “Pride and Joy.”
Though the quality of the footage isn’t superb, it’s good enough to capture the incredible form Vaughan was in at the time. Sober and riding the success of his then-recently released fourth album, In Step, Vaughan and his band are simply on fire.
Vaughan’s extended “Mary Had a Little Lamb” solo in particular – with its fluidity, speed, and Texas-sized bends – is a treat.
Sadly, the “Biggest Party in History” would be one of Vaughan’s final performances in his home city of Dallas before he was killed in a helicopter crash in Wisconsin the following year. He was just 35 years old.\
