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Elvis: The Concert is a concert tour started in 1997 that features audio and video recordings of Elvis Presley, accompanied live by his 1970s backup band.
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Elvis: The Concert is a concert tour started in 1997 that features audio and video recordings of Elvis Presley, accompanied live by his 1970s backup band.
In the mid-1990s, Elvis Presley Enterprises started experimenting with recordings of Presley's live concerts, and discovered that through the use of sound mixing they were able to eliminate virtually all of the ambient noise from the multitrack recordings, thus leaving only Presley's voice. After some work, they conceived a special concert to be held on August 16, 1997, the twentieth anniversary of Presley's death. The show featured Presley's original 1970s back-up band (TCB Band) and his backup singers (The Stamps Quartet, The Imperials, The Sweet Inspirations and Millie Kirkham) and was performed at Memphis, Tennessee's Mid-South Coliseum. During the show, Priscilla Presley introduced a video that Lisa Marie Presley made. The video was of Lisa Marie performing a duet with her father on the song "Don't Cry Daddy". It was so successful that the video was shown again.
The show was a huge success, gaining worldwide press. The massive success of the show prompted EPE to draw up plans for a special version of the show to take on the road.
Starting in 1998, a scaled-down version of the show was taken on tour. The format of the show follows one of Presley's 1970s live concerts, albeit somewhat differently.
The line-up of musicians involved is as follows:
Backing vocals:
Rhythm guitarist John Wilkinson, having suffered a stroke in 1989, was unable to join the band and was replaced by Tony Smith. (However, Wilkinson did join the group at the 25th anniversary concert, held at the Pyramid in Memphis.)
The show was conceived by Todd Morgan, Randy Johnson. Joe Guercio and Stig Edgren.
The format of the show begins with the traditional opening theme of Presley's concerts: "Also sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss (better known as the theme to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey ),followed by the traditionally adopted tune "viva Elvis", This segues into the song "See See Rider" from Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii .
The show is divided into two different acts, each one 45 minutes to an hour, with an intermission between them. The main material used for the shows comes from Elvis: That's the Way It Is , Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii , and Elvis on Tour . And in recent years songs from the '68 Comeback Special has been added to the mix, most notably the songs "Trouble" (which usually segues into either "Hound Dog" or "That's All Right"), and "If I Can Dream" which is used to end the first act.
During the show, a large video screen hangs above the main set upon which the video of Presley's performance is projected. Two smaller screens hang on either side, and video of the live musicians, or special video packages are shown.
The first act usually ends with a gospel music segment. If The Imperials are performing, they perform a solo version of "He Touched Me". If the Stamps are performing, they perform an a cappella rendition of "Sweet, Sweet Spirit" (after an introduction by Elvis from the movie Elvis on Tour ). After that song, a version of "How Great Thou Art" by Elvis is played with the band. In early shows, this proved to be problematic: since the audio was taken from the 1974 live album Elvis As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis, but there was no video footage. Thus, the screen was left black, and only the audio was played. After a few tours, a special piece of footage was made from the 1972 movie Elvis on Tour which was edited, sped up, and slowed down in a few places in order to have it match up with the 1974 audio.
The show always ends with Presley's traditional show closer "Can't Help Falling in Love", and the traditional announcement of "Elvis has left the building." At the 1997 and 2002 concerts Presley's former announcer Al Dvorin closed the show by saying "Elvis has left for Graceland".
After a domestic tour (which ended with a show at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, IN, the site of Presley's final live concert on June 26, 1977), the show went to Europe, Asia, and Australia.
In 2002, a special 25th anniversary show commemorating the 25th anniversary of Presley's death was held in Memphis, TN at the Pyramid arena. This show was even bigger than the 20th anniversary concert, and featured three different acts. The first act served as a retrospective of Presley's career from 1956 to 1968. Presley's former drummer D.J. Fontana made an appearance, playing drums to footage from one of Presley's appearances on The Steve Allen Show. Saxophonist Boots Randolph made an appearance as well playing sax on "Blue Suede Shoes" and on a performance of "Return to Sender" (taken from his movie Girls! Girls! Girls! ) as part of a special section highlighting Presley's career in movies.
Act Two showed the gospel side of Elvis. During a special section of gospel music, a surprise was in store for fans as J.D. Sumner's voice was multi-tracked for a performance (with Elvis and the Stamps) of "Why Me, Lord?" Lisa Marie also made an appearance singing an original song she wrote called "Nobody Noticed It (You're Still Lovely)".
Act 3 was the usual Elvis: the Concert show format and featured new songs, like "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" from That's The Way It Is outtakes. This was the only show in which John Wilkinson, who was Presley's rhythm guitar player from 1969 to 1977, made an appearance. He is not shown on the DVD Elvis Lives, but he can be seen on the fan footage of this show.
On August 16, 2007, Elvis: The 30th Anniversary Concert was held at the Fed-Ex Forum in Memphis and was on a bigger scale than the 20th and 25th anniversary concerts. It featured:
Also appearing:
The 30th Anniversary featured another duet by Elvis Presley and Lisa Marie Presley. This time singing "In The Ghetto". The video is available for download on iTunes.
Also, a new opening was done for the show which featured a space view of Earth which zoomed in on Memphis and then Graceland, right into the window which led to Presley's bedroom. There, "Elvis" is getting ready for the show with Jerry Schilling giving him his sunglasses. They go down the stairs to the outside of Graceland where they meet up with Joe Esposito and then go into a helicopter. The group flies to the Fed-Ex Forum where audio of Elvis (from the CD An Afternoon in the Garden) says "It's a big place, man". Then they land and go inside the arena, starting the show.
At the show, Priscilla announced that this would be the final show for Elvis: The Concert.
In 2006, the 2002 25th Anniversary Concert was made available on DVD form in a disc called Elvis Lives. The concert was shown on PBS Stations during the annual pledge week. Elvis Lives only contains Act III (70s Concert) which was a regular Elvis: The Concert segment.
Glen Dee Hardin is an American piano player and arranger. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, John Denver, and Ricky Nelson.
Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night is a 1988 Cinemax television special originally broadcast on January 3, 1988, starring triple Hall of Fame inductee rock/pop singer/songwriter Roy Orbison and backing band TCB Band with special guests including Bruce Springsteen, k.d. lang and others. The special was filmed entirely in black and white. After the broadcast the concert was released on VHS and Laserdisc. A live album was released in 1989.
Moody Blue is the twenty-fourth and final studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released in June 1977 by RCA Records, about two months before his death. The album was a mixture of live and studio work and included the four tracks from Presley's final studio recording sessions in October 1976 and two tracks left over from the previous Graceland session in February 1976. "Moody Blue" was a previously published hit song recorded at the earlier Graceland session and held over for this album. Also recorded at the February session was "She Thinks I Still Care". "Way Down" became a hit after Presley's death less than one month after this album's release. The album was certified Gold and Platinum on September 12, 1977, and 2× Platinum on March 27, 1992, by the RIAA.
The Memphis Mafia was the nickname given by the media to a group of Elvis Presley's friends, associates, employees and cousins whose main functions were to accompany, protect, and serve Presley from the beginning of his career in 1954 until his death in 1977. Several members filled practical roles; for instance, they were employed to work for Presley as bodyguards or on tour logistics and scheduling. In these cases Presley paid salaries, but most lived off fringe benefits such as gifts, cars, houses and bonuses. Over the years, the number of members grew and changed, but for the most part there was a core group who spent much time with Presley.
Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite is a concert starring Elvis Presley that took place at the Honolulu International Center and was broadcast live via satellite to audiences in Asia and Oceania on January 14, 1973. The show was presented with a delay in Europe. In the United States, to avoid a programming conflict with Super Bowl VII and Elvis on Tour which was playing in cinemas at the time, NBC opted to air a ninety-minute television special of the concert on April 4.
Elvis in Concert is the live album released by RCA Records in October 1977 in conjunction with the television special of the same name which featured some of the final performances of American singer and musician Elvis Presley. Videotaped and recorded in June 1977, both the special and album were broadcast and released on October 3, six weeks after Presley's death. The album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard chart in late 1977. It was certified Gold and Platinum on October 14 and 3× Platinum on August 1, 2002, by the RIAA.
On Stage is a live album by American singer Elvis Presley, released by RCA Records in June 1970. It was recorded between February 17 and 19, 1970 and August 22 and 25, 1969 at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada. The album reached number 13 on both the Billboard 200 and country music charts. It was certified Gold on February 23, 1971, and Platinum on July 15, 1999, by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Elvis: That's the Way It Is is a 1970 American documentary film directed by Denis Sanders. The film documents American singer Elvis Presley's Summer Festival in Las Vegas during August 1970. It was his first non-dramatic film since the beginning of his film career in 1956, and the film gives a clear view of Presley's return to live performances after years of making films. The film was released simultaneously with Presley's similarly titled twelfth studio album, That's the Way It Is.
Elvis on Tour is a 1972 American concert film starring Elvis Presley during his fifteen-city spring tour earlier that year. It is written, produced, directed by Pierre Adidge and Robert Abel and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
Charles Franklin Hodge, better known as Charlie Hodge, was an American singer, vocal coach and musician who was a confidant and best friend of Elvis Presley, and lived at Graceland.
Elvis In Concert is a posthumous 1977 television special starring Elvis Presley. It was Elvis' third and final TV special, following Elvis and Aloha From Hawaii. It was filmed during Presley's final tour in the cities of Omaha, Nebraska, on June 19, 1977, and Rapid City, South Dakota, on June 21, 1977. It was broadcast on CBS on October 3, 1977, two months after Presley's death. It was transmitted by the BBC in the United Kingdom on June 9, 1978. Unlike the majority of Elvis' programs, it is unlikely to be commercially released on home video and is only available in bootleg form. This is because it showed Elvis near the end of his life when he was overweight and addicted to prescription drugs, and much of his performance reflects his poor health. However, parts of the special were used in the video documentary Elvis: The Great Performances and the theatrical documentary This is Elvis, both of which were released on home video. Parts of the special were recreated for the movie Elvis, specifically Presley's performance of "Unchained Melody".
Jerry Obern Scheff is an American bassist, best known for his work with Elvis Presley from 1969 to 1977 as a member of his TCB Band and on the Doors' L.A. Woman.
That's the Way It Is is the 12th studio album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Records, LSP 4445, in November 1970. It consists of eight studio tracks recorded at RCA Studio B in Nashville, and four live in-concert tracks recorded at The International Hotel in Las Vegas. It accompanied the theatrical release of the documentary film Elvis: That's the Way It Is, although it is not generally considered a soundtrack album. The album peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 and at number eight on the country chart. It was certified Gold on June 28, 1973, by the Recording Industry Association of America and up-graded to Platinum, for sales of a million copies on March 8, 2018.
From Memphis to Vegas / From Vegas to Memphis is the 11th studio album and the second live album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley. It was released on October 14, 1969, by RCA Records. It is a double album: the first album, titled In Person at the International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada, contains the live recordings of Presley's hits at the International Hotel in Winchester, Nevada, while the second album, titled Back in Memphis, contains entirely new material recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis. The album peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200, and was certified Gold on December 13, 1969, by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Elvis: As Recorded at Madison Square Garden is a live album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released in late June 1972 by RCA Records. It peaked at No. 11 on the Top 200 US Billboard albums chart on September 9, 1972. Recorded at the Madison Square Garden arena in New York City on Saturday June 10, 1972, the concert, and the subsequent album, were promoted as being Presley's first live concerts in the Big Apple since the 1950s.
Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis is a live album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released by RCA Records in July 1974. It was recorded on March 20 of the same year at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, Presley's hometown. The cover features a photograph of Presley's home, Graceland.
Lawrence Gordon "Larry" Muhoberac, Jr.; was an American musician, record producer, and composer who was also known under pseudonyms "Larry Owens" and "Larry Gordon".
The TCB Band is a group of musicians who formed the rhythm section of Elvis Presley’s band from August 1969 until his death in 1977.. The initials TCB stand for Taking Care of Business, a personal motto Presley adopted in the early 1970s. Although personnel changed over the years, the original members were James Burton, Jerry Scheff (bass), John Wilkinson, Larry Muhoberac (keyboards) and Ron Tutt (drums). They first appeared live at Presley’s first Las Vegas performance at what was then known as the International Hotel on July 31, 1969.
Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters is a five-disc box set compilation of the recorded work of Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1970s. It was released in 1995 by RCA Records, catalog number 66670-2, following similar box sets that covered his musical output in the 1950s and 1960s. This set's initial long-box release included a set of collectable stamps duplicating the record jackets of the LP albums on which the tracks in the box set were originally released by RCA. It also includes a booklet with an extensive session list and discography, as well as a lengthy essay by Dave Marsh, some of it excerpted from his 1982 book on Presley. The box set was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 15, 1999.
An Afternoon in the Garden is a live musical album recorded by American singer and musician Elvis Presley at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 1972. The album was released by RCA Records on the 25th anniversary of the concert in 1997 and on March 8, 2018 received an RIAA Gold Record certification for 500,000 copies sold.
