Elvis Collector's Gold

ANOTHER ELVIS LIVE CONCERT REVIEW BY OUR COLUMNIST STEFAN KOCK. MAY 26, 1977.

February 12th 1977, Elvis starts his 25th tour since his returning to the concert stage. It was his first concert of 1977 and in comparison with the December ´76 tour, just six weeks before, it clear right away that the hill Elvis life had taken became a mountain. In just six weeks Elvis had put on a lot of weight again, his voice sounded somewhat flat and he had difficulties with reaching some notes and breathing. Still it was a very good tour with some great moments on stage, like two versions of Blueberry Hill (13th and 14th), Big Boss Man (15th), several reprises on My Way, a fantastic Where No One Stands Alone (16th), Moody Blue (21st) and Release Me (18th and 21st). Also Unchained Melody was done quite a lot during this tour, always to great response from the audience.

From left to right: feb. 12th / feb 15th / feb 16th / feb 20th

The next tour (March 23rd to March 30th – 3 shows at the end were cancelled) was of a lesser quality. Elvis started good with the opening show in Tempe, AZ on the 23rd but from then on the quality of the shows became lesser. Still some, surprisingly, good moments during this tour also, like the frequent addition of That’s all right Mamma and Are You lonesome Tonight, How Great Thou Art, the last live versions of Lawdy Miss Clawdy (27th, a very good, bluesy version) and Steamroller Blues (28th, also a very good one). Despite the fact that the audience was already in the building on the 31st in Baton Rouge, the concert and the two after were cancelled. Elvis was admitted to the hospital and released on April 5th. On April 21st his third 1977 tour starts, beginning in Greensboro. The shows are better this time although Elvis still is very static on stage during a number of shows. During the Ann Arborr performance on the 24th Elvis is in very good shape, sings very strong (great version of Trying To Get To You) and performs a very good (with falsetto ending) Little Darling and a excellent version (without (!) falsetto ending) of Unchained Melody…( “I’ve done it better”..) On the 26th Elvis has an off day and gives a very mediocre performance but the last few shows are good to very good (29th – great Big Boss Mann and bridge Over Troubled Water, 30th – one verse of Rip It Up and an almost complete version of The Wonder Of You, may 3rd – Good show with the very last performance of Mystery Train/Tiger Man).

The show that will be reviewed here is done during his fourth tour of 1977. This tour can be considered as the weakest of 1977, but, like the others, has very good moments.

The tour went trough the following cities:

Friday May 20th : Knoxville, Tennessee – 13.000 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Saturday May 21st : Louisville, Kentucky – 18.000 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Sunday May 22nd : Largo, Maryland – 19.000 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Monday May 23rd : Providence, Rhode Island – 13.500 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Tuesday May 24th : Augusta, Maine – 8.000 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Wednesday May 25th : Rochester, New York – 10.000 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Thursday May 26th : Binghamton, New York – 7.125 in attendance – Mexican Sundial
Suit.
Friday May 27th : Binghamton, New York – 7.125 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Saturday May 28th : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 18.850 in attendance – Mexican Sundial
Suit.
Sunday May 29th : Baltimore, Maryland – 12.841 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Monday May 30th : Jacksonville, Florida – 10.300 in attendee – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Tuesday May 31st : Baton Rouge, Louisiana – 15.000 in attendance – Mexican sundial Suit.
Wednesday June 1st : Macon, Georgia – 10.242 in attendance – Mexican Sundial Suit.
Thursday June 2nd : Mobile, Alabama – 11.000 in attendance – Mexican sundial Suit.

Brooms County Veterans Memorial Arena

Binghamton, New York – Brooms County Veterans Memorial Arena – Thursday May 26th 1977 – 8.30pm – 7.125 fans in attendance

Elvis is about to enter the stage before his may 26th performance!

Track listing:

2001 Theme / See See Rider / I Got A Woman – Amen / Love Me / If You Love Me Let Me Know / You Gave Me A Mountain / Jailhouse Rock / O Sole Mio – Its Now Or Never / Little Sister / Teddy Bear – Don’t Be Cruel / And I Love You So / Why Me Lord? / Polk Salad Annie / Introductions / Early Morning Rain / What’d Say – Johnny B Good / Ronnie Tutt solo – Jerry Scheff solo – Tony Brown solo – Bobby Odgen solo / Hail Hail Rock N Roll / Hurt / Hound Dog / Cant Help Falling In Love / Closing Vamp

May 1977, Elvis health is fastly declining. So far 1977 has been up and down with good concerts at the first tour, lesser concerts during the second one and, again, some very good ones during the third one. It’s the 7th day of his May tour when Elvis arrives in Binghamton, New York for performing two shows in two days. So far the tour has been kind of weak. The shows are short and the set-list is almost the same every show. During the May 25th concert he gave however some satisfying performances of One Night and My Way.

On this Thursday evening 7.125 fans are getting ready to see Elvis perform. First they got to see the Stamps and the Sweets perform their opening acts followed by an intermission. After the intermission Jackie Kahane got on stage and did his (comedy) part for the show. After he had left the stage there was an intermission of about 25 minutes. ..then the lights dimm and the 2001 Theme is set in. The excitement grows as the music gets louder and a spot is dancing around the stage then there’s the, famous, one second gab and Ronnie starts to bang his drums and is joined by the rest of the TCB band for the opening vamp…flashbulbs are lighting the place as Elvis enters the stage from the right site. He’s wearing his Sundial Suit and does look quite good tonight. As the band plays on he walks to both sides of the stage. After getting his guitar from Charlie Hodge he walks to the microphone and grabs it and goes of with See See Rider. He sounds strong and energetic. The song is highlighted by some brilliant guitar playing from James Burton. A fine performance indeed.

Bursts of screams are heard trough out the Well Well routine that proceeds the I Got A Woman – Amen medley. Elvis sounds very “up” for it tonight. I Got A Woman is strongly performed. So far, Elvis is heaving a good time on stage. He sounds very convincing during Amen and spurs the band on with comments like “play it”. After Amen has finished and the guitar has been thrown to Charlie its time for the “welcome” speech. Love is the next song, as usual. But, it’s a very pleasant version tonight with good, committed, vocals of Elvis and the ending is powerful. “Thank you, you’re a good audience! This next song was recorded by Olivia Newton John and is called If You Love Me, Let Me Know and if you don’t, move it…” This is very good version of this classic. Elvis voice is strong and clear and the band is playing fantastic. Its wonderful to hear Elvis accentuate some words of the song, just like he did in the summer of ´75. Its one of the finest versions ive ever heard him do. It sounds like he is moving quite a bit during the song. The movements he makes are very similar as the ones to Walk A Mile In My Shoes back in 1970. Elvis receives a great applause after the song. The crowd is very enthusiastic and warm towards Elvis as was mostly the case in the smaller venues he played. You Gave Me A Mountain is next on the list and he receives some applause before he has even has sung a word. The version that follows is fantastic. It seems that this audience is going to view one of the better performances tonight. James guitar playing is fresh and very audible. Elvis’s voice and confidence are growing during the song and it must have been an impressive sight to see him perform this song that night. A small ovation is his reward. As usual Jailhouse Rock follows Mountain and it’s a fine performance. Nothing near the 71 versions but quite enjoyable. Next Elvis introduces Its Now Or Never to the audience. Its being proceeded by the Italian version, O Sole Mio, sung by Sherrill Nielssen to the delight of the audience. Elvis version Of Its Now Or Never is nothing less than impressive. After Now Or Never Elvis performs one the few early sixties songs he did in the 70´s: Little Sister. Why he never sang more of this material is known only to him, but live performances of Good Luck Charm, His Latest Flame or Blue River for instance would have been a great addition to the live repertoire. A standard, rushed, version of the Teddy Bear – Don’t Be Cruel medley is performed next. Its very clear that Elvis is bored to death with it. But still he manages to throw a funny lyric chance during Don’t Be Cruel. “ What do you want to hear folks?”..” We did a song in an album ..And I Love You So”. As always Elvis delivers a warm, breathtaking version of this song he recorded in March 1975. Although he sounds a bit shaky on some parts of the lyrics it’s a very good performance. Kathy really shines on her “high voice” parts.

Providence, May 23rd 1977 8:30pm show.

When some fans near the stage are yelling out some requests, Elvis replies with “ Do What??” and decides to do Why Me Lord?. This turns out to be the very last live performance of this great gospel song, a favourite of Elvis. On this version Elvis, as usual, tries to make JD laugh and succeeds in doing that. A worthy last version. Before the Band Intros Elvis rocks the house with Polk Salad Annie….how good those late 70´s versions may be, they never reached the incredible height he reached during the early 70´s. Elvis sings very strong and the body movements are really evident. As mentioned before, James guitar playing is quite brilliant this particular performance.

The Band Intros are not as dragging as they could be during this period of Elvis’s career. James plays his usual solos (quite sad that Delta Lady was only played at a few late April concerts as this song was quite phenomenal to hear by James), Ronnie has a different solo than during 75/76, its quite fabulous. Tony Browns solo sounds fresh as he hits the piano.
After Hail Hail Rock ´n Roll its time for “one of our latest records” Hurt. It’s a fantastic version. Sweat drops from his face as he sings the lyrics to this very popular song. A strong version with one of the best endings ever. The audience gives him a great applause. A throwaway version of Hound Dog is next, quite fast paced during this concert.

Elvis mentions that he will be back for a show “tomorrow night” before Cant Help Falling In Love…..after the Closing Vamp there’s only one announcement left: Elvis has left the building.

This is a very good show, considering the poor health he was in and the kind of weakness that surrounded the tour. His voice was very strong and he was in a great mood. Surprisingly after giving a very good first half, he closes with the QCS after the intros. QCS stands for Quick Closing Syndrome. Just two songs followed the intros and that’s a bit sad and even the audience must have expected some more.

The above reviewed concert is brought out, in very good audience recorded sound, on two bootleg cd´s: Unchained Elvis has three bonus cuts from the May 27th performance, Heartbreak Hotel, Bridge Over Troubled Water – second performance out of three in 1977 and Unchained Melody in the same sound quality. The second one is called why Me Lord and has the same sound quality, but a less attractive packaging. This one has bonus cuts as well and they are take 6 & 7 of Its Easy For You.

Both discs are worth having. Unchained Elvis was pressed 4(!) times. So if you’re looking for a good concert with Elvis in great voice and mood, buy this one. You wont regret it!

WRITTEN BY STEFAN KOCK

Elvis live in Ashville on (from left to right) 22/07 – 23/07 – 24/07 1975

An Ashville Trilogy!! (Part One)

July 1975, Elvis starts his 15th tour since September 1970. 1975 was a very busy year for Elvis with a recording session (the today session), a Vegas season and two tours (April 24th / May 7th & May 30th / June 10th) up until this summer tour. Between July 8th and 24th Elvis gave 21 sold out performances. The tour schedule was:

08/07/75: 8.30pm, Oklahoma City, Myiad Convention Center.
Suit: Indian Feather. Attendance: 15.291

09/07/75: 8.30pm, Terra Haute, Hulman Civic Center.
Suit : Silver Eagle . Attendance : 10.244

10/07/75 : 8.30pm, Cleveland, Cleveland Coliseum.
Suit : Black Eagle Attendance : 21.000

11/07/75 : 8.30pm, Charleston, Civic Center.
Suit : Red Eagle. Attendance : 8.400

12/07/75 : 2.30pm, Charleston, Civic Center.
Suit : Silver Eagle. Attendance : 8.400

8.30pm, Charleston, Civic Center.
Suit : Indian Feather. Attendence : 8.400

13/07/75 : 2.30pm, Niagara Falls, Covention Center.
Suit : Silver Eagle. Attendence : 11.500

8.30pm, Niagara Falls, Convention Center.
Suit : Black Eagle. Attendence : 11.500

14/07/75 : 8.30pm, Springfield, Springfield Civic Center.
Suit: Dark Blue Gypsy . Attendence: 9.000

15/07/75: 8.30pm, Springfield, Springfield Civic Center.
Suit: Dark Blue Aztec. Attendence: 9.000

16/07/75: 8.30pm, New Haven, Veteran´s Memorial Coliseum.
Suit: Dark Blue Gypsy. Attendence: 10.920

17/07/75: 8.30pm, New Haven, Veteran´s Memorial Coliseum.
Suit: Dark Blue Gypsy. Attendence: 10.920

18/07/75: 8.30pm, Cleveland, Cleveland Coliseum.
Suit: Dark Blue Gyspsy. Attendence: 21.000

19/07/75: 2.30pm, Long Island, Nassau Coliseum.
Suit: Dark Blue Aztec. Attendence: 16.500

8.30pm, Long Island, Nassau Coliseum.
Suit: Dark Blue Gypsy. Attendance: 16.500

20/07/75: 2.30pm, Norfolk, Scope Cultural & Convention Center.
Suit: Silver Eagle. Attendance: 11.300

8.30pm, Norfolk, Scope Cultural & Convention Center
Suit: Black Eagle. Attendance: 11.300

21/07/75: 8.30pm, Greensboro, Greensboro Civic Center.
Suit: Dark Blue Gypsy. Attendance: 16.300

22/07/75: 8.30pm, Ashville, Ashville Civic Centre.
Suit : Indian Feather. Attendance : 7.437

23/07/75 : 8.30pm, Ashville, Ashville Civic Center.
Suit : Dark Blue Gypsy. Attendance : 7.437

24/07/75 : 8.30pm, Ashville, Ashville Civic Center.
Suit : Dark Blue Aztec. Attendance : 7.437

A total of 241.266 fans saw Elvis perform during this tour. They saw a motivated and happy Elvis perform very professional, vocally very good, shows with enough variation to please everybody. Some of the shows from this tour are among the best of his entire career. Unfortunately, this tour would also be remembered for a very negative incident at the Norfolk July 20th evening show. During this particular show The Sweet Inspirations and Kathy Westmoreland were insulted in such a way that they left the stage by mid-show. Only Myrna from The Sweet Inspirations didn’t left, something for which she got a ring from Elvis but returned it to him after the show.

The next evening the two other Sweet Inspirations were back on stage but Kathy refused to perform. Eventually, the next evening in Ashville she was back as well.

This article will focus on the three Ashville performances. These were three very strong, exiting and motivated shows. Elvis looked great, moved great and sounded brilliantly.

Ashville Civic Center
Ashville – Tuesday July 22nd 1975 – 7.437 fans -Indian Feather suit – Civic Center

July 22nd 1975, Elvis gives his 19th concert of the tour. He’s wearing the beautiful Indian Feather Suit that made his debut at the 2.30pm performance in Huntsville on May 31st 1975 and would be worn for the last time at the 8.30pm performance in Charlotte on February 21st 1977.

Song-list for the Ashville show:

2001 Theme / See See Rider / I Got A Woman – Amen / Big Boss Man / Why Me Lord / Love Me / If You Love Me / Shake A Hand / All Shook Up / Teddy Bear – Don´t Be Cruel / Hound Dog / The Wonder Of You / Memphis, Tennessee / Funny How Time Slips Away / Polk Salad Annie / Introductions / Johnny B Good / Ronnie Tutt Drum solo / Jerry Scheff Bass solo / Glen Hardin Piano solo / School Days ( Hail Hail Rock ´n roll / T.R.O.U.B.L.E / It’s Now Or Never / You Don’t have To Say You Love Me / How Great Thou Art / Burning Love / Let Me Be There / Heartbreak Hotel / Little Darlin´ / Mystery Train – Tiger Man / Can’t Help Falling In Love / Closing Vamp

As usual this concerts starts with the exiting 2001 Theme. The first time Elvis used this brilliant piece of music was during his Jan / Feb 1971 Las Vegas engagement. During the Midnight Show from February 19th he let the orchestra play the theme almost at the end of the show right after a rare 1971 performance of In The Ghetto. With exception of the Opening Night Show of August 19th 1974 (at this concert there was only a drum roll that led into Big Boss Man) he used this theme for all of his concerts until his unfortunate early death in 1977.

The 2001 Theme fits in the familiar opening vamp and the intro music to See See Rider. And what a version we have! Elvis is very energetic and sounds very strong. In no way these show opening versions can be compared to the much slower, more bluesy versions from feb. 1970 when he first introduced this song in his set. When he started opening his concerts with this classic song he had transformed it into a solid rock number. After this first burst of energy he makes a somewhat “common” remark about “ten thousand flashbulbs”. He continues with his Well Well intro to I Got A Woman, a show standard for more than three years now, and a song that he played live as early as 1955. Tonight’s version is, compared to others, very very good and inspired. Amen is also done very energetic and is the longest version heard to date because it runs for more than three minutes. Some “Hallelujah’s and Yeah Momma’s “ are thrown in for good measure.

“Thank you, thank you very much. You’re a good audience”. Elvis talks a little with the audience and next performs a great version of Big Boss Man. Jerry’s bass playing is solid and his return with Elvis in April ´75 was a very positive thing. The last line gets a reprise before Elvis hands his guitar to a fan in the audience. ( This was the same guitar Elvis used during the famed Aloha From Hawaii show from January 1973!) During the applause Elvis jokingly asks himself “Why Me Lord?” which inspires him to sing this song. A very unusual point in the set. And what a surprise the Ashville audience gets! Elvis sings this song completely solo, including the parts that JD Sumner always sung. ( during the evening show in Uniondale on the 19th he sang the the first verse of Love me Tender totally acapella, which , without any music or backing vocals!) After the songs has ended he makes some comments about the fact that JD Sumner normally sings certain parts of Why Me Lord, “but he forced me to do it “

The photo in the middle is from the famous Hawaiian show from 1973 and shows the same guitar as used in Ashville and given to fan after Big Boss Man.

The next song is a half-committed version of Love Me. During the song Elvis displays a few very interesting vocals. At some point the band thinks Elvis will end the song , as usual, but Elvis cuts the backing vocals short and sings an additional verse, not only to his own pleasure.

A somewhat typical version of If You love Me, let Me Know is next. It’s better than the very standard, but good, versions from the last June tour. Somehow you get the impression that Elvis holds back a little on this song. Then the Ashville audience is treated to another surprise.
“ We have an album out, and in the album, wait a minute, what’s it called? No the album! Elvis Today? Yeah Elvis right now, with sweat and blood and scratches all over my hands. There’s a song I’d like to do, called Shake A Hand. This songs receives six (!) false starts because they need to find the right key. A nice version follows, but it’s very rushed and almost to fast ( “ too fast “ ). He hits some amazing high notes at the ending of the song and receives a warm applause of the audience.

The oldies section is next and starts with an ultra fast version of All Shook Up. Without any break he concludes with the Teddy Bear – Don’t Be Cruel medley, which is very standard. At the beginning of Hound Dog Elvis teases the fans by commenting: “ You don’t know what I’m gonna do. May be Heart Fart, but not Hound Dog “. The Wonder Of You has always been a very favourite song of mine and fortunately it was played during almost all shows between April and July 1975. A little minus is that Elvis after 1970 always cut the intro short, which is a shame.

A seldom performed Memphis, Tennessee is next. It’s done in a more bluesier way that the original 1963/1964 studio recordings and is, although short with his 1m43sec, a good performance and a nice surprise. Funny How Time Slips Away is next and is a great rendition. This song also is done at a strange point in the show as this song was usually played at the end of the shows. Elvis gets dirty with a very rocking Polk Salad Annie. It sounds like he’s moving quite a lot during this song. Although performed very solid, this song would never re-capture the magic it had during 1970.

As what became usual since the last 1974 tour Elvis gets to the band introductions with solo’s from the band members and the orchestra. But at the beginning of the intro’s Elvis suddenly turns to JD Sumner and asks him to continue with the intro´s while he’s backstage. (this is probably the only time Elvis lets JD do the band introductions. During the “break down” show from Baltimore on May 29th 1977 it was Charlie who got the honour.)

After Hail Hail Rock ´n Roll Elvis returns and without any comments about his absence he breaks into his latest single T.R.O.U.B.L.E. Most of the versions of the previous tours were a little mediocre. Elvis got lots of times strangled in the fast tempo of the songs a many times words were either lost a being muffled. Tonight’s version is clear as a bell. A fantastic version and it’s ended with the “walk it…ride it “ ending and a fantastic karate display. Elvis tells the audience that he needed to go the bathroom (which gets laughter from the audience) and thanks JD for doing the introductions.

“ my top record, of all the ones I’ve sold “. With this introduction Elvis starts a solid version of It’s Now Or Never. It seems he wants to make up for being not present during the intro´s. It’s a very good, warm version and is well received by the audience. Probably the last live version of You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me is next. In my opinion the song is better performed than during 1970/1971 due to the warmth and richness his voice has gained over the years.

Then he performs a breathtaking, brilliant version of How Great Thou Art. This must be one of the best performances of the song he ever did! Sweat glides down his face as he very emotionally and committed sings: OOOOOOH MYYYYYYYY GOOOOODDD……… His voice is pure and strong. (this comment reminds me a little of the funny intro Elvis used with Hound Dog back in 1970: “…Her hair flows straight back…….which actually must have happened when he sang this line of How Great Thou Art).

A song of which many people claim that Elvis disliked it is next. Burning Love. Often Elvis switched verses or lines, but tonight he sings a, rarely this good, version of it. Maybe a bit too fast but it’s rocking! Let Me Be There is a fairly standard version. You like it or you hate it. Heartbreak Hotel is very loose. After 1972 it would become a very infrequently performed song. For this reason it (most of the times sung) got a better treatment than the other oldies as All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock etc etc.

The freight train gets going again with a sublime version of Mystery Train – Tiger Man. The groove is fantastic and Elvis body movements are being accentuated by the strobe-light effect. Funny is that this song got his place in the set list after a fan’s request at one of the last Huntsville May/ June 1975 shows. Clearly Elvis liked the medley so much that he included it in the shows for the rest of the June tour and almost the complete July tour. When the song is over he talks a little with the audience again about his admiration of JD Sumner as early as his 16th ( a similar dialogue can be heard during the band introductions at the Rapid City June 21st 1977 show filmed for Elvis In Concert) and hands JD a ring worth $40.000. “ It’s got TCB in diamonds…”

Suddenly and without any announcement Can’t Help falling In Love starts and the show is over…..

This first performance in Ashville was, although very good, the weakest of the three. The July ´75 shows were the last real up-tempo shows that contained a lot of rock. Elvis was very active on stage and the karate display was, like in 1971/72 after Suspicious Minds, a very nice addition to the show. The highlight for this concert is without a doubt How Great Thou Art. Also very nice were the additions of two new suits during the tour: the Dark Blue Aztec Suit and the Dark Blue Gypsy Suit. Both were frequently used during the tour.

Written by Stefan Kock

On June 15th 1974 Elvis starts his 11th tour to play 25 sold out concerts for 314.323 people. So far 1974 has been an great year for Elvis. In March he gave one of the best tours ever, with 5 sold out concerts in his hometown Memphis. The last Memphis show was recorded live and, though heavenly edited, released.

In May he had performed a short tour and an engagement at Lake Tahoe, where he gave some exelent shows.

His repertoire had changed a bit in comparision with 1973. Back were All Shook Up and Polk Salad Annie and he had dropped You Gave Me A Mountain, My Way, What Now My Love. Some new songs were added, like Trying To Get To You, Why Me Lord, Help Me. Occasionaly he would add some “rarer” songs to the set, like It´s Now Or Never, You Don´t Have To Say You Love Me, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face or The Wonder Of You.

His 11th tour consited of the folowing concerts:

June 15th – 16th : 4 shows at Ford Worth, Texas / attendence: 56.000
June 17th – 18th : 2 shows at Baton Rouge, Louisiana / attendence: 30.000
June 19th : 1 show at Amarillo, Texas / attendence: 14.000
June 20th : 1 show at Des Moines, Iowa / attendence: 11.000
June 21st : 1 show at Cleveand Ohio / attendence: 10.000
June 22nd : 2 shows at Providence, Rhode Island / attendence: 26.226
June 23rd : 2 shows at Philadelphia, Pennsilvania / attendence: 38.000
June 24th : 2 shows at Niagara Falls, New York / attendence: 23.000
June 25th : 1 show at Columbus, Ohio / attendence: 13.500
June 26th : 1 show at Louisville, Kentucky / attendence: 20.000
June 27th : 1 show at Bloomington, Indiana / attendence: 16.000
June 28th : 1 show at Milwaukee, Wisconcin / attendence: 11.800
June 29th : 2 shows at Kansas City, Missouri / attendence: 20.800
June 30th _ July 1st : 3 shows at Omaha, Nebraska / attendence: 30.997
July 2nd : 1 show at Salt Lake City, Utah / attendence: 13.000

For this review we willl focus on the evening show given in Kansas City on June 29th.

Tracklisting:

2001 Theme* / When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again – Blue Cristmas / I Got A Woman – Amen / Love Me / Trying To Get To You / All Shook Up / Love Me Tender / Hound Dog / Fever / Polk Salad Annie / Why Me Lord / Suspicious Minds / Band Introductions / I Can´t Stop Loving You / Help Me / Bridge Over Troubled Water / let Me Be There / Big Boss Man* / Can´t Help Falling In Love * / Closing Vamp*

* = song isn´t recorded on soundboard tape.

After the lights dimmed the Joe Guercio Orchestra begins the 2001 Theme. When after this gracious piece of music Ronnie Tutt begins hitting the drums hell brakes loose. When Elvis apears on stage he is greeted by thousends of flashbulbs and the sound of 10.400 screaming fans. He wears his beautiful American Eagle suit and with a smile on his face greets the audience. On bass isn´t Jerry Scheff or Emory Gordy but a young man that made his debut with Elvis on opening night January 26th in Las Vegas: Duke Bardwell.

After a while the opening vamp goes into See See Rider, the first song of tonight. Elvis´s voice sounds strong and he seems to be in a great mood. There´s a lot of fire in this version and he ends it quite energetic Next Elvis starts his Well, Well routine and shows his great sense of humor as he is making jokes and laughing quite a bit: “ I love you too honey, but...you know..” “ Just let me do one more song honey that´s all I ask” The audience’s reaction is great and warm. At one point Elvis keeps laughing “20 years, right down the drain....Thank you, it´s nice laughing with ya”

Elvis struggles a little bit with the Well´s and comments “I´ve done so many songs that start with Well, Well...I just don´t know which one i´m gonna do” and then jumps into just one line of When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again but ends it right away. Instead he begins to sing Blue Christmas (“You´ll be doing allright with you christmas in JULY). After that he returns to his normal setlist with a solid rendition of I Got A Woman – Amen. Love Me folows and is good nor bad.

Trying To Get To You Is the first real highlight of the evening. A very vocaly strong version. (……Streaking all the way…) A version of All Shook Up is next and is not as rushed as usual. When at the end of the song a big pluche gorrila is put on stage by some fans, Elvis once again shows his great sense of humor..” Don´t you move, you big son a b*tch....I told the Colonel to stay of the stage...stay back here and sing”.

“My first movie was gorilla goes...”, Love Me Tender is next. The band is doing an fantastic job. A very nice version. Hound Dog is short and nothing special. Fever is next and after the line “ I light up when you call my name” Elvis shouts in a very high falsetto voice his own name, much to the delight of the audiance. Fever is as good as ever, even the bass playing of Duke Bardwell isn´t that bad. “ You´re a good audiance, realy, to put over this kind of stuff you gotta be good”.

Polk Salad Annie sound very strong. Porsonaly i prefer the ´70 – ´72 versions more. But this version rocks anyway. Great Bass, guitar and drumming from the TCB band. “ I´d like to ask JD Sumner and the stamps to leave the stage...” Why Me Lord is breathtaking. A great song that was introduced during the Jan / Feb 1974 Las Vegas engagement. The song is sung very straight and without the joking from elvis that would start at the August engagement. Sometimes Elvis performed a reprise of this song.

Suspicous Minds is the last song before the band introductions. It´s typical ´74 version and sounds quite energetic tonight. The band introductions are short but not without some jokes from Elvis...Elvis introduces JD Sumner and the Stamps as JD Sumner and the Ames Brothers, Glen Hardin as Glen Campbell and Kathy Westmoreland as Bill Baize (from the Stamps) and comments to her “ Why don´t you wear you see trough blouse tonight dear? “.

A good version of I Can´t Stop Loving You folows the band introductons. After he has ended this song with a great, powerfuly, ending it´s time for his latest single; Help Me. This song is just beautifuly sung with a lot of emotion and is simply brilliant.

Bridge Over Troubled Water is done next and is received by the audiance with so much enthousiasm that he reprises the song. This is why Glen Hardin is one of the best pianists in the world. The last song of this concert that exists on tape is a great renditon of Let Me Be There. A song which got all of Elvis´s attention and he never gave bad renditons of this song that was a hit by Olivia Newton John.

This tour showed Elvis in great mood, vocaly very strong and realy enjoying to be on stage. What has happend between te closing show of this tour and Opening night on August 19th we´ll never know. Elvis drasticly changed the line up for his shows for the last time in his career when he started in Vegas. The audience reaction wasn´t what he had hoped for so this change was shortlived.

During his 11th tour Elvis gave some brilliant killer shows and this one is a big confirmation for that. Given during a point in his career when everything seemed to be allright. Never during this tour there were signs of things to come later that year. It was The King on his best.

Written by Stefan Kock

July 23rd 1975. Elvis’s second night in Asheville was coming up. Fans and critics were very positive about last evenings show. Elvis faced an difficult task. Performing multiple shows in one town isn’t easy. But Elvis was determent to give the Ashville crowds varying shows. In the article below you can read if and how he succeeded.

Asheville Civic Center

Asheville – Wednesday 23-07-1975 – 7.437 In Attendance – Dark Blue Gypsy Suit – Civic Center - 8.30pm

Track listing:

2001 Theme / See See Rider / I Got A Woman – Amen / Big Boss Man / Love Me / If You Love Me / It’s Midnight / All Shook Up / Teddy Bear – Don’t Be Cruel / Hound Dog / The Wonder Of You / Turn Around, Look At Me / Polk Salad Annie / Band Introductions / Johnny B. Good / Solo’s / School Days / T.R.O.U.B.L.E / Why Me Lord / How Great Thou Art / Let Me Be There /Shake A Hand / Fairytale / Introduction of Vernon / Little Darling / Mystery Train – Tiger Man / Funny How Time Slips Away / It’s Now Or Never / Promised Land / Can’t Help Falling In Love / Closing Vamp

After the last intermission ( the one that followed comedian Jacky Kahane) the lights dim. The 2001 theme is set in by the band and orchestra. Finally the band breaks into the Opening Vamp. The crowd is going wild, Elvis will appear. Many people have waited years for this moment. The month before Elvis: That’s The Way It Is was shown on US television, so many people must have had an idea of what to expect. Nothing was more from the truth. Elvis’s show, vocal abilities and looks had changed drastically during the five years that had passed since the shooting of TTWII. However, no one got home disappointed that night!

Elvis wears a suit he introduced earlier during the tour, the beautiful Dark Blue Gypsy Suit. For some matter Elvis always looked fabulous in blue and black. But because of the fact that it was very difficult for the fans in the far back to see him he seldom wore suits in those colours. It takes a while before Elvis begins singing See See Rider. The strength of his voice has to be heard to believe it. These July ´75 versions have the same energy and strength as the early 1972 or the late ( especially December) 1976 versions. Elvis is really attacking the song. He’s moving quite energetically and his face is one big smile. Flash lights are bringing brightness to the dark concert-hall.

After this good opening Elvis thanks the crowd and proceeds with his Well Well intro to A I Got Woman. Again, like the previous night, he pronounces the lyrics very clear and really seem to enjoy this song. You got to wonder how many times one can sing a song and not get bored with it! It surely shows his class! A surprisingly good Amen is followed by JD Summers impression of a B-52 Bomb Diver. Personally I can do without it, but the crowd likes it and screams of approval can be heard throughout the act. Elvis concludes the song with a last verse of I Got A Woman and while the band ends the song Elvis makes some karate moves with his guitar before he ultimately throws it over his shoulder where Charlie Hodge catches it.

The applause seems to die very quickly after I Got A Woman and Elvis directs his band into a version of Big Boss Man. A very committed version with several words almost shouted by Elvis. Ronnie is really driving tonight’s version with his “busy” playing. Elvis’s phrasing is a little different, a somewhat more bluesy feeling is added. Also James guitar playing is a little different and reminds of some versions of the last couple of shows of the August/September 1974 Las Vegas engagement. James ends this version with some brilliant guitar licks.

Again Elvis talks a little with the crowd. “ Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the show. We hope you have a good time this evening. We’re going to do our best to entertain you”. As usual Elvis gets a little distracted by some fans near the stage and also by the fans sitting behind the stage yelling for him to turn their way. As Elvis indeed turns to them he says “We’re gonna turn around” and while turning back proceeds “We’re going to do lots of songs, old ones, new ones. I hope we do something that you like. I’ll walk around and sweat a lot, give away scarves and kiss people” and jokingly adds “throw the Stamps out”
Normally his welcome speech was over by now, but he has an extra announcement for the Ashville crowd: “I don’t know what you have heard The people come in here and brainwash ya, they say, you know, ah, don’t move, stay in your seat…..just have a good time folks”. After a quick applause following this statement Elvis says softly: “ That’s what we want to hear, he he he”.

Asheville July 23rd 1975

Next is Love Me, a 1956 hit song. This song was, by now, his “get to know the audience” song. During Love Me he taxated the audience so he would know to what kind of audience he was singing. If the crowd didn’t react as Elvis had expected the show would be typical, short and little interactive. But when the crowd was responsive and enthusiastically he often put some extra songs to the line-up, did requests and was often more energetic on stage. Tonight’s version is OK. Following Love Me Elvis again takes some time to talk with/to the audience. He mentions his usual joke about having kissed somebody with the Creepin´Grud and that if he has it they will get it too. Often the response was: Give it to me. If You Love Me is next. These July 75 versions are among the best he did. He really puts some vocal effort into this song which he liked very much. From the latter part of 1976 this song would be a standard song in the set-list, mostly as 4th or 5th song, in combination with Fairytale. ( a good example is the August / September 1976 tour where Elvis during the first part used If You Love Me but then switched to Fairytale. Another good example is the Kalamazoo April 26th 1977 show where Elvis begins singing Fairytale but goofs up en then says: …Let’s do that other song….and sings If You Love Me instead.)

“ Ladies and Gentleman, There’s a fellow that lives here in Asheville who that wrote a song, it’s one of my favorite songs that I recorded”, Elvis is interrupted by some fans yelling that they can’t see him, “ His name is Billy Ed Wheeler. Put the light…that’s cool, he wrote a song called It’s Midnight. I’d like to try that for you right now”. Elvis then performs one of the best, if not the best, version of this song he recorded in December 1973. A very powerful performance. The oldies (All Shook Up and Teddy Bear – Don’t Be Cruel) are above average tonight. Elvis puts some energy and vocal commitment in these songs seldom heard after 1972. The audience is having a great time during these 50´s classics. This is how they remembered Elvis. Hound Dog is next and is, although he begins it very committed, only average. When the song has ended there’s almost no response from the audience. Elvis must have felt very uncertain at this point. “ You may applaud ladies and gentlemen if you want to let us know you’ve heard the song”, the audience is now responding, “ otherwise we won’t know it up here”. The Wonder Of You gets a good run trough, but again missing the complete piano intro. After The Wonder…..Elvis receives a picture of his daughter from a fan in the audience…”that’s beautiful…” While talking a little bit more a female fan shouts out TURN AROUND!. Elvis replies with a “ Turn Around”, almost as a question and then immediately performs a short but emotional and powerful version of Turn Around, Look At Me. It only lasts about 35 – 40 seconds but is brilliant. The few times Elvis sang a song out of the blue that wasn’t his, it were beautiful versions. (You Can Have Her – May 13th 1974 / You’re The Reason I’m Living – March 22nd 1975 Midnight Show / Jambalaya –May 4th/June 9th 1975 / Turn Around, Look At Me – Asheville July 23rd 1975). This was really THE highlight so far. Now the audience gets the choice between Polk Salad Annie and Burning Love. Although Burning love is clearly the audience’s choice Elvis comments: “ Ok, we’ll do Burn, Polk Salad”.

Ashville, North Carolina

Polk Salad Annie is brought really good this evening with lots of body movements and is great backed by the rhythm section. The Band Introductions are up now. James Burton plays Johnny B Good with the guitar behind his head (this must be the first time that Elvis asked James to do that) and even plays an instrumental break at Elvis’s request. Just when the instrumental part has ended Elvis ends the song. The intro´s are further just “as usual” with the solo’s played by Ronnie Tutt (drums), Jerry Scheff (bass), Glen Hardin (piano) and the orchestra conducted by Joe Guercio.

“Let’s go down to T.R.O.U.B.L.E”. For some strange reason this song isn’t introduced as his latest single this night and seems to be a little faster that usual. By now Elvis has total control over this song, not missing a single word. The Hey Hey ending is extended when Elvis throws in a Walk It, Ride It. segment. Brilliantly done! The crowd clearly loves to see Elvis perform a rock song.

Since Elvis was very religious he sang quite a few gospels. Why Me Lord is one of them. This song was first introduced at the January/February 1974 Las Vegas engagement. Till the summer of 1974 Elvis played the song very serious, very straight. He only sang the Chorus, the rest was sung by JD Sumner and the Stamps Quartet. From the August 1974 season Elvis began to joke during the song. For example when JD sang ...what did I ever do?, Elvis replied: “ Not much” which cracked JD up. This habit of cracking JD up developed to a routine during 1975 and sometimes JD was hardly able to sing because he was laughing so much. This song is immediately followed by another gospel song, How Great Thou Art. Tonight’s version is even better than the night before. Elvis’s voice is just incredible. Everything he got is thrown into the song and it works, so the reprise of the last part isn’t a surprise.

Next on the programme is Shake A Hand. The night before they had much trouble to find the right key, but tonight they have it right from the start. The pace has slowed down considerably and therefore the song sounds a lot stronger. Elvis hits some unbelievable notes at the end of the song. At this point the question comes to mind why he didn’t sung this song more often in concert. It’s a great song, he had total control over it and the crowd really liked it. Only 4 live versions are known, namely: Asheville July 22nd / 23rd / 24th and Atlanta June 6th 1976.

After Shake A Hand Elvis asks for the words of Fairytale as does a great slow, strongly country flavoured version which is absolutely a highlight of the concert. At this time it wasn’t a regular concert song. After the applause Elvis mentions the sickness of his father and then introduces Vernon….” Daddy, stand where they can see you”. He jokes a little with the audience about the word Genesis and continues the show with Little Darlin´ which is nothing special but nice to hear anyway. Next it’s time for Mystery Train / Tiger Man. This medley is brought with so much energy and enthusiasm that you can’t help but smile and enjoy it to the last second. Funny How Time Slips Away is received really well by the audience. Before the song Elvis receives a gift from a female fan. Just like the night before Elvis performs It’s Now Or Never during the show. It’s a really good version that sounds fresh and with a committed Elvis.

Asheville, July 23rd 1975

Elvis then asks the audience if they want to hear something special and gets a request he can’t do, instead he says: “ How about Promised Land?”. Promised Land is probably the last liver version ever and is sung really good. A little faster than the August ´74 versions. This time the song really rocks. James guitar work is simply brilliant.

Elvis then talks a little about the fact the they have four aeroplanes full of equipment and people…” to make sure you get the very best sound, because that’s why we’re here, to please you.

As usual Elvis closed with Can’t Help Falling In Love. During the song he shakes some hands and makes sure that everybody can see him for the last time. When the song has ended walks Elvis to both ends of the stage to greet his fans. He then walks back to center stage en turns to the audience seated behind the stage, spreads his arms and makes a bow. Then he turns to face the audience for the last time before he is escorted off-stage.

This second show in Asheville was even better than the one of the night before. Elvis had put on a great show and the additions of It’s Midnight, Fairytale and Promised Land worked really well. Tomorrow night he had to do it again. Stay tuned for part three……coming soon!!!

The above reviewed show is available from bootleg source under the title Gyrating Asheville (Live Archives 1020) in fairly good audience recorded sound.

Written by Stefan Kock

Black Magic – Boston, Massachusetts – November 10th 1971 8:30pm

Boston Garden

2001 Theme / That's All Right, Mama / I Got A Woman - Amen / Proud Mary / You Don't Have To Say You Love Me / You've Lost That Loving Feeling / Polk Salad Annie / Love Me / Heartbreak Hotel / Blue Suede Shoes / One Night / Hound Dog / How Great Thou Art / I'm Leavin' / Bridge Over Troubled Water / I Can't Stop Loving You / Love Me Tender / Suspicious Minds / Funny How Time Slips Away / Can't Help Falling In Love / Closing Vamp

November 1971, Elvis starts his third tour since 1970, the first and only one of 1971. During the last Vegas engagement it showed that Elvis had to cope with what they call "Vegas boredom". The shows were rather short (around 45 minutes) and he hardly gave it all during the shows. Still they were very enjoyable and entertaining, but something was missing. None of the shows were of the same height as in 69/70. Because this was only his third tour and he was going to the people instead of them coming to him it was a very different story during this tour. These tour shows were the best of 1971, together with the excellent Tahoe shows from July. Touring gave Elvis a bigger challenge then playing Las Vegas, and that showed.

The pre-program and the intermission are behind the crowd when the lights are dimmed. Everybody is hasty on their way to their seats. Slowly the orchestra begins to play the familiar 2001 Theme. At that time is was fairly new to the show. All the lights are out, except for one spot. The tension begins to grow and then finally Ronnie Tutt begins hitting the drums. Elvis comes on stage and looks around the auditorium. He is wearing the new “Black Matador” suit with orange cape. His eyes are almost closed as he is greeted with thousands of flashbulbs. He barely sees something of the 15.509 who are attending the show. He opens with a good version of That's All right Mamma. Without saying anything he goes on with a great rocking version of I Got A Woman. Right from the beginning the audience is very enthousiastic. There is a very short Amen at the end of I Got A Woman, as opposite to the long, dragging versions of later years. Again without saying anything to the crowd he burst out in a very good version of Proud Mary. The versions of November 1971 are a mix between the slow versions of feb. 1970 and more familiar ones from 1972. A very relaxt version with great, aggressive guitar playing by James Burton. A somewhat slower version of You Don't Have To Say You Love me follows. What a great voice!! His voice must have sounded breathtaking when you attended the concerts.

After this song it's time for, as usual, You've Lost That Loving Feeling. Something at the beginning of the song makes him laugh. What the audience gets is very powerful rendition of this beautiful song. After the applause Elvis continue the show with Polk Salad Annie. Probably for one of the last times he uses the spoken into the song. He has lost all of his nervousness by now and his having great fun with the intro: “Some of you haven't been down south to much, I'll tell you a little story so that you will understand what I'm talking about. Bla bla bla bla, that's a little story. Ah, down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods and the fields, look something like a turnip green. EVERYBODY CALLS IT POLK SALD, yelling from the audience, you'll know a girl lived out there and picked her mess of it, a weird old chick, whooo, carried it home and cooked it for dinner. That's about all they had to eat….I don't want you to say it….but they did alright……” Polk Salad is brilliant. Even the fact that this song was never done again at the 1969/1970 level, this version is a thrill to listen to. After Polk Salad it's time for the 50´s songs. He starts with Love Me and goes on with good versions of Heartbreak Hotel, Blue Suede Shoes, One Night and Hound Dog. Hound Dog is the well known slow/fast version we also would get in New York the next year. An early version of How Great thou Art is next.

These early versions are close to the studio version of 1966. Performed with great style and drama!! During the introductions of the band the only thing that has changed is that The Imperials are replaced by J.D.Sumner and The Stamps Quartet. This will remain so till the end. “I have a record out called I'm leaving..ah I'm not gonna sing it, I'm gonna do it. I'm arriving. OK.” This song is a real pearl. It never got the reaction it deserved. A very touching version. Only a short “Bridge” leads into a strong version of Bridge Over Troubled Water. After he has finished it a rare (for this song!) reprise follows . Only this version of Bridge is worth the ticket!!!! I Can't Stop Loving You is next ( with a power-house ending ) before he starts Love Me Tender ( “For my darling I love you, cause you take the…..always will”). Now It's time for the showstopper of the concert: A very good, rocking version of Suspicious Minds. A karate demonstration ends the song after about 5 minutes. In order to get his breath back he asks for the houselights to be turned on. After he has thanked the audience he performs a moving version of Funny How Time Slips Away. This version is also very close to the original studio version from the year before. It sounds more like a country song than it would be during the next few years. Again he thanks the audience en closes this almost brilliant show with Can't Help Falling In Love and a rocking closing vamp.

The November tour of 1971 was in every way a good one. Records were broken and many are still standing today. After a somewhat mediocre Vegas engagement in August he revanched himself with this absolutely great tour.
This show was released several years ago on the Captain Marvel Jr. Label under the name: Power Of Zhazam, in good, though a bit rough, sound quality.

This was only the second time he wore the suit, the first time being the Cleveland, Ohio – Nov. 6th concert
Reprises of this song were also done during 1973 & 1974
All photo´s were taken at the Boston garden, November 10th 1971

Written by Stefan Kock

Friday, February 19th 1971, Las Vegas, Nevada – Midnight Show

Track listing:

Opening Vamp / That’s All right / I Got A Woman – By The Time I Get To Phoenix (Excerpt) – I Got A Woman / Love Me Tender (Excerpt) – Loving You (Excerpt) – Jailhouse Rock (Excerpt) / Can’t Help Falling In Love / Sweet Caroline / You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling / Polk Salad Annie / Johnny. B. Good / Something / How Great Thou Art / Mystery Train-Tiger Man / Love Me / Don’t Be Cruel / Bridge Over Troubled Water / Blue Suede Shoes / Heartbreak Hotel / Little Sister-Get Back / It’s Now Or Never / Hound Dog / Suspicious Minds / Band Introductions / Lawdy Miss Clawdy / Help Me Make It Trough The Night / There Goes My Everything / Just Pretend – Old Shep (Excerpt) / In The Ghetto / 2001 Theme / Snowbird / The Impossible Dream / Closing Vamp

January 1971, Elvis returns to Vegas to play his 4th season in 2 ½ years and after already 172 concerts played at the same showroom. You wouldn’t be thrilled?? Well, I guess Elvis wasn’t either. The first three Vegas seasons had given Elvis a challenge each time. August 1969 – The Comeback, January 1970 – new live recordings, August 1970 – the filming of Elvis: That’s The Way It Is. Now back to 1971. What was the challenge this time? You’re right! Nothing!!

Here we have a man in the prime of his live, aged 36, who has done it all before and has achieved almost everything that he ever dreamed of. Instead of performing a world tour, or starring in a artistic good movie he was back at the world biggest gambling resort of the world: Las Vegas, to play another month long engagement .

So far, three soundboard recordings have surfaced from this 4th Las Vegas season. First we have All Things Are Possible ( January 27th 1971 MS), secondly Lean, Mean and Kicking´ Butt (January 28th 1971) and last but not least we have Snowbird (January 29th 1971 DS). This three shows have one thin in common: they are short, kind of lacklustre shows. Don’t get me wrong here, these are decent performances, but something is missing. The song line up is almost identical to the TTWII shows, but he seems bored performing them. Were the shows from last August around 60 minutes, this time he could perform the same show within 40 – 50 minutes. ( this has a lot to do with speeding up some songs (like Sweet Caroline) and/or leaving out verses (like You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling). Another fact that contributed was the Flu and/or suffering from the so called “Vegas throat”.

Physically Elvis looked superb and also the body movements were present. There are a number of very good 8mm movies, made at this engagement, available on VCD. The suits he wore were basically the same as in August 1970 and the two 1970 tours, only with the addition of some Cisco Kid Suits and the beautiful Now Suit. On January 29th during the dinner show he wore the same suit as during the Los Angeles November 14th evening performance: The Long Fringe Suit. (some people have stated that this is a different suit than the LA one, but when listening to the Snowbird cd one can clearly hear Elvis state that he wears the same suit as LA 1970, but had the fringes cut short because he had gotten strangled in them.)

Looking at the above one can easily assume that Elvis didn’t give any “spectacular” shows during this season. Well, to tell you the truth, Elvis could deliver brilliant shows whenever or where he wanted. And the now reviewed show from Friday, February 19th 1971 is a very good example of that. Not only is this a musically very interesting and very, very strong show, it’s duration is almost 75 minutes.

Elvis kicks of with a very good version of That’s All right. He sounds strong and the song goes by very well. A quick “well” sequels into I Got A Woman with a excerpt tagged on the end of By The Time I Get To Phoenix. The Ray Charles classic is still performed with a certain amount of enthusiasm and the audience reaction is fantastic (they begin applauding before I Got A Woman is even ended). After Elvis has acknowledged his audience he introduces Love Me Tender by telling the audience it was the first movie he ever made, but after the opening bars he stops the band and goes on with “ my second movie was Loving You” and sings (or rather says) a few words of this song. Then he announces that Jailhouse Rock was his third movie and sings a few lines (or rather shout) in a very fast manner. It looks like this is going to be a memorable show. Next he performs Can’t Help Falling In Love from Blue Hawaii (usually his closing song, but replaced by The Impossible Dream during this Las Vegas season and the following lake Tahoe season). Personally I’m a little disappointed with this version, as it is very close to the versions he closed most of his 70´s shows with. (On December 10th 1975 Elvis also performed this song very, very early in the show, but more like the 1961 Blue Hawaii film version, which makes that version just a bit of more interest that the one featured during this concert). At the beginning of Sweet Caroline Elvis is a little distracted but manages to deliver a decent performance of this song. (Jerry Sheff once stated that he really hated this song!).

You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling is next and it is a very good performance. He sounds convincing and powerfully. It’s obvious Elvis really liked performing this song, although on several occasions he wasn’t very serious singing this song, by putting on a ape mask while performing it. Polk Salad Annie kicks of, including the spoken intro. (at the start of this season he had dropped the spoken intro, but included it again on several occasions later during the engagement). Polk Salad rocks and leaves one behind as exhausted as Elvis after the song. Jerry really shines during his solo spot in the middle of the song. Before Johnny B. Good Elvis acknowledges James Burton which plays a brilliantly, sharp, mean solo during the song. As good as it is, the song would never be performed with the same energy level and power as in 1969. (one of James best solo’s during Johnny B. Good can be found on the Lean Mean and Kicking cd)

New in the line-up since August 1970 is the Beatles song Something. I always get goose bumps when listening to Elvis’s version of this beautiful haunting song. The orchestration is perfect and Kathy’s high vocal is a thrill to listen to. (sadly this song was dropped after this engagement and sung only occasionally, and mostly in 1973 after having included it in his Aloha From Hawaii TV special.) Kathy Westmoreland is introduced after the song. How Great Thou Art is next. The songs first live rendition was in Seattle, November 12th 1970. As one can guess, these early performances of How Great Thou Art are very close to studio version of 1966. I think that is mostly due to the fact that it was performed with The Imperials, the group he originally recorded it with. Elvis continues the show with a great Mystery Train-Tiger Man medley. This medley is always great to hear, being it short (All Things Are Possible) or long (TTWII SE-cd2).

Love Me is the next song on the set-list. Still with the same arrangement as used in TTWII (like the original 1956 recording) and is followed by Don’t Be Cruel. In my opinion this song comes across better as a stand alone song (as being presented here) than during the Teddy Bear/Don’t Be Cruel medley. Here it gets the right treatment and is very enjoyable to hear. Next (to a warm applause before he even has sung a word) is one of the best live songs Elvis had in his repertoire: Bridge Over Troubled Water. The simple beginning (piano and bass) are a treat to hear. The song picks up gradually and every ounce of drama his used by Elvis, to great effect. What a magnificent voice this man has. Only negative point is that near the end the back-up singers seem to drown out Elvis’s voice, but this could have sounded differently when you attended the concert).

Feb. 1971 – Now Suit August 1971 – Cisco Kid Suit Feb. 1971 – Now Suit

Blue Suede Shoes and Heartbreak Hotel are performed next. Both are good versions but not as good as pré 1971, although they are received very well by the audience. Next comes a medley Elvis only performed between 1970-1973: Little Sister ~ Get Back. This is a medley I never get enough off. Everything is right about it, the perfect vocals from Elvis, the great guitar playing from James…it’s all great. Elvis clearly enjoys doing the medley. (the best version of this great medley can be heard on the RCA/BMG3 cd box TTWII SE). It’s Now Or Never wasn’t performed live much between 1969 – 1973. Starting in 1974 he would perform it more often and by 1977 it was included during most of the shows. Here we have a great rendition, much like the studio cut from 1960 and without the (for me annoying) intro by Sherrill Nielsen. Hound Dog is next and is a good performance. You either like it, or you don’t! Before the introductions we get Suspicious Minds and these 1971 performances are still of a very high level. Elvis really rocks. After the intro´s he continues with a good rendition of Lawdy Miss Clawdy (sung very often in 1971) and it’s a pleasure to listen to it and the crowd enjoys it clearly too. Elvis shouts the first sentence and sounds really raw while performing this great song. Now we get to hear a song Elvis didn’t sung very often (only during 1973 it was included in the shows frequently): Help Me make It Trough The Night. This is the first live performance of this beautiful song and it sounds a little different, which isn’t that strange taking into consideration that this performance took place almost 4 months before he recorded it in June 1971. This version has a great musical intro as well as a musical break in the middle. There Goes My Everything is next and is performed beautifully. Elvis’s warm voice is a thrill to listen to. Still not ready to close the show Elvis performs a rare 1971 performance of Just Pretend. This is a song that always sounds great and wasn’t performed much by Elvis. (for some reason Elvis rehearsed this song in August 1974, but it never made the set-list. During the December 1975 season it WAS included during most of the shows). I always have found it a pity that Elvis dropped most of his June 1970 recordings from the set-list after 1970, or only sung them very often. Tagged to the end of Just Pretend is a one liner from Old Shep. Nice to hear, but nothing special. If he only had done the complete song once……Another rare 1971 performance follows: In The Ghetto. This song was, and stays a thrill to hear sung live. Tonight Elvis isn’t very serious, throwing in a lyric change as he sings “..a hungry little nose running….” Instead of …a hung little boy with a runny nose……He’s having trouble controlling his laughter after this little joke and keeps laughing throughout the song. During this season Elvis started to use the 2001 Theme as his intro. He felt quite clearly very proud of it as he lets this theme played right after In The Ghetto. This must have been very exciting and rare at the same time, hearing this theme 2 times at one evening. Before he closes the show with the Impossible Dream he sings an early (and one of the few) live version of Snowbird. This song is great to hear sung live. (only one live version has surfaced on soundboard till date and can be found on the Snowbird bootleg). With The Impossible Dream he closes the show. It’s a magnificent performance and I actually prefer this song as a show closer above Can’t Help Falling In Love.

This season the crowd saw a dynamic entertainer having trouble to perform almost 60 shows in a same manner as he had done 175 times before. This is only natural in my opinion. Elvis needed challenges, and he wasn’t getting them at Las Vegas anymore. The above review proves that he still could put on above average shows, (in fact, I would prefer to call this a brilliant show) with great varying and strong set-lists. This concert is only available as an audience recording, which is a pity, but at the same time allows us to “experience” this concert just like the audience did that night. The audience quite clearly feels that they are watching not a “typical” show from our man that evening. Elvis wasn’t “bad” at this stage of his career, just bored. The Lake Tahoe season and the November tour proved that if he felt challenged he could deliver these brilliant shows every night. I, fore one, see this Las Vegas season as a turning point in his career. This is the point where he should have done a world tour or the should have been given the chance to play in a serious movie of high standard. It didn’t happen and it led to that tragic day in August 1977.

Written by Stefan Kock

1975. A new year, new costumes & suits, new songs, two new hospital visits, but the same Elvis performing at the same Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in March 1975. On January 8th Elvis had turned 40 years old, something that was mentally very tough for him to accept. No longer he was the sexual god of the fifties or the handsome, somewhat shy, movie star of the sixties or the thin and explosive performer he had been a few years before.

At the end of January he’s hospitalized for a few minor things. Vernon, Elvis’s father, joins him at the beginning of February after having had a serious heart attack. Later that month both men are back at Graceland where Elvis buys 5 new horses and is seen quite a lot in Memphis driving his newest sport car.

In the meantime the Colonel, again, denies some offers he gets from concert promoters from Europe. An offer of £1.000.000 at Earl’s Court in London is denied because the tickets would become too expensive and a second offer of £2.000.000 to play at Wembley is simply denied because “Elvis don’t play soccer stadiums”! It’s a downright shame that the Colonel did this because we all know how much Elvis wanted to go to Europe and the rest of the world. By denying this kind of offers Elvis kept being locked in his golden cage and was sentenced to play the same American areas over and over again. It ultimately broke the man down!

By strong demand of his record company, Elvis hadn’t recorded anything in a studio for 14 months now, Elvis travels to Hollywood in early March to record 10 songs between March 10th and March 13th. It would be the first and only time that all the songs recorded during a studio session would be released on one LP. The March 1975 recordings are strongly country favoured but also have a rock/pop feeling over them. Some outstanding songs are recorded like T.R.O.U.B.L.E (his next single), Susan When She Tried (great drumming from Ronnie Tutt), Fairytale (a concert standard for years to come), Pieces of My Life (probably the most autobiographical song he ever recorded and a very strong emotional performance. The song was sung live only once in Ashville, North Carolina on July 24th 1975 during the closing show from that tour as a request from his father), Green Green Grass Of Home ( a great version and sung live a couple times during the next Las Vegas season).

After the session had ended Elvis flies to Las Vegas for his 12th engagement in 5½ years. Normally Elvis would perform in Vegas during January/February, but was forced to move to March because of his hospitalisation earlier that year. No problem for the Hilton Hotel. Now, with Elvis, they can celebrate the opening of a new wing at the hotel, that had cost the hotel $20.000.000. The new wing has 620 extra rooms so the Las Vegas Hilton is the biggest hotel in the world now. The Elvis Presley show is from now on promoted as “Elvis in Concert”. A second change is that have dropped the names Dinner & Midnight shows. Tickets are now costing $20, but a heavy tip is needed if you don’t want to be sitting at the far back of the showroom.

Opening night was on March 18th. The press reviews were quite positive and also the attending fans were quite impressed with the “new” Elvis show. During his last visit in August/September 1974 there had been many long monologues about karate, drug abuse and about everything that came to his mind (including his divorce). This time however the long overdue monologues were gone and when Elvis said something between songs it was often very funny and totally controlled. His voice was the best as it had ever been and he was quite energetic on stage. For this season Elvis used mainly some new two-pieces suits in varying combinations. They looked quite good on him, but other than in June & august 1972 when he had also worn 2-pieces outfits he seldom removed the jacket.

Some new additions to the show were:

And I Love You So / Fairytale / Green Green Grass Of Home

Some “rare” songs performed during this engagement:

Promised Land / I’ll Remember You / Until It’s Time For You To Go / Heartbreak Hotel / That’s All Right / It’s Now Or Never / Help Me / Sweet Caroline / Bridge Over Troubled Water / The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face / Help Me Make It Trough The Night / You’re The Reason I’m Living

On Stage Las-Vegas March 31st 1975

Some one-liners sung during the engagement:

I’ll be There / I Can Help / The Great Pretender / For The Good Times / That’s Amore / Rip It Up / Loving You / The Mickey Mouse Club Song / Jingle Bells

We’re now going to focus on Elvis’s Dinner Show of March 30th 1975. As already mentioned above this season was a very good one for Elvis. Most of the shows were quite entertaining, had a good song line-up and the interaction with the audience was great.

The track listing for the March 30th 1975 Dinner show:

2001 Theme / See See Rider / I Got A Woman – Amen / Love Me / If You Love Me, Let Me Know / And I Love You So / Big Boss Man / Love Me Tender / Burning Love / Introductions / Solo’s ( including Lawdy Miss Clawdy / Hail Hail Rock ´N Roll / My Boy / How Great Thou Art / Hound Dog / The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face / Can’t Help Falling In Love / Closing Vamp

As usual since 1971, this show opens with the familiar sounds of the 2001 Theme. Everybody who has seen Elvis live in concert or Elvis: The Concert knows how electrifying this piece of music sounds. With every beat the tension is raised more and more until the finale and the one second gab before Ronnie starts hitting the drums loud and vicious. Then the rest of the rhythm group and orchestra fall in and when the Opening Vamp is played the place lights up when thousands of flashlights are going off and Elvis walks on stage.

The Opening Vamp tonight is a fairly short one and just before Elvis starts singing he comments “ Hold it down fellows, I don’t want to work too hard “ and then immediately proceeds with singing the first line of See See Rider: “Oh See, See See Rider. Oh See what you have done…”. He sounds good although it is not as strong as for example the week before. It’s a quite rocking version, so he doesn’t seem to really mean his opening comment. “Good evening. It’s Saturday night, isn’t it? “Someone near the stage yells “Sunday”! “Oh oh, I’m sorry. You can loose it in Vegas boy; I’m telling ya….everything. Your money, your mind …..Well…..see that, he lost it (laughter from the audience)...Well…….. The well well intro to I Got A Woman is somewhat more extended with some Wells and some amusing comments by Elvis. When he does begin to sing the song he sounds very energetic and strong. He is clearly enjoying being on stage and delivers a fine version with clear pronouncing of almost all the words. During the strip routine at the end of Amen Elvis directs Ronnie to watch him! JD receives a big applause for his “bomb act” and Elvis brings the medley to an end with the last verse. “Thank you very much for that polite applause……It’s always something to get started on Sunday………He comments to a fan that she can have everything but his ring…Love Me is next and is nicely paced tonight with good playing from the TCB band. I would beg and steel, juuust to feel… James is playing some brilliant guitar licks during the song. During this song Elvis is a little distracted, as usual, by some, mostly female, fans near the stage. After the song Elvis talks a little about a female fan near the stage; telling that she comes to Vegas for five years now to see him perform. “She’s a cute little girl you know, but ………tough way to make a living boys………take it home, baby! If You love Me, let Me Know follows and what a great version we have here. Strong and passionate with Elvis stretching some words and some great emphasising on others.

On stage in Lakeland at the April 27th matinee show.

After thanking the audience the band starts to play And I Love You So. This beautiful song, written by Don McLean and a top 30 hit for Perry Como in 173, was just recorded by Elvis prior to this engagement (March 10th) and Elvis really loved to perform this song. From the end of 1975 till 1977 it would be performed on a very regular basis. Elvis never failed to give warm, soft and strongly emotional performances of this song. With a short “ Take it home” Big Boss Man starts. Elvis had added this song to his repertoire in May 1974 and during the opening night show from August 19th 1974 he even opened his show with it. The song has a strong haunting feeling over it. Elvis’s voice is powerful and the band is really rocking on this one. “ Let’s do Love Me Tender, I haven’t done that in a long time..” The intro is lengthed quite a bit because Elvis keeps talking with some female fans at the edge of the stage and it runs for 1:55 !!! Love Me Tender is done quite good, but isn’t very focussed. Next is Elvis’s last US top 5 hit, Burning Love. Its done as a request. The story goes that Elvis didn’t liked this song, but for some odd reason he performed it quite regularly during 1975 / 76. In my opinion it is paced to fast, but still sounds better than the overrated Aloha performance.

It’s time for the band introductions and most of the TCB band members and the orchestra get the chance of showcasing their musical abilities during a solo spot. John Wilkinson has to wait till April 1976 before he gets his solo, but James Burton plays an electrifying What’d I Say, Ronnie plays a thunderous drum solo and Duke Bardwell does the best he can on the bass. Glen. D Hardin plays lawdy Miss Clawdy, which would soon be replaced by a standard piano solo. After the introductions Elvis performs How Great Thou Art and its breathtaking. As so many times before and after Elvis performs a reprise. The audience goes wild!!

A throwaway Hound Dog is next, but to all fairness it has to be said that this version is a little above average. Before the song starts Elvis receives a pluche Hound Dog from someone in the audience. The next song is dedicated to a fan (..” I’d like to do a song we like to do, its called The First Time and I like to do this for Susan..”) The First Time I Ever I Saw Your Face is done very moving and sincere. Elvis’s voice never sounded better. After the applause has died out he thanks the audience and wishes them a happy Easter before closing the show with the familiar Can’t Help Falling in Love and the Closing Vamp.

Elvis performed some really outstanding shows during his March 1975 Las Vegas season. Although he was clearly overweighed, he still moved around pretty much. The new songs that were added became regular songs in his shows (with the exception of Green Green Grass Of Home, which was only sung live a couple of times and for the last time on August 20th 1975).

The above reviewed show is certainly not the best of the season nor was it the weakest During the last week of the engagement Elvis loosened up a bit, but stayed in control for most of the time.

Overall the March 1975 season is one of the more entertaining seasons he ever held, and the voice was of an absolute high point. In August 1974 his voice was a little slurry and during the August and December 1975 seasons he sounded often very tired, but here he sounded fresh and happy to be on stage.

Written by Stefan Kock