Due to the huge demand for tickets Elvis performed in St. Paul twice. The concert on October 2nd as well as the one on October 3rd was sold out with 17,163 visitors each and generated a box office of 350,000 USD. On the first evening the king wore the "Peacock Suit", on the second night he used the "Mad Tiger Suit".

The orchestra has played "Also Sprach Zarathustra", afterwards the band had taken over with the "Opening Riff" and Elvis has entered the stage. Charlie Hodge gave him his black guitar and the king walked over to the microphone. Now the engineer starts to record the procedure. Compared to his appearance in the summer the singer has gained a few pounds. On the following day the local press would describe his physique as "plump". Elvis puts a lot of energy in his opener, but also sings very jerkily. In total the song doesn't sound as tight as on his recent concert album "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis", which was taped in March.

Now the king toys around with the word "well" and gives his bass singer, Mr. JD Sumner, the opportunity to display his abilities. "I Got A Woman" is sung in similar style, at the end of "Amen" the bass vocalist once again shows off his voice. After a short reprise of the Ray Charles tune Elvis throws his guitar to Charlie Hodge and jokingly introduces himself as Wayne Newton.

Up next is the ballad "Love Me". It isn't a straight rendition, at times the king sings the harmony part, on other occasions he fools around with the instrumental parts of the song. Nevertheless it's entertaining.

The band starts to play "Blue Suede Shoes", but Elvis can't join them because he drinks some water. So they have to start all over again. The rock'n'roll classic is presented in high speed mode, but the king's voice lacks all the power a tune like this needs.

Elvis continues with the ballad "Until It's Time For You To Go", his top40 hit from early 1972. The singer fools around with the lyrics, sings "I was clean, now I'm dirty, it's a sin" instead of "I was an oak, now I'm a willow, now I can bend". I don't know if he's referring to his personal problems here. In general this performance is his best so far.

A rockin' rendition of "Big Boss Man" raises the tempo of the show. It's another good performance, which gets the audience on their feet.

While Duke Bardwell plays the intro a fan yells out a request, to which Elvis replies "Steamroller? OK, a little later". As it later turned out, the king would not perform "Steamroller Blues" tonight. "Fever" is used to have a little fun. The king imitates the "I love you"-yelps and makes the ladies scream by moving his legs to the beat.

In April Olivia Newton-John released "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" and scored a top5 hit with it. Now Elvis has discovered the country pop and I really must say, that it suits him very well. His take on the tune is a bit more peppy, which I like very much.

While the previous song was received politely, the announcement "My first movie was Love Me Tender, so I'd like to sing a little bit of that for you" make the ladies gasp. Of course Elvis kisses some of the ones at the edge of the stage, an especially lucky specimen even is asked by him to come over. Ironically he asks "Want the belt? The suit?". To her disappointment the singer doesn't strip down, but simply hands her a scarf. Well, I guess it's enough to keep her happy.

Elvis toys around with the intro and repeats the "well"-game from the beginning of the show. Suddenly a woman screams hysterically, which makes the singer admonishing her "Wait a minute, don't have the baby yet". Unfortunately "Hound Dog" turns out to be even lamer than "Blue Suede Shoes". Elvis simply repeats the same four lines over and over again and obviously tries to save as much energy as possible. Of course the fans don't care, but everyone else does and realizes how little Mr. Presley cares.

The "Introductions" offer the chance to hear Elvis talk for a while. And the longer he talks, the more one gets the impression that he might be under the influence of some substances. He certainly isn't high as a kite, but he talks quite fast and slurrs his speach. In contrast to earlier concerts the "Introductions" now feature solos by every band member. The only one who doesn't get his 30 seconds of fame is John Wilkinson, for whatever reason. When Glen D. Hardin is introduced, he plays "Lawdy, Miss Clawdy" to which Elvis sings along. But it's not nearly as good as on his current album "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis". The king appears hyped up and screams more than he sings.

The program is continued with the 1957 mega seller "All Shook Up". But todays' rendition is as fast and uninspired as "Blue Suede Shoes" or "Hound Dog".

His oldie medley of "Teddy Bear" and "Don't Be Cruel" is presented with a tad more energy, but still it's lightyears away from what I call a good performance.

Now Elvis suggests "Let's do THE WONDER OF YOU". First he misses his cue, so the intro lasts a bit longer than usual. Then he changes the lyrics and sings "you give me hope and constipation" instead of "...hope and consolation", which is quite funny. At one point the singer appears to have a memory lapse, but it was a spontaneous idea to sing the song. It's not a great presentation, but compared to the previous oldies it's a vast improvement.

This is one of the new songs on Elvis' current live album. JD Sumner takes over the lead vocals while his boss joins The Stamps for the chorus. In contrast to the performance on the album the king tries to crack Mr. Sumner up with some jokes, which is an entertaining affair.

With "Heartbreak Hotel" it's time for another oldie, but thankfully Elvis likes this one and presents a nice version of it.

This country pop is also one of the new tunes on the king's recent live album. Today he performs it a bit faster, which adds more dynamics to the procedure. Elvis obviously likes the song very much and even offers a little encore.

Now Elvis asks "How many people of you like the song KILLING ME SOFTLY?". After a positive reaction he adds "I like it, too, but I won't do that damn thing". I guess he wanted to ask Voice to sing the ballad, but changed his mind while asking the question. Then he asks how man people had seen "Blue Hawaii" and offers to sing "The Hawaiian Wedding Song". It's a very good performance, during the finale he duets with his soprano Kathy Westmoreland. Afterwards he jokes, that Kathy thought the Hawaiian lyrics mean something nice and cracks a joke about the dual meaning of the word "lai" / "lay". Today he would be in danger of being sued because of sexual harassment, but back in the 1970s women had to laugh at chauvinistic stuff like that or at least keep quiet.

The king wants to meet a request (maybe "Steamroller Blues"?), but opts for "An American Trilogy" instead. Jokingly he also offers to sing "Old Shep". When I listened to "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis", I realized that the song now is played faster and therefore has lost some of its flair. But today the king also sings much less accurate. Of course the fans are in awe when he belts out the chorus in impressive style, nevertheless it's very obvious that he doesn't even come close to his performances from 1972/73. The difference is nothing but shocking.

Compared to his rendition on the "Aloha" album todays performance of "Johnny B. Goode" has a lot (!) more drive. But it appears that Elvis simply yells out the lyrics instead of singing them. It all sounds quite hyped-up.

With "You Gave Me A Mountain" Elvis quickly demonstrates, that he can do much better. He still doesn't come close to what can be seen in "Elvis On Tour", but his performance is definitely worth listening to. Unfortunately the tape ran out of the performance, so the rest of the show (supposingly just the closing song "Can't Help Falling In Love") is missing.