Twenty years after Elvis' final Tahoe stint Sundial Productions released a compact disc called "Live At The Lakeside", which featured a very good sounding audience recording of the dinner show on May 1, 1976. The cover was made up with photos from the midnight show of this day. In the pictures Elvis is wearing the "Blue Egyptian Bird Suit". A few hours earlier he had used the "Chicken Rib Suit".

The intro "Also Sprach Zarathustra" was not recorded. We begin with the "Opening Riff". Elvis appears on stage, Charlie hands him his guitar and the king walks over to the microphone. "See See Rider" is delivered well, albeit the performance doesn't sound as effortless as it had done a few years earlier. The king even adresses his condition and jokingly tells the fans, he needed four hours to prepare for the show and was dead beat after a single song.

During the game with the word "well" he says, The Stamps had the easier part, because they only had to do one song each while he had to do 25 or 30. Somehow his general condition seems to bother him today. Maybe he should do something about it? "I Got A Woman" is sung well, during "Amen" he makes fun of his moves of the 1950's and declares "It's a special art to do this. It's called spastic". Of course JD Sumner gets an opportunity to show off his bass voice.

After having thrown his instrument back to Charlie, the king talks to the audience. When someone asks for "Softly, As I Leave You", Elvis changes his program and performs the song. As usual the ballad is sung by Sherrill Nielsen while Elvis recites the lyrics. It's a beautiful and emotional rendition and certainly a welcome change.

With "Love Me" the king returns to the regular set list, but today he puts a little more effort into his performance than usual. As a joke he let's the harmony singers hold the final note until they almost turn blue.

Once again Elvis talks to the fans. When he finds out, that it's one of the ladies' birthday, he asks for her name and sings "Happy Birthday To Lory". The band and the harmony singers join in and I dare to say, that this is her ultimate birthday present.

Because Elvis has to cool down some fans, it takes him a while to find into the tune. But then it works very well. During the last part the king isn't able to hear his harmony singers well enough and so he repeats the finale.

Maybe because the king spontaneously had sung "Softly, As I Leave You" and "Happy Birthday", several fans start to yell out requests. Two of them are "Good Luck Charm" and "Love Me Tender", but this time Elvis ignores them and continues as usual with "You Gave Me A Mountain". Jocosely he turns the line "...blamed for the loss of his wife" into "...blamed for the loss of his eye", but otherwise it's a serious performance. He's still belting out the chorus in impressive style, but knowing his earlier renditions, it's easy to detect, that he needs to cut some lines short. By now he needs to take a breath more often.

Without a break Elvis continues with "All Shook Up". It's done as fast as on the Madison Square Garden album, but the king's voice lacks the power it had back in 1972.

The medley is used to make contact to the fans and hand out some scarfs. Elvis has as much fun as the audience, at one point he's so involved with the fans that he looses track and has to re-start "Don't Be Cruel".

When the band starts to play "My Way" Elvis jokingly asks, which song was up next. He's not all that serious during the second verse, but apart from that it's an emotional rendition. The Sinatra classic also demonstrates, that the king is in fine voice. I also like the string arrangement of the Al Tronti Orchestra.

Now Elvis seems somewhat unsure about what to do next. He finally decides to sing the "Steamroller Blues", his top 20 hit from early 1973. It's a good performance, but one cannot help to notice a somewhat tired sub-tone in his voice.

Before continuing with some more songs, the king introduces his band and backup singers. He takes a lot of time to do so and each and everyone plays a solo. James Burton even does two. This time "Early Morning Rain" isn't sung by Elvis, but by John Wilkinson. I guess it's some kind of inside-joke. Obviously Wilkinson isn't a vocalist and when he sings the line "...and I miss my darlin' so" the king cannot help but commenting "Miss your voice so". It's an entertaining interlude. By the way: On this album the "Introductions" are not complete.

In March RCA had released the single "For The Heart" / "Hurt". The press and the fans considered "Hurt" to be the a-side and Elvis seems to think alike. His rendition is powerfull and just as good as on the record.

In contrast to the dedicated performance of "Hurt", the former rock'n'roll king just mumbles through some lines of "Hound Dog". During the finale he shakes his chubby body to the brass sounds of the orchestra. It's an awkward scene, but the fans love it. They don't hear or see the actual person, the overweight man in the overflamboyand, somewhat too tight jumpsuit. To them he's still the Elvis from former times.

But don't get me wrong, the old and fat Elvis still has something to offer. The gospel hymn "How Great Thou Art" is delivered in powerful voice and with a lot of emotion. Songs like this fit him much better.

Now the king wants to bow out, but someone in the audience asks for "Love Me Tender". Being in a cheerful mood, Elvis doesn't just fulfill the request, but also has James Burton play a nice, little intro. Of course the ladies don't care for such details. To them the only important thing is, that Elvis bestows them with handshakes, scarfs and even some kisses.

With a short "Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen" the king says goodbye and tells the band to "take it on". As expected the guys start to play "Can't Help Falling In Love", which segues into the "Closing Riff". Elvis shakes a few more hands, gives away his final scarf and leaves the stage.