Between 1954 and 1956 Elvis regularly performed on the radio show "The Louisiana Hayride", which was aired from Shreveport. After he left, it took him 19 years to return to the city. On June 7, 1975 he performed at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum twice, each show was sold out with 10,300 fans. The king knew the building from his early days, because his final appearance at "The Louisiana Hayride" had taken place right here. In 2012 Follow That Dream Records released a soundboard recording of the evening concert. Because the engineer didn't start the equipment before Elvis sang "Love Me", the previous part of the show was borrowed from a tape made on June 10th in Memphis. FTD also added three bonus songs, that were not part of the standard set list. The digipak was designed with fitting pictures, this time FTD even included a booklet of 8 pages with some basic information regarding the concert and a selections of photos taken in May and June 1975.

The lights are going down and the orchestra starts to play the "Einleitung, oder Sonnenaufgang" from Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra". The band takes over with the dynamic "Opening Riff" and Elvis appears on stage. Compared to 1956 he has gained quite a few pounds, his hair and his sideburns are noticably longer. His style of clothing has also changed a great deal. Now he's wearing one-piece suits with huge belts. The one he's wearing today features embroidered feathers and sybols of Native American tribes.

After having received his guitar, the king walks over to the microphone and begins his show with "See See Rider". The performance is comparable to the one in "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite". The band is tight, but Elvis doesn't operate at the same energy level as in 1969 or 1970.

The same can be said about the Ray Charles hit "I Got A Woman". The musicians invest more power than their boss, but in total it's still a good and entertaining performance. Elvis demonstrates some of his famous moves, sings a portion of "Amen" and gives JD Sumner an opportunity to present his bass voice.

From now on we hear the actual recording made in Shreveport. The sound changes a bit, it sounds not as bright and a tad muffled. But compared to other soundboard recordings it's still more than acceptable. Elvis tells the crowd, that his first jobs were here in Shreveport. He jokingly reacts to a feedback from the sound system, that this one might be his last. "Love Me" is performed the usual way, the king throws a few of his famous scarfs into the audience.

Before he kisses a female fan, Elvis jocosely admits to have caught the creeping crud during the previous nights' concert. Then he covers Olivia Newton-John's hit "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" and performs it much better than the original artist.

Here the focus is on the theatrics, not on the vocal performance. Elvis kisses the ladies at the edge of the stage and hands out scarfs.

Within a minute the king plows through "All Shook Up".

The medley also isn't anything but entertainment. Elvis kisses some more ladies, shakes hands and throws scarfs into the audience. To the fans, this is enough. They don't come to hear the king sing, they just want to enjoy his presence.

For a minute or so Elvis mumbles through "Hound Dog" and shakes his chubby body to the sounds of the orchestra. One might raise the question, why anybody does things like that when he's able to deliver classy vocals. But hell, the fans love it.

Compared to the album "On Stage - February 1970" the song is played faster, some parts are left out and Elvis doesn't sing as accurate as he did half a decade ago. But checked against "All Shook Up" and "Hound Dog" this is a huge improvement. The king still is able to belt out the chorus powerfully and in impressive style.

Now Elvis changes gears and sings "Burning Love". And while "Hound Dog" left the impression, that the king has lost his ability to rock, "Burning Love" proves just the opposite. Elvis definitely still has "it" and is able to rock the house - if he wants to.

Maybe to recharge his batteries the king takes eight minutes to introduce his fellows on stage. Everybody but John Wilkinson, the rhythm guitarist, plays a solo, to some of them Elvis sings along. The orchestra is conducted by Marty Harrell. According to the king, Mr. Guercio isn't available today, because he has to keep away the flies from the bride at a wedding in Poland. Say what you want, but Elvis had a great sense of humor.

His latest single, the rocker "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" is presented with zest.

JD Sumner takes over the lead vocals and sings the gospel "Why Me Lord". Elvis joins The Stamps on the chorus. He tries to make JD laugh, which ruins the severity, but adds entertainment value.

Even though it's still impressive at times, today's version of the hymn cannot compete with the performance on the album "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis". The king misses several notes and has to admit, that he had done it better. He offers a reprise, but it's also not perfect.

The country pop is presented with enthusiasm and this time even better than on the afore mentioned live album.

The patriotic anthem still is a showstopper, but it lacks the perfection of earlier renditions. Elvis doesn't sing as accurately, the song is played a tad too fast and the new trumpet solo just doesn't fit as well as the flute solo. The king still belts out several lines in impressive style, but he never reaches the level of his performances in 1972/73.

To take a look at his fans, Elvis has the house lights switched on. Then he sings "Funny, How Time Slips Away". The whole thing is about interacting with the crowd. He obviously enjoys the contact with his fans, at times he has to laugh out loud. Elvis repeats the last line of the country ballad, to give JD Sumner another opportunity to show off his deep voice.

The silly song is used to fool around and have fun. It's entertaining to watch and hear.

Now Elvis rocks the house with a medley of "Mystery Train" and "Tiger Man". Everyone on stage is running at full throttle. Even though he's not as slim and slender as in 1970, the king shakes his body like he did back then in "That's The Way It Is".

Elvis doesn't waste much time on saying goodbye, but promises to come back to Shreveport any time. Then he sings "Can't Help Falling In Love" and leaves to the sounds of the "Closing Riff".

Back in 1973 this lovely ballad was on the set list of almost every show, two years later Elvis still seemed to like it a lot. But once again his lack of accuracy is obvious.

In Tuscaloosa/Alabama the king performed in front of 15,000 fans, the largest audience of this tour. Elvis sings the movie tune very well, at the end he includes a x-rated joke.

After the summer of 1974 Elvis rarely sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Maybe this is the reason, why he mixes the lines "I'm on your side" and "I'll take your part" and sings "I'll take your side". Apart from this minor glitch everything works well and the king belts out the finale in an impressive way. But once again one should not compare his effort to the performances of 1970 to 1973.