The first concert of this set is the midnight show from January 27th, the third concert of the season. Unfortunately the tape ran out after "Hound Dog", so the complete show is not available. Elvis is in great mood, jokes a lot and delivers some rare songs like "There Goes My Everything" and "Make The World Go Away" (from his new album "Elvis Country") as well as "Only Believe" (from his forthcoming longplayer "Love Letters From Elvis"). In contrast to later years, the oldies are also delivered very well. My personal favorite is "Love Me", which is lightyears better than the sped-up renditions the king would deliver from 1972 onwards.

Those, who have not seen any of the previous two concerts of the season certainly are surprised to hear the "Einleitung, oder Sonnenaufgang" from Richard Strauss' opus "Also Sprach Zarathustra". It's a somewhat megalomaniac choice, but since Elvis Presley is the ultimate king of the entertainment business I guess it's ok to use this kind of music. It certainly builds up tension, which finally relieves with the "Opening Riff" and the appearance of the one and only.

He receives his guitar from Charlie Hodge and begins the show with "That's All Right", just like he had done last August. It's a zesty performance, in which Elvis sings "that's all right, little baby".

The king gives his guitar back to Mr. Hodge and presents "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me", his top twenty hit from last fall. It's a good, powerful rendition.

Now the singer introduces himself as Frankie Avalon and cracks a few jokes. As usual he makes the rounds during "Love Me Tender" and kisses as many women as possible. Afterwards he jestingly claims to have the flu.

Charlie Hodge suggests a song to Elvis, but he refuses and wants to sing "There Goes My Everything" instead. RCA recently has released the track on a single and it also can be found on his latest album "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old". In contrast to his usual behaviour the king even mentions the longplayer. His presentation of the country ballad is great, even though he calls out to his drummer one time saying "Watch me, Tutt!".

The king continues with a song from his last live album "On Stage - February 1970". This time the tune is played faster and The Imperials support their boss at the low parts of the tune. It's a nice approach, I like this incarnation of Neil Diamond's hit very much.

Here the tempo also has been raised, besides that Elvis fools around during the intro. In total it's not a bad rendition by any means, but I like the performance on previous years' "That's The Way It Is" album better.

By saying "Polk Salad!" Elvis gives the go-ahead and within a second Jerry Scheff starts the bass-intro to one of the highlight of the king's latest motion picture. Today the spoken introduction is missing and the swamp rock is played a tad faster. However, that doesn't take away anything of the enjoyment, because Mr. Presley is fit as a fiddle and shakes his body like crazy. Afterwards he recommends to do that a couple of times each night, if one ever has a weight problem.

Still out of breath Elvis starts the next song. It's a religious popsong called "Only Believe", which -as it turned out- was only performed during this very show. So we get a real rarity here.

The king stays with religious songs and announces one, he supposingly recorded in 1922 and received a Grammy for it. Before he starts to sing, he asks for more light, because he fears to fall off the stage. For some unknown reason Elvis feels the need to tell the crowd, that he's often asked, what stuff he had taken, but his behavior simply is caused by the reason, that he loves, what he's doing. He continues to joke, but then he presents the gospel hymn in serious and emotional style. Compared to later renditions, as released on albums like "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis" (1974) or "Elvis In Concert" (1977), this early performance is based on the studio recording from 1966 and sounds a lot less ott.

Now it's time to introduce the band, of course not in a too serious way.

As soon as the introductions are over, James Burton bursts into "Johnny B. Goode". Elvis rocks along and leaves no doubt, why he's called the King Of Rock'n'Roll!

The classic rock song is followed by "The Wonder Of You", which earned the king another top ten hit last year. You won't be surprised to hear, that the ballad was sped up. It was also shortened, Elvis is through with the tune within a minute and a half. It's not a bad performance at all, but it appears as if Mr. Presley wants to get done with the track as fast as possible.

Last year, while MGM recorded the first shows of the "Elvis Summer Festival 1970", the king had sung "Something" a few times. But as soon as a releasable version was in the can, he abandoned The Beatles' top hit. Now it's back and the ballad fits Mr. Presley very well.

Elvis continues with a country ballad called "Make The World Go Away". It's a very good rendition, at one point the singer jokingly imitates James Burton's guitar playing. The song is also part of the king's new album, but this time he doesn't promote the record.

Now Elvis wants to sing a few of his golden greats, according to him 529 of them. Before he starts with "Love Me", he tries to find the right gear. The ballad is presented very well.

The old r&b tune is presented with zest, after the line "I never did no wrong" Elvis quips "not much".

Jokingly the king causes a few false starts, but then he rocks through a fast-paced "Blue Suede Shoes". However, the guitar solo we know from the movie "That's The Way It Is" unfortunately is missing.

The sales smash "Hound Dog" still features the guitar solo and even though Elvis simply repeates the same four lines over and over again, the song is rockin' like hell.