Reply With QuoteMusic: Elvis Presley
by Bob Claypool
Elvis Presley has been breaking hearts for more than 20 years now, and, Saturday afternoon in The Summit - in a completely new and unexpected way - he broke mine.
In short, the concert was awful - a depressingly incoherent, amateurish mess served up by a bloated, stumbling and mumbling figure who didn't act like "The King" of anything, least of all rock 'n' roll.
It made for a sad, pitiful afternoon - even though the narrow-minded, but always-present, screamers-for-Elvis bunch were still squealing and jumping through the whole thing. But, on this day, there seemed to be less of them than ever. The Summit was sold-out, packed to the gills (17,500 people, maybe more), and for every die-hard screamer, there were at least two or three blank, stunned faces, staring at the stage in disbelief.
The show followed the usual format - a warmup set from the orchestra, a short gospel section from J.D. Sumner and the Stamps, a comedy spot by Jack Culhane and a closing performance by The Sweet Inspirations. That killed 43 minutes, and was followed by a 25-minute intermission.
Finally, the recorded strains of "Thus Spake Zarathustra" filled the hall, the flashbulbs began popping, the screams rolled down in waves...and...THERE HE WAS! The screams were deafening, as always, but on this day the minute Elvis got onstage, people all around me stated whispering to each other, in shocked tones, about how "at" how "bad" he looked.
They were right, but that first impression wasn't the worst of the afternoon, because Elvis didn't look "fat" so much as absolutely bloated. His jowls were puffy, his eyes (seen through a telephoto lens) looked horrible, and his sparkly, multi-colored brocade vest accentuated his protruding stomach.
Elvis slipped immediately into "C.C. Ridjer", but the old fire didn't seem to be there. From that moment on, it was a tossup as to which was worse - his singing (a generally lethargic, throwaway series of vocals, brightend only occasionally) or his between-songs raps (which sounded like a bad imitation of "lovable lush" Foster Brooks).
Every time Elvis, who, as we've all been told, doesn't drink or smoke - said "ladies and gentlemen", it came out like "ladishandshgennimen".
A stranger sitting next to me - a young blonde woman - said, "Oh, my god, what's wrong with him? He can't even talk! He can't even finish his sentences".
Elvis himself said that he'd caught the creeping crud, which several hard-cored fans interpreted as a "really bad cold".
Whatever it was, it didn't stop the screaming, and Elvis plunged ahead into "Mean Woman Blues" (one of the high points of the show - Elvis slipped "Amen" in the middle of it, then immediately gritted his teeth and ground his hips at the audience before getting back to "Mean Woman". He was, in small does, still able to express carnality and spirituality in the twinkling of a rock 'n' roll eye). "Love Me", "If You Love Me, Let Me Know, "You Gave Me A Mountain", a rock 'n' roll medley - the tunes rolled on and on, but few contained any real energy. One exception was his latest single "Hurt", during which Presley did his most bombastic (and impressive) vocalizing.
Otherwise, he often seemed to be a heartless parody of his former self. He moved very little - his pelvic thrusts were few and far between, and even they were clumsy, of all things. He walked the stage in a lumbering fashion, throwing those famous scarves out toward the clutching female hands.
Faithful as always, they still came down front - came bearing gifts (a painting of Elvis, a six-foot long stuffed dog, a small teddy bear, oodles of flowers). It made you realize that iff they would come and love him on a day like this, then they would always do so - no matter how bad, how ill, how uncaring he would get.
But for some of us, it would never be the same, because the man who had given us the original myth of rock 'n' roll - the man who created it and lived it - was now, for whatever reason, taking it all back.
something was def wrong that night i have heard its one of elvis worst concerts ever..i dunno i have to hear a tape of the show and make my own conclusions..i also heard that later elvis was aked about the concert the day after he replied he didint even remember that show ... so go figure
for sure elvis wasint well that night in texas... how could he not remember a concert he did the day before? well this bob fellow obviosly wasint following elvis through the years like a real fan would..he was expecting elvis to come out looking like he did in aug 70 or msg 72 ..forget it years go by age catches up with you add countless health problems . ...thats just the way things were..but when elvis felt like it in 76 he put on great shows if he was in a good mood ..there were a few bad shows here and there in elvis career..u can go way back to sept 74 for some of those ..baltimore 77 and others i cant remember...eh who really cares about reviews anyways yes elvis did some poor shows but most of his concerts were great..always king no matter what..peace
[
Originally Posted by Jungleroom76
how i wish u know i never seen elvis in person .. if u remember a while ago i sent u a pm once concerning elvis..u were so lucky to have sen elvis many times...anyways i love all the phases in elvis concert years each year weather he was in good shape or not there were magial moments including 76 -77 thats my opinion ..his voice never abandonded him until the end. it got better and better..course some 76 shows were not good.some peeps here wanna make everyone here in this forum believe all 76 concerts were terrible and thats a lie.....u were there in dallas 76 that was an awesome concert
And since we have access to all the bootleg and import CD's I know to some it's almost like being there! We have that to be thankful for! 
