Elvis in Concert. The hard mission of the Artist
Elvis in Las Vegas. 9 Season
FROM TUPELO TO MEMPHIS
After the July recordings at Stax, Elvis would begin rehearsals from July 31, which the band would begin at the RCA studio on Sunset.
The repertoire was planned to be more or less similar to the previous tour, but they were also going to work on some songs that were supposed to be included in the Concerts.
Included are some that have not been sung for many years, such as "She's Not You", "I Feel So Bad" and "A Mess of Blues", "Trouble" and the extended medley of "Rock 'n' Roll" in which he is going to include several songs .
Two unrecorded songs, "The Twelfth of Never" and "Are You Sincere?" will also be rehearsed. , which would later be recorded in September in Palm Springs.
For some reason all this was discarded and finally he would only keep the song "Trouble" and the medley of "Rock & Roll", apart from the usual ones and he would include his newly recorded song "Raised on Rock" and a new song that he would sing regularly from then on, "My Boy". This song would be recorded in the future December sessions at Stax Studios.
On August 3rd Elvis flies to Las Vegas to finally start rehearsals at the Hilton Hotel, where he will sing.
The Summer Festival is scheduled to begin on August 6, 1973, in Las Vegas, with the usual dinner and show. As usual the show started with the overture of "Also Sprach Zarathustra", but this time it was made with a special arrangement different from the current style, but it was clear that it lost the strength, the energy and the impact that the original version caused in the spectator. For this reason it would stop being done and would return to its usual interpretation the next day, the experiment may have started from a desire to change or give another approach to the show.
Not only Elvis was tired, it was difficult to do the same thing day after day if there were no changes or variations. The repertoire should have been changed before, they were all in the same boat, Elvis did not know how to change at this time and the musicians, the orchestra were also playing the same thing day after day and for some it was not pleasant.
The public was waiting for their King and the show would begin with optimism for all, except for the journalists who saw in these shows a very big change, not only in his physique, since he had gained overweight, but also in the show in general.
During the shows, one of the most applauded and successful songs was "My Boy", which made the audience stand up to recognize his performance. There was also a particular anecdote when he sang another of the songs that the audience loved the most. It was at one point in the show, as Elvis was beginning "American Trilogy," a large cardboard cutout in the shape of a moon was lowered from above the large Hilton stage. The moon was adorned with a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and an eagle. Elvis was not expecting this, because no one told him they were going to put it behind and when he turned around he said : "My God, the moon is falling".
Elvis also adds to the repertoire a song that sensitizes the public, but initially what he does is to recite it , eventually, you will hear the voice of the Stamps tenor singing it and Elvis reciting the lyrics, the title was "Softly As I Leave You". It is said that women cried when they heard Elvis in this interpretation.
The shows closed with the usual "Can't Help Falling in Love", without adding another novelty. But the audience was usually happy, although it is true that the rest of the shows say they were very variable in performance and especially in Elvis' attitude.
The press was extremely cruel to Elvis, as it would be one of the worst reviews in his career, The Hollywood Reporter gave a negative description of the opening night. What could be read was :
"He is Elvis at his most indifferent, disinterested and unattractive", also " The Living Legend was fat and ridiculously mimicked his former self . His personality was lost in one of the most ill-prepared , unstable and most dispiriting performances of his career in Las Vegas .... It is a tragedy , disheartening and absolutely depressing to see Elvis in this state , fat and ridiculously imitating his former self ".
It seemed to be that they didn't hear his voice, they only saw his physical change and it was very unfair to see how this criticism put him as a puppet of himself. When Elvis read all this, he was obviously very disappointed and his bad mood and depressed state would be more evident to everyone.
It was the beginning of the most atypical shows in Elvis' career.
"Following the Path of the King..."
FROM TUPELO TO MEMPHIS 79
9 Temp Las Vegas. August 1973
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