While the first day of rehearsals was more or less an opportunity to get to know each other, the real preparations began on July 15th. Elvis' concept of rehearsing was to try out as many songs as possible, check out what's working and rehearsing these selections with the orchestra and the choir. The advantage of this procedure was, that the band knew many songs (at least rudimentary) and gave Elvis the freedom to include stuff like "Return To Sender", "Young And Beautiful" or "Such A Night" if he felt like it. On July 15th the sessions were taped with a 4-track machine, but this time the king's mike was adjusted way too loud and caused a constant overload.

The rehearsals of "Just Pretend" and "Stranger In The Crowd" were not taped by the engineer. The equipment was started in the midst of a jam of "Stagger Lee". Elvis never planned to include the old Lloyd Price track in his shows, the guys are simply having fun with a hit from their youth. The king alters the lyrics, sings "I have three hungry kids, a horny wife" and also includes a line of "Love Me Tender" in-between.

The same can be said about this one. Elvis doesn't know the lyrics too well and the musicians are fooling around a lot, too. It's just a bunch of guys in their mid-thirties having fun.

Now it's time to get serious again. In contrast to his stage performances Elvis sings the complete lyrics, but his timing is off at times. He also doesn't like the finale and practices this part once more. Afterwards he jokes about his habit to wave his arms to the music and remarks "Like a damn spastic".

At this early stage "Stranger In The Crowd" was a serious candidate for his new live show. Just like yesterday he gives the popsong a try, but he overdoes on purpose and gives his performance a goofy touch.

Now Elvis discusses the intro, but on the first attempt Glen D. Hardin doesn't get it right and the king asks "Where do you go, Glen?". The funny mood continues with Elvis singing about "cake we are getting up your ass" and the next step being sex. Obviously the man had a adolescent kind of humor.

Of course Elvis wants to include his forthcoming single, but once again he doesn't really try and jokes around a lot. After half a minute the performance falters. It takes a while, before the guys manage to present the tune from A to Z. Afterwards "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" is performed a second time, which turns out to be an improvement.

Because the Neil Diamond hit was a standard of the previous Vegas engagement, nobody has trouble to perform it. Even Ronnie Tutt, who hadn't been available in early 1970, fits in right from the start. Of course Elvis cannot help to include some profanity and sings "how can I cum when holding you".

Glen Hardin intones "Yesterday" on the piano and the group joins in. It works right from the start, because Paul McCartney's signature song was a regular feature of the previous years' Vegas show.

Now Elvis bellows the "na-na-na"-part and Ronnie Tutt beats the drums like mad. Finally the group starts a performance of "Hey Jude", but soon the king alters the lyrics to "let it out and shove it in" and the procedure is stopped.

This one has been a part of the prevous two stints at the International Hotel, so "I Can't Stop Loving You" works right from the start.

The actual rehearsal continued with "Twenty Days And Twenty Nights", "Tomorrow Never Comes", "Guitar Man" and an instrumental. However, all these things were not recorded. Somehow I doubt, that "Guitar Man" was more than a short try-out. "It's Your Baby, You Rock It" also isn't a full performance. Elvis simply starts to sing the tune, but stops after its becoming obvious, that the band doesn't know the song at all.

Once again this is no serious rehearsal. Elvis and his group are yelping in the highest pitch possible, but they are too far away from the microphones.

We hear some talking, suddenly the king starts to sing "Ghost Riders In The Sky". At the time the country song was very popular, so everybody is able to join in. It's a loose jam, but great to hear. I just love to listen to these guys having fun.

Elvis says "Do RUNAWAY", but intones his hit "Surrender" instead. When the group gets to the Del Shannon track, the intro sounds rocky. But the performance soon improves and sounds really good. "Runaway" was a regular feature of the king's comeback shows a year earlier, so everyone remembers it well. Unfortunately we don't hear much of Elvis. I don't know if he didn't use his microphone or if something wasn't working.

The same applies here, so we get to hear an instrumental version of Elvis' biggest hit.

As a joke the band picks up the threme of the tv series "Peter Gunn", which recently has been turned into a movie. Elvis joins them, by imitating the trumpets. It's an entertaining skit.

Now Elvis sings the word "treat" and asks for an f-chord. At this point "Love Me" isn't sped up yet and is performed similar to the studio version. As expected the king turns the word "lonely" into "horny" and has to laugh about his own joke. At the end he falls from his chair. By the way: Now Elvis' voice can be heared properly.

Unfortunately this changes again. Elvis is singing, but can only be heared very far in the back.

Out of the blue someone starts to play "Alla En El Rancho Grande". Because there seems to be no song in the world this band isn't able to play, the group quickly joins in. At first Elvis can be heared in the background, but then he seems to grab a microphone and the problem is solved. Of course he doesn't know the Spanish lyrics, but he phonetically repeats what he remembers. The result is very entertaining.

The a-side of the king's first single is also rehearsed, albeit in much slower tempo.

To get used to the song, a record of "Twenty Days And Twenty Nights" is played. Here and there a musician plays along or Elvis sings a line or two.

Instead of rehearsing the new track, Elvis wants to go over "That's All Right" again. This time it's played faster and already sounds similar to what will be presented on stage.

After some studio talk the king wants to try the new song. At first it works well, but after a while Elvis looses track and has to start over again. He still fools around here and there, but he manages to get through the ballad. Proudly he comments "It worked".

Between the rehearsals the band jams a bit.

During this first rehearsal "Patch It Up" is performed slower, in-between Elvis cues the band. It's always interesting to hear, how the king worked on the performances on-the-fly.

Jokingly Elvis starts to sing the old country classic "Cotton Fields" and his fellows join in. Another spontaneous, interesting jam.

In the background, I guess once again without a microphone, Elvis intones "Sylvia". Ronnie Tutt and Glen D. Hardin join in.

James Burton starts to play the intro and everyone joins in. Elvis cancels the walkthrough, but soon starts another try. At this point "Stranger In The Crowd" must have been considered as a standard of the new program, because it's rehearsed quite often.

Now Elvis sits down on the piano and plays another song from his recent Nashville sessions. Once again he hasn't a microphone and his singing cannot be heared all that well. It also gets quite obvious, that he isn't the best piano player in the room.

This is a long-time favorite of the king, today we know about home recordings from the late 1950s. After he's finished, Elvis says "See you guys tomorrow...or whenever". Indeed, there was a rehearsal session on July 16th, but this time the king and his crew prepared for the show without MGM or RCA being around.