Produced in support of their 1984 album Couldn't Stand the Weather, the tour visited North America, Europe, Australasia and Japan from 1984 to 1985.

To reflect the new musical direction that the group took with Couldn't Stand the Weather, the tour was aimed to differ from their past and surpass expectations of the band.

To avoid their renowned strictly blues material, Vaughan and Double Trouble embodied a more expanded and varied repertoire during performances.

In disparity to the previous tour, each of the Couldn't Stand the Weather shows opened with mostly the same three songs before other material was played.

Consisting of twelve legs and 145 shows,[a] the tour commenced in Southampton, New York, on March 10, 1984, and concluded in San Antonio, Texas, on May 4, 1985.

By many accounts, the Couldn't Stand the Weather Tour was regarded as one of the band's busiest tours—in 1997, drummer Chris Layton recalled "at that point in time, it was like delirium seemed to be setting in".

[20] While playing other venues motivated the band, Vaughan and Double Trouble saw their Carnegie Hall appearance as an opportunity to show fans an expanded musical lineup, imagining the special aspects that would be used in such a historic space.

[24] Days before the show, the group canceled a Union, New Jersey concert, due to a final rehearsal that was scheduled in New York.

[25] The following leg, which began in late October, was the band's first full tour of Oceania and marked the first time they had visited the area.

[30] Shannon called the sessions "a pretty strange time", while Layton said of it, "It was a bad combination–the long haul, we were all becoming really, really exhausted, but we kept ourselves propped up by doing more drugs.

[33] Many critics published favorable reviews about the tour; The Lakeland Ledger said that the band didn't disappoint, relying on "their music and themselves to entertain".

"[35] Others praised the Carnegie Hall show; Stephen Holden of The New York Times acknowledged that Vaughan's talents were "handsomely displayed" and "filled with verve".

...Vaughan and the band showed they could play with a vengeance, notably in 'Love Struck Baby' and 'Pride and Joy,' both highlights of the concert.

At the July 2 show in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the Dallas Times Herald noted that the acoustics in the room were awful, and the sound system provided was faulty.