From February 27th to March 1st Elvis performed on The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, an annual event at the Houston Astrdome. The king appeared twice each day, on 2 pm and on 7:45 pm.

Musicians

James Burton (guitar), John Wilkinson (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar and harmony vocals), Jerry Scheff (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Glen D. Hardin (piano) and The Joe Guercio Orchestra. The harmony vocals were provided by The Sweet Inspirations (Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell & Estelle Brown) as well as The Imperials (Jim Murray, Armond Morales, Terry Blackwood, Roger Wiles & Joe Moscheo)

About The Event

The event started in 1931 as The Houston Fat Stock Show and became the largest livestock auction and rodeo show in the world. It also featured music acts like ZZ Top, Kiss, Pitbull, Gladys Knight, Beonce', Janet Jackson or Taylor Swift. The Houston Astrodome opened in 1965 and offered 44,217 seats. When Elvis performed there in 1970 and 1974, the capacity was at 44,500 seats. Over the years it was expanded to 70,000 seats, but when the NRG Stadium was opened in the early 2000s, most events moved over to the new venue. Elvis arrived in Houston on February 25, 1970 and gave a press conference in the lobby of the Houston Air Center. Two days later another one followed at the Astroworld Hotel. When the king appeared in the vast arena for the first time, he was seen by only 16,708 people. Of course, it's a huge crowd, but it looked rather small in a venue, that offered more than 40,000 seats. However, the evening show was seen by 36,299 people. On Saturday Elvis attracted 34,443 and 43,614 spectators. For The Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo this was a new record. In total the king's shows were seen by 207,494 people, Elvis was paid 150,000 USD. Before he returned to Los Angeles, a banquet was held to his honor. The management of the Livestock Show gave the king a valuable watch, he also received several Gold Awards from the RIAA.

Audio (no review available)