In the summer of 2014 Follow That Dream Records released the earliest known live recording from the king's comeback engagement at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. The soundboard recording is supposed to be made during the dinner show on August 3rd, but the producers kept it safe and simply wrote "August 1969" on the cover. The audio was cleaned and restored by Jan Eliasson and sounds great, considering the source. In contrast to most of their other concert releases, FTD treated this one with a 7" digipak and a booklet.

The band and the orchestra play a rhythmical intro and Elvis enters the stage. Charlie Hodge hands him his guitar and the king moves over to the microphone. By now the man is 34 years old, the last 13 of them he was rich and famous. But he's obviously still hungry. His voice sounds darker now, also a bit rough. The arrangement of the old rock'n'roll song is more complex than on Elvis' debut album, but the focus still is at the rhythm. To make it short: The performance rocks!

With a slow and bluesy "well" Elvis segues into "I Got A Woman", another tune from his first longplayer. It also presented with a lot of zest.

Jokingly the king claims, that it was hard for him to get it goin' right after dinner. He plays the intro on his guitar, but suddenly stops and says, that he could open any song in the world like this. In fact, he sings "All Shook Up". It's performed much faster than back in 1957, but it hasn't lost any of its charme.

By shaking his body and having accentuated the procedure by his drummer, Elvis spoofs his old image. He jokes a bit and welcomes the audience to the big, freaky International. Afterwards he sings "Love Me Tender" and even bestows some ladies with a kiss. The arrangement of the somewhat boring ballad is much better than on the record, it's somewhat reminiscent of the television special he did last year.

The ballad is followed by a rousing medley of two of Elvis' greatest hits. His band is running at full throttle and the king rocks the house like he did in 1956. He's obviously having fun and gives everything he has.

Up next is "Heartbreak Hotel", his first national number one hit and his first million-seller. The arrangement is bluesy and modern, I especially like the harmony vocals of The Sweet Inspirations.

Elvis drinks some water and cracks some jokes. Once again he spoofs his image and makes fun of the fact, that his name is written on his guitar. Then he announces the message song of the evening. Some might expect his hit "In The Ghetto", but instead the king yells out "You ain't nothing but a hound dog!". Maybe he's a bit embarrassed by the empty-headed lyrics, but he certainly makes up for them by performing the song in hard-rockin' style.

During the first part of "Memories" Elvis sounds out of breath. Before he starts the song, he even apologizes for his sweat and heavy breathing. Once again Elvis kisses a girl or two, but not as many as during "Love Me Tender".

Now Elvis pretends not to know what's up next and jokes about his days at SUN Records. Then he presents "Mystery Train", which he recorded many moons ago for the small label in Memphis. The track is coupled with "Tiger Man", a song he introduced during his television special "SINGER presents Elvis". The arrangement is fuller than on the old SUN single and on his more recent tv show, where he was jamming with his old buddies. But the focus is on the rhythm and the man himself still has that edgy subtone in his voice.

Elvis grabs his electric guitar and sits down. But instead of singing another song, he tells the audience about his life and how he started out. The king's humor is not too sophisticated, many of his jokes are quite corny. He also doesn't remember everything too well, but who can blame him? In 13 years he experienced more than most of us do throughout their whole lifes. It's supposed to entertain, maybe Elvis includes that part, because many other stars in Vegas do.

Just like the ballad "Memories" and the r&b song "Tiger Man", this one was first presented in the tv show "SINGER presents Elvis". Of course the arrangement is less sparse, the band rocks along nicely and The Sweet Inspirations add some very good harmony vocals.

His 1961 hit "Are You Lonesome Tonight" gets a touching and tender rendition. I especially like the violin, which adds a lot of feeling to the performance.

Surprisingly Elvis now pays tribute to The Beatles. During the last few years the group hasn't just challenged him, they simply had outclassed and outsold him. We have to face the truth: While the guys from Britain came up with stuff like "Rubber Soul" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", Mr. Presley released "Harum Scarum" and "Double Trouble". He's fully aware of the situation and jokingly sings "I'm not half the stud I used to be". From "Hey Jude" Elvis just uses the final part and communicates with the audience. It also emphasizes on the harmony singers, which do a great job.

Of course Elvis knows, how great his musicians and singers are. Before he continues with the next song, he introduces them to the audience.

Now it's time for "In The Ghetto", his best selling single of the past four years or so. He performs it faster than in the studio and also includes the orchestra. It sounds fuller that way, but also a bit shallow. However, that doesn't mean, that this is a bad presentation. It isn't and it fits very well into the show.

Elvis introduces his forthcoming single. It's a song called "Suspicious Minds", which was released earlier by its writer Mark James, but without any success. The king presents the song in his unique style, cleverly includes the band, the choir and the orchestra and demonstrates the meaning of the expression "wall of sound". He also proves, that he's fit as a fiddle. Elvis moves even wilder than in the 1950s and drives the ladies over the edge. Women in their 30s suddenly become teenagers again and start to scream as if they were 14. Whatever it is, Elvis still has it!

Completely out of breath from his seven-minute tour de force, the king segues into "What'd I Say". Suddenly he leaves the stage and one might think, the show was over. But then Elvis returns and finishes the song. Great stuff!

The man from Memphis bows out with a few words and sings "Can't Help Falling In Love". He's still out of breath, but does his best to perform this beautiful ballad from the movie "Blue Hawaii" well. During the finale the curtain comes down and the show is over. This time for real.