The "Elvis Summer Festival 1973" was the final engagement, the king's contract with the Las Vegas Hilton called for. Between August 6th and September 3rd Elvis had 57 shows on his agenda, due to the huge demand for tickets the king finally agreed to an additional performance, which brought the number of concerts up to 58. Elvis was paid 600,000 USD, after all costs were paid he went home with half of this amount.
Musicians
James Burton (guitar), John Wilkinson (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar and harmony vocals), Emory Gordy (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), J.D. Sumner & The Stamps (Bill Baize, Ed Enoch, Donnie Sumner & Ed Wideman) as well as Kathy Westmoreland.
About The Engagement
On July 29th Elvis travelled to Los Angeles, two days later he started to rehearse with his band. The king wanted to perform a medley of "Trouble" and his current single "Raised On Rock", from his forthcoming album he planned to sing "Are You Sincere". The new songs of the season were "My Boy" and "The Twelfth Of Never". With "She's Not You", "I Feel So Bad", "A Mess Of Blues" and "Memphis Tennessee" Elvis also wanted to present some new oldies. On August 3rd the group moved to Vegas, where they met the orchestra and the harmony singers. Joe Guercio had re-arranged "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and as a special effect pictures Abraham Lincoln and the American flag were to be shown in the background during "An American Trilogy". To complete the update of his show, Elvis had ordered no less than seven new jumpsuits. In detail there were the "White Spanish Flower Suit & Green Cape", the "Black Spanish Flower Suit & Green Cape", the "Black Spanish Flower Suit & Red Cape", the "Blue Starburst Suit & Blue Cape", the "Aqua Blue Vine Suit & Blue Cape", the "Lava Suit & Tiger Cape" and the "Arabian Suit & Red Cape". Of course the king also wore costumes, he had used during the previous concert tours.
It all looked bright, but when Elvis entered the stage on August 6th, there was not much left of all the new ideas. The orchestra played the newly arranged "Also Sprach Zarathustra", but the king just included the medley of "Trouble" and "Raised On Rock", "Memphis Tennessee" and "My Boy". To make it worse, the new songs were obviously underrehearsed and presented in half-baked fashion. From the next day onwards everything was back to normal, only "Trouble" and "My Boy" were kept in the show. In general the set list wasn't bad at all, but it became more and more obvious, that Elvis wasn't interested in major updates anymore. Most of the concerts were presented with professional routine, but during some shows the king appeared to be downright bored and for the first time he also showed signs of being under the influence of something. To most fans he simply appeared to be tired, but his numb hehavior and his slurred speech were clear signs of his drug abuse. After more than 13 years Elvis finally had reached a point, where he couldn't hide his problem anymore. On the final day of the engagement the situation got completely out of hand. During the closing show the king was obviously high and even attacted the management of the Las Vegas Hilton. Right after the concert Colonel Parker took his client to task and it was the first time ever the men were heared shouting and screaming at each other. Finally Elvis fired his manager, but hired him back a few days later. In October Elvis was hospitalized and for the first time his doctors considered him to be seriously addicted to several substances. While the singer denied all problems and refused any interference in his private life , his manager tried to give him time to get back on track by canceling all plans for the usual concert tour in the fall.
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