Elvis at the concert

Despite the deterioration of health and general apathy, Elvis Presley gave one concert after another in the first half of 1977 . The quality of the performances depended entirely on the singer’s mood, his state of health, and also the medications. In such an environment, Presley manager Colonel Tom Parker decided to make another television show with the singer: two previous television concerts of 1968 and 1973 . were a great success and received many accolades; moreover, the expectation was that it would arouse interest in music as such in Presley.

The directors who shot the first samples, the performances of Presley were perplexed: they were tasked to capture the now inactive figure of Presley, mostly indifferent to the singing and the general painful appearance of the singer, who by that time had also significantly gained weight. Filming, however, was scheduled for June 19 in Omaha and June 21 in Rapid City . The first performance was sluggish and did not suit a large-scale television show. He was more or less compensated by the second concert, at which Presley was clearly in a good mood and full of energy; nonetheless, the television footage revealed what Presley and his entourage were trying to hide: the singer was clearly out of shape.

The footage was weak, and probably they would not work on it if the death of Presley, which did not follow on August 16, caused a great resonance and interest in the singer. On this wave, it was decided to air the conceived television concert. It was assembled from two records in such a sequence as to give the impression of a whole performance, broken, nevertheless, into fragments that are interconnected by short comments of the singer's fans; at the end a message was given from Vernon Presley .

It is worth noting that these performances were not the last concerts of Elvis Presley: the musician gave 5 more concerts, completing his tour in Indianapolis on June 26. They, however, were the last professionally videotaped.

Since the broadcast of the Elvis at the Concert show in October 1977, Elvis Presley’s company has repeatedly confirmed its reluctance to release these televisions on video, citing possible damage to the image of the “King of Rock and Roll” by the media. ^[1] . Only four songs from these TV shows are officially available: “ Are You Lonesome Tonight? ”,“ Love Me ”,“ My Way ”(all three in the doc.“ This is Elvis ”, 1981) and“ Unchained Melody ”(in the video collection“ The Great Performaces ”, 1991). However, the teleconcert bootleg industry is booming in steady demand; as a rule, such pirated publications include both a television concert and unedited recordings of two concerts, of which a television show was edited.

1. ↑ Status of the TV Special Elvis in Concert (1977) Archived on June 9, 2007.

1. Elvis Fans Comments
2. Opening Riff: Also Sprach Zarathustra
3. See see rider
4. That's all right
5. Are You Lonesome Tonight?
6. Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel
7. Elvis Fans Comments
8. You gave me a mountain
9. Jailhouse rock
10. Elvis Fans Comments
11. How great thou art
12. Elvis Fans Comments
13. I Really Don't Want To Know
14. Elvis Introduces His Father
15. Hurt
16. Hound dog
17. My way
18. Can't Help Falling In Love
19. Closing riff
20. Special Message From Elvis' Father

• Elvis in concert