In the early afternoon of March 22nd Elvis arrived in St. Louis and stayed at the Bel Air Hilton Hotel. The show was about to take place at 8:30 pm at the Kiel Auditorium. After having booked the venue, Colonel Parker had advertised the event with a single commercial on a local radio station. It was all it took to sell the 10,546 available tickets within just seven hours. We have to remember, that there was no internet back in 1976. So the fans had to visit the booking office and pay their vouchers in cash. So we can assume, that it took the employees seven hours to get the tickets over the counter and collect the money. Elvis himself didn't stay long in St. Louis. Right after the show he was driven to the airport and flew back to Memphis.

After the pre-show and a break the lights are brought down and the orchestra starts to play "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Suddenly the band takes over with the "Opening Riff" and Elvis appears on stage. Charlie Hodge hands him his red guitar and the show is underway.

Today's incarnation of the usual opener is ok, but we have heared more dynamic versions in the past.

Now the king fools around with the word "well", until he suddenly announces "That's it, folks". Of course it's not and Elvis segues into "I Got A Woman". As usual he adds a bit of "Amen" and JD Sumner gets an opportunity to show off his bass voice. Thankfully the king does without repetitions of the procedure and keeps the pace of the show. Quickly he reprises "I Got A Woman", throws his guitar to Charlie and welcomes the crowd. Among other things he says "Kiel Auditorium? I played here many times before". He's certainly right, since he'd performed here in the 1950s and re-visited the venue in 1970 and 1973. I wonder, if he asked himself, what the people might think about him. Just three years ago he had been a slim and good looking man. But now he was fat and pale. At times even his voice displayed a strange, nasal sub-tone. A lot had changed within this short time-frame.

As usual Elvis uses "Love Me" to get in contact with the fans. He also throws a scarf into the audience.

By saying "Take it on!" the king cues his band to start the next song, but then he jokingly adds "No, wait!". Nevertheless he begins to sing as planned, albeit not nearly as vibrant as in the summer of the previous year. During the performance Elvis bends down, so a lady can take the scarf from his neck. Obviously she gets carried away, because suddenly the singer can be heared saying "Be careful...woah..choking!". He also seems to be afraight of the many people right in front of the stage and somewhat rudely tells them "You have to go back to your seats!".

The musical soap opera soon turns out to be a disaster. First Elvis doesn't like the mix he hears on the stage monitors and points it out by singing "tired of the sound" instead of "tired of the grief". But then it gets worse. Suddenly a lady manages to get on stage and accedently smashes the king's microphone against his teeth. Ostensibly he takes it easy and asks "Lord have mercy, kid! What's the matter with you?", but right after the show he ordered his manager to never book him in St. Louis again.

Up next is "Steamroller Blues", his top20 hit from 1973. It gets a solid outing.

Unfortunately one cannot say that about "All Shook Up". Elvis just rattles through the song for a minute or so, without displaying any commitment.

The king stays in energy saving mode and presents the two hits with as little effort as possible.

It's almost a surprise, that "Heartbreak Hotel" is sung well. Elvis obviously still likes his first national number one hit.

Now the king announces "I'd like to do a little bit of my first song...LOVE ME TENDER...for you". Of course everybody knows, that his first song was "That's All Right" and he means the title song of his first movie. He sings it well, much better than "All Shook Up" or "Teddy Bear".

After having been in the show for half a decade "Polk Salad Annie" cannot be considered as current material anymore. But it's also no real oldie. However, it's somewhat sad to see the chubby singer trying to move like he did back in 1970. Nevertheless he manages to do a knee-bend, which nobody would expect of a person looking that way.

To catch his breath, Elvis now introduces the band. Meanwhile the procedure eats up more than ten minutes, but in St. Louis it wasn't entirely recorded and we are redeemed after half of the time.

The king announces the next tune by saying "This is from our last album, called AND I LOVE YOU SO". What follows, is a very nice rendition of this tender ballad.

Up next is Elvis' brand new single "Hurt". It's an impressive, big-voiced ballad, but today the king doesn't hit all the notes and also gets the words mixed up. Maybe that's why he does without the usual encore.

Mr. Presley's renditions of "All Shook Up" and "Don't Be Cruel" were poor, but his performance of "Hound Dog" takes the cake. One might think he's mincing the rock'n'roll classic on purpose. But the stangest thing is, that his audience doesn't care. It recognizes the tune and is happy with it.

His presentation of "Hound Dog" even gets more sad, because "America (The Beautiful)" is the proof, that Elvis can sing. In fact, he can sing very well - if he wants to. The inoffical anthem of the USA is sung with a lot of feeling and especially the finale is belted out in impressive style.

To take a look at the audience, Elvis has the house lights turned up. He also mentions the strange sound in the auditorium and that it's hard for the people on stage to hear themselves properly. Then he sings the country ballad "Funny How Time Slips Away".

Now the king says goodbye, but doesn't make his usual offer to come back anytime. During "Can't Help Falling In Love" he heavily relies on his harmony singers and also does without the belted-out finale. The band takes over with the "Closing Riff" and soon Al Dvorin announces "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building". Of course he doesn't forget to hawk the merchandising items, which are available for purchase in the lobby.