Journal Bulletin
May 24, 1977. Providence, PA
Elvis Puts on a show at the Civic Center
by Tony Lioce
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROVIDENCE - There was a point last night, during Elvis concert at the Civic Center, when started to sing "My Way."
The first reaction was to bridle. After all, Elvis? Singing a Paul Anka song? That Frank Sinatra made famous? Elvis? Once THE symbol of youthful rebelion against all that is shallow and phony, singing the Las Vegas national anthem? Is this what happens to rock'n'roll rollers when they get to be 42?
But he was tremendous.
Sure those lyrics about "bitting it off and spitting it out" and stuff are so contrived as to be totally ridiculous., but Presley's performance saved them, hard as that may be to believe.
Singing as though he really meant what he was singing, really putting his heart into, he reminded us all that he really has done it his way. The former truck driver from Tupelo, Miss., who scandalized all the 40-year-olds with his hip-shaking and such, who posedsuch a threat to society as we knew it, is a star now, and a big one.
And he really hasn't changed all that much.
Oh sure, the show opened with a hour's worth of Vegas tripe. The opening tune of the evening was that horrendous disco version of "Beethoven's Fifth," all done up by a horn section right out of some supper club. And there was a comic making stupid jokes about marijuana and stuff, before Elvis emerged from backstage.
Even Elvis' set included a song by Bill Preston, the most tentious of current rock performers.
But therewas pelnty of more. Unlike last year, when Elvis came out and Tom Jones'd it up disgracefully, spending less time singing that he did throwing scarves to the audience and crooning his tunes more than really delivering them, Elvis was working last night.
Performing a well-balanced selection of really good country and r & b songs, he really got behind them and really put them across instead of setting back into a routine performance of his "greatest hits," he resurrected such classics as "Little Sister" and "I Got A Woman," and all the bite and drive of the original performances was right there, solid and raunchy as ever.
Even the Billy Preston tune wasn't all that bad, and who'd ever think you'd be able to say that about a Billy Preston tune?
The packed house loved every bit of Elvis' hour-long performance, and, by its very makeup, served to underscore the point that he hasn't turned into a parody of his former self.
There were plenty of people out there who used to be rebelious teeny-hoopers but, who wear leisure suits and work in offices now. But there were a lot of younger, diehard rock'n'rollers out there, too.
Before the show, many said they had come simply to take advantage of the man who started it all to "just to check it out" as one put it. But they were as moved, as stirred and as excited as their elders by the time the show was over.
Courtesy of Mark van Hout
CONCERT DATE: May 24, 1977. (8:30 pm) Augusta, ME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kennebec Journal
May 25, 1977
They Screamed For Elvis
"All it took was a shake of a finger"
By Paul Betit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"He stood about four feet away. I just couldn't touched him," said the woman bouncing around in her pink slacks and halter-top, her armed outstretched still trying to touch Elvis.
Tuesday night, she and more than 7,000 others got the thrill of a lifetime when Elvis Presley, the undisputed King of Rock and Roll, played the Augusta Civic Center.
It was electric, and it was made even more so by the fact that Presley was late. His Greyhound bus rolled across the grass at the rear of the Civic Center to within yards of the back door. Twin columns of policemen kept the path clear as Presley sprang out of the bus and into the building. It was there that "The Pink Lady" nearly touched him.
About 10:15 p.m. the lights went down and the orchestra began the haunting, imperial strains of the theme from "A Space Odyssey." Then it started. It was deafening. One shrill scream filled the hall. The stage lights came up and a single spotlight caught Elvis as he made his way onto the stage, slowly strolling it's entire length and back again, seemingly drinking it all in. The scream now reached a crescendo and stayed there for nearly a minute. It subsided, a slight undulation of his hips, and it started once more.
Along with the screams, there was the syncopated blinding light of thousands of flashbulbs. It was as if everyone in the place had an Instamatic.
He didn't have to sing. All he had to do was stand there and move something - a finger, a leg, a shake of the head. It was all the same. Every time he struck a different pose, the flashbulbs and the screams would start again.
But Elvis did sing, and it was his old stuff that brought the greatest response - "Treat Me Like a Fool," "Jailhouse Rock," "It's Now or Never," "Don't Be Cruel," "Heartbreak Hotel," and more.
Every once in a while, in the middle of a song, he would stride along the length of the stage throwing silk scarves, which had been draped around his neck, into the audience. As Elvis rid himself of one scarf, one of his sidemen would place another around his neck. Dozens of women flocked to the front of the stage each time this was done.
Elvis got some things thrown at him too. At one point, someone tossed up a dozen long-stemmed roses. The replica of a bright red Maine lobster also came his way.
Nobody seemed to notice that Elvis has changed a little during the last 20 years. There was the hint of a paunch. But the glamour - his angel white jumpsuit with silver brocade - was distracting. Breathed one woman: "He hasn't changed a bit."
Although all the excitement would make it difficult to for one to make an objective assessment of the concert, it was a slick production. A Las Vegas-based orchestra, Joe Guercio and the Hot Hilton Horns, opened the show with a rock version of Beethoven's Fifth.
Comedian Jackie Kahane followed. Explaining that he was part of the warm up, he said: "the women don't need any warming up. If it were any hotter in here there'd be a fire." After each one of the opening numbers, a slight hush filled the room, as the audience awaited the arrival of the King. It was replaced by a collective groan as the lights went up and there was no Elvis.
It was pure Presley. All the elements of what he is were there - gospel, soul, rock, and plenty of excitement.
May 24, 1977. Providence, PA
Elvis Puts on a show at the Civic Center
by Tony Lioce
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PROVIDENCE - There was a point last night, during Elvis concert at the Civic Center, when started to sing "My Way."
The first reaction was to bridle. After all, Elvis? Singing a Paul Anka song? That Frank Sinatra made famous? Elvis? Once THE symbol of youthful rebelion against all that is shallow and phony, singing the Las Vegas national anthem? Is this what happens to rock'n'roll rollers when they get to be 42?
But he was tremendous.
Sure those lyrics about "bitting it off and spitting it out" and stuff are so contrived as to be totally ridiculous., but Presley's performance saved them, hard as that may be to believe.
Singing as though he really meant what he was singing, really putting his heart into, he reminded us all that he really has done it his way. The former truck driver from Tupelo, Miss., who scandalized all the 40-year-olds with his hip-shaking and such, who posedsuch a threat to society as we knew it, is a star now, and a big one.
And he really hasn't changed all that much.
Oh sure, the show opened with a hour's worth of Vegas tripe. The opening tune of the evening was that horrendous disco version of "Beethoven's Fifth," all done up by a horn section right out of some supper club. And there was a comic making stupid jokes about marijuana and stuff, before Elvis emerged from backstage.
Even Elvis' set included a song by Bill Preston, the most tentious of current rock performers.
But therewas pelnty of more. Unlike last year, when Elvis came out and Tom Jones'd it up disgracefully, spending less time singing that he did throwing scarves to the audience and crooning his tunes more than really delivering them, Elvis was working last night.
Performing a well-balanced selection of really good country and r & b songs, he really got behind them and really put them across instead of setting back into a routine performance of his "greatest hits," he resurrected such classics as "Little Sister" and "I Got A Woman," and all the bite and drive of the original performances was right there, solid and raunchy as ever.
Even the Billy Preston tune wasn't all that bad, and who'd ever think you'd be able to say that about a Billy Preston tune?
The packed house loved every bit of Elvis' hour-long performance, and, by its very makeup, served to underscore the point that he hasn't turned into a parody of his former self.
There were plenty of people out there who used to be rebelious teeny-hoopers but, who wear leisure suits and work in offices now. But there were a lot of younger, diehard rock'n'rollers out there, too.
Before the show, many said they had come simply to take advantage of the man who started it all to "just to check it out" as one put it. But they were as moved, as stirred and as excited as their elders by the time the show was over.
Courtesy of Mark van Hout
CONCERT DATE: May 24, 1977. (8:30 pm) Augusta, ME
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kennebec Journal
May 25, 1977
They Screamed For Elvis
"All it took was a shake of a finger"
By Paul Betit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"He stood about four feet away. I just couldn't touched him," said the woman bouncing around in her pink slacks and halter-top, her armed outstretched still trying to touch Elvis.
Tuesday night, she and more than 7,000 others got the thrill of a lifetime when Elvis Presley, the undisputed King of Rock and Roll, played the Augusta Civic Center.
It was electric, and it was made even more so by the fact that Presley was late. His Greyhound bus rolled across the grass at the rear of the Civic Center to within yards of the back door. Twin columns of policemen kept the path clear as Presley sprang out of the bus and into the building. It was there that "The Pink Lady" nearly touched him.
About 10:15 p.m. the lights went down and the orchestra began the haunting, imperial strains of the theme from "A Space Odyssey." Then it started. It was deafening. One shrill scream filled the hall. The stage lights came up and a single spotlight caught Elvis as he made his way onto the stage, slowly strolling it's entire length and back again, seemingly drinking it all in. The scream now reached a crescendo and stayed there for nearly a minute. It subsided, a slight undulation of his hips, and it started once more.
Along with the screams, there was the syncopated blinding light of thousands of flashbulbs. It was as if everyone in the place had an Instamatic.
He didn't have to sing. All he had to do was stand there and move something - a finger, a leg, a shake of the head. It was all the same. Every time he struck a different pose, the flashbulbs and the screams would start again.
But Elvis did sing, and it was his old stuff that brought the greatest response - "Treat Me Like a Fool," "Jailhouse Rock," "It's Now or Never," "Don't Be Cruel," "Heartbreak Hotel," and more.
Every once in a while, in the middle of a song, he would stride along the length of the stage throwing silk scarves, which had been draped around his neck, into the audience. As Elvis rid himself of one scarf, one of his sidemen would place another around his neck. Dozens of women flocked to the front of the stage each time this was done.
Elvis got some things thrown at him too. At one point, someone tossed up a dozen long-stemmed roses. The replica of a bright red Maine lobster also came his way.
Nobody seemed to notice that Elvis has changed a little during the last 20 years. There was the hint of a paunch. But the glamour - his angel white jumpsuit with silver brocade - was distracting. Breathed one woman: "He hasn't changed a bit."
Although all the excitement would make it difficult to for one to make an objective assessment of the concert, it was a slick production. A Las Vegas-based orchestra, Joe Guercio and the Hot Hilton Horns, opened the show with a rock version of Beethoven's Fifth.
Comedian Jackie Kahane followed. Explaining that he was part of the warm up, he said: "the women don't need any warming up. If it were any hotter in here there'd be a fire." After each one of the opening numbers, a slight hush filled the room, as the audience awaited the arrival of the King. It was replaced by a collective groan as the lights went up and there was no Elvis.
It was pure Presley. All the elements of what he is were there - gospel, soul, rock, and plenty of excitement.
Kinders, das müßt ihr nicht wissen oder? Es sind zwei durch die bank sehr positive Konzertkritiken vom 24+25. Mai 1977. Meine Lieblingsformulierung: There was a hint of a paunch.... ein Hauch von Plautze....
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