Elvis had performed in Chicago back in 1972, shortly after his appearances at the Madison Square Garden. The ones, who had visited one of his previous concerts here, must have been shocked. During the past four years the king had obviously put on a few pounds and lost some of his energy. His voice was not as powerful as in 1972 and his singing was less accurate. However, the current year had been a bad one for Elvis and compared to how he had looked and sounded during his latest concerts, his appearance in Chicago was an improvement by any means. He had lost a little weight and his voice also sounded much better than it had during the last few months. Besides that, he didn't end the show with just three songs after the introductions, but added a few more tunes. The concert wasn't great and certainly not an artistical comeback. But at least the singer appeared to be on the right track again and offered a nice show.

Just like four years earlier the orchestra openes the program with "Also Sprach Zarathustra", which leads into the "Opening Riff". Elvis enters the stage, wearing the "Inca Gold Leaf Suit" from 1974. But instead of the original belt buckle he uses the one from the "Chinese Dragon" outfit, also introduced in 1974.

Elvis grabs his guitar and starts the concert with "See See Rider", not with "That's All Right" as he had done in 1972. It's a good performance, several lines are yelled out with a lot of power.

After toying around with the word "well" the king segues into "I Got A Woman". Of course he also includes the gospel "Amen" and demonstrates a few of his tried and tested moves from the past. Then he throws his guitar to his assistant and welcomes the audience. Elvis also mentions to have been here five years ago. Well, actually it was on July 16th and 17th of 1972.

Now a fan hands him a rose, ironically the king asks his band for the first chord of "Love Me". In contrast to many other renditions of 1976, Elvis toys a bit with the melody and keeps contact with the fans.

The king moves on to "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)". The country pop fits him well, here and there he changes the key, which makes the tune more interesting. It's a good performance.

The applause is barely over when the band starts the next song. The king doesn't hold the notes as long as he did in the movie "Elvis On Tour", but it's still an impressive rendition.

Now Elvis moves back to the golden 50s and sings his famous "Jailhouse Rock". The arrangement is quite vegasy, but in general it's a nice trip to the past.

For a second or two the king is unsure about what to do next. A fan yells for "Jailhouse Rock", which puzzles the singer since he had just performed that very song. Another member of the audience wants to hear "Love Me Tender", but Elvis opts for "All Shook Up". It's a somewhat lifeless rendition, even though we had to hear worse ones in the past.

Thankfully the rock'n'roll king gives a more motivated impression here. He also throws several scarfs into the audience, which drives the ladies crazy. They look like ducks fighting for bread.

With "And I Love You So" the man from Memphis returns to more recent material, the ballad was released last year on "Elvis Today". It's a good performance, even though the king's voice sounds a tad shaky at times. During the song a lady suddenly screams in delight, which causes the king to laugh.

The oldie "Fever" is used for driving the ladies wild. This time Elvis simply moves his legs to the beat.

Now it's time for "Polk Salad Annie". Compared to what you can see in the movie "That's The Way It Is" the king's moves are slow and somewhat uncoordinated. His voice also lacks the punch of earlier versions. Nevertheless the man obviously does what he can and seems to like the song very much. The band is as good as ever and injects all the power they have - and that is a lot!

Elvis takes a break and introduces his musicians. In contrast to 1972 he takes a long time to do so. By now every member of the harmony groups is introduced and all bandmembers play a solo. "Early Morning Rain" is started again, because the king regards the key to be too low. Here and there Elvis includes a little joke and the solos are impressive. But all that jazz eats up a quarter of an hour, which is way too much.

Now the king announces to sing his latest record, which according to him is out for a month. But hey, "For The Heart" / "Hurt" was released in March and now it's October! However, his performance is strong, albeit his voice shakes a bit during the finale. Maybe he wants to make up for it and sings it all over again. This time he injects a lot of power in the opening line and also runs at full throttle during the grand finale. It's all quite impressive and the audience applaudes wildly, but still he sounds shaky at times. Maybe the man really needs a bit of rest.

Up next is his first record, at least according to the singer. But instead of "That's All Right" he sings "Love Me Tender", which is the title song of his first movie. He also seems unsure of the lyrics, because he mumbles away the first lines. But he soon gets back on track and performs the ballad quite nicely.

Unfortunately one cannot say the same about "Hound Dog". OK, it's performed better than on other occasions, but still it's obvious that Elvis doesn't care for the rock'n'roll classic at all.

Now Elvis asks for the house lights to be turned on. Then he sings "Funny How Time Slips Away". As usual he toys a bit with the finale.

The king continues with his medley of "Mystery Train" and "Tiger Man". During the chorus of the last mentioned song he shakes his body to the strobe lights, which still causes a nice effect. Certainly not as impressive as in his old, slim days, but enough to make the ladies scream.

Unfortunately it's time to go and so Elvis says goodbye and also mentiones his show here tomorrow. As usual he ends the program with "Can't Help Falling In Love" and the "Closing Riff". He takes his bows and vanishes into the dark of the backstage area.