After the original album and some bonus tracks the set moves on to the actual live shows. The first one is the opening concert of the "Elvis Summer Festival 1970", which took place on August 10th. Back in the year 2000 Follow That Dream Records had released the show on an album called "One Night In Vegas", but at the time the "Introductions" were left out to save space for bonus tracks. This new edition is complete and of course also remixed and remastered.

The band starts to play the "Opening Riff" and Elvis enters the stage. He wears a white jumpsuit with fringes, whose ends are decorated with beads. Therefore this costume is known as "White Fringe Suit & Multi-Color Beads". Charlie Hodge hands his boss a brown guitar and Elvis walks over to the microphone. After having opened his first engagement at the International Hotel with "Blue Suede Shoes" and the second one with "All Shook Up", he has now switched to "That's All Right", the a-side of his first commercial single. It's played a lot faster than back in 1954 and the whole thing sounds more like Vegas than like country & western. But it works very well and is a great start of a Presley show.

Elvis stays with the songs of his SUN era and presents a medley of "Mystery Train" and "Tiger Man". Compared to previous years' live album "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis" his voice sounds less rough, but still he rocks the house like only he can do. Especially "Tiger Man" is wild, because Elvis moves to the beat and the strobe lights create an almost magic effect.

Now the king gives his instrument back to Charlie and welcomes the audience. He's audibly out of breath. Elvis makes fun of the huge MGM cameras. He greets one of them with "hello, you big mother" and wryly adds "see if they put that in the film". He also jokes about his Gatorade. Due to the yellow color he thinks, the sports-drink looks like it already had been used. After all the fun he presents "I Can't Stop Loving You", also known from the aforementioned live album. Once again he delivers a powerful performance and it's obvious, how much he likes the song.

Ironically Elvis claims to have been two or three years old when he made "Love Me Tender".  Even though he might have been some eighteen or nineteen years older back then, it really seems to be ages away. The Elvis Presley of 1970 certainly is a different man than the one of 1956. Of course the king doesn't take the boring love song seriously. He uses it as a tool to kiss some of the ladies, who might stop washing themselves after the occasion.

A few weeks ago RCA has released the track on the b-side of "I've Lost You". On stage the popsong is played a tad faster and the orchestra-arrangement is more lavish. I like the presentation, but the singer himself wasn't too convinced of the track and never sang it again. So it's great to have the one and only live rendition of "The Next Step Is Love" in great audio quality.

Elvis returns to his previous years' album "From Memphis To Vegas / From Vegas To Memphis" and sings a cover version of "Words". He has changed the arrangement a bit, to me it sounds better now. At one point Elvis' voice cracks, but otherwise it's a fine performance.

The king obviously isn't shy to sing other people's hits if he likes them. Recently BJ Thomas has enjoyed a top10 hit with "I Just Can't Help Believin'" and just a few weeks later Mr. Presley presents it in his Vegas show. He certainly can compete with Thomas, maybe his interpretation even is a bit better.

Now Elvis thanks the crowd for coming to see his show and demonstrates a laughter bag, the latest party-gimmick. Musically he sticks with cover versions and announces a tune from The Beatles' songbook. When the group had released "Something" / "Come Together" in 1969, both tracks charted in the top3 of Billboard's Top100. Elvis' version isn't necessarily better, but sounds smoother.

From The Beatles Elvis moves over to Neil Diamond. This time the fans already know the Presley version, because it is featured on his latest live album "On Stage - February 1970". At the time Bob Lanning was on the drums, but even though he did a good job, Ronnie Tutt does it better. Compared to Diamond's original the tempo of Presley's version is higher. It fits the song much better and one cannot help to say, that Elvis has improved the song.

Five years ago The Righteous Brothers had scored a hit with "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", now the king picks it up, too. It's an impressive performance, but here and there little timing issues can be made out. Well, this is the first show of the season and I guess one simply cannot avoid all the glitches.

Now it's time for a Dusty Springfield tune. It's also the a-side of Elvis' forthcoming single, but he doesn't mention it. It's a very powerful performance, at times maybe even a bit too much. Nevertheless it's obvious, that the king loves the song and has fun singing it.

This one is known from Presley's current album "On Stage - February 1970". But you might have guessed it by now, that it's not an original track. "Polk Salad Annie" was first released in 1969 by its writer Tony Joe Whight. But similar to "Sweet Caroline" the king is able to improve the song. He doesn't just sing it, he celebrates it! He shakes his body and moves all over the stage. In-between he jokingly admits, that he feels like an old stripper. Well, he's 35, but obviously thin and fit. I seriously doubt, that anyone is able to give a better lecture on Body English than Elvis Presley.

Completely out of breath the king flirts with some women and introduces his band.

Freshly recovered Elvis presents his new single "I've Lost You". Once again you can see, that this is opening night, because the king wrongly starts to sing during the bridge. Of course he's a professional and covers up his mishap. Otherwise it's a fine rendition.

After the presentation of his new 45 (not a Colt, but a record) the king goes straight back to covering other people's hits. This time it's Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water". But it's not a copy & paste job, Elvis turns the song into something completely different. The ballad starts in a sparse, intimate way, but soon turns into some kind of mini-opera. The orchestra and the choir are very much involved and the king is singing with a lot of power. I dare to say, that his voice never sounded stronger or better. He really makes the song his own. Great stuff!

While the audience still is applauding, Elvis suddenly yells "one, two, three, four" and the band starts to rock. Surprisingly this is an original song, and it's also a new one. The king and his crew are running at full throttle and getting everyone on their feet.

Suddenly Elvis says "You're a beautiful audience, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all very, very much" and the band starts to play "Can't Help Falling In Love". The golden curtain comes down, the "Elvis Summer Festival 1970" is underway.