In May 1974 Elvis returned to Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel. After a single opening night performance on the 16th the king appeared on stage twice each day until the 26th of the month. In total he was supposed to do 21 concerts. Due to the heavy demand the king agreed to a 22nd show in the early morning hours of May 27th. On the evening of the same day The Jackson Five took over. In contrast to the king's previous engagements the tickets were sold at the hotel only.

Musicians

James Burton (guitar), John Wilkinson (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar and harmony vocals), Duke Bardwell (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Glen D. Hardin (piano)and The Al Tronti Orchestra (conducted by Joe Guercio). The harmony vocals were provided by The Sweet Inspirations (Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell & Estelle Brown), J.D. Sumner & The Stamps (Bill Baize, Ed Enoch & Dave Rowland), Voice (Donnie Sumner, Tim Baty & Per-Erik Hallin) as well as Kathy Westmoreland.

About The Engagement

As written before, the tickets could only be purchased directly at the hotel. The decision had been made, because in the previous year the phone lines had broken down due to the heavy demand and the hotel had been jamed with letters and postcards. Besides that, the concerts at 8:00 pm were turned into cocktail shows, too. This enabled the hotel to sell more tickets, because the huge dinner tables were replaced by smaller cocktail tables and more people could be seated in the showroom. The pre-show was performed by Voice, The Sweet Inspirations and the comedian Jackie Kahane. Elvis was on stage for an hour, his set list basically mirrored the one of the previous tour. That meant, that the first part of the program was dedicated to oldies and greatest hits, which often were sung with too much routine. However, the newer songs were performed very well. From time to time the king strayed from his usual repertoire and included rarely sung tunes like "It's Now Or Never" or "Spanish Eyes". He also re-vived "I'll Remember You", "You Gave Me A Mountain", "The Wonder Of You" and "I'm Leavin'". Compared to his appearance in Vegas Elvis had lost a few pounds. On stage he wore his new, embroidered jumpsuits. In detail he used the "Peacock Suit", the "Blue Swirl Suit", the "American Eagle Suit", the "Turquouise Phoenix Suit" and the "Inca Gold Leaf Suit". Because the belts were still not available, the king combined the suits with matching belts from his pool. In total this was a more than solid engagement. The king looked good, was in fine voice and delivered entertaining shows. Especially the newer material was presented very well.

Audio