The final tour of 1976 was a short one. It kicked off on December 27th in Wichita/Kansas and ended on December 31st in Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania.
Tour Stations
12/27/1976: Wichita, Kansas; Henry Levitt
Arena (10,000 spectators)
12/28/1976: Dallas,
Texas; Memorial Auditorium (9,800 spectators)
12/29/1976: Birmingham, Alabama; Jefferson
County Coliseum (18,400 spectators)
12/30/1976: Atlanta, Georgia; Omni Coliseum
(17,540 spectators)
12/31/1976: Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania; Civic Center Arena (16,409
spectators)
Musicians
James Burton (guitar), John Wilkinson (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar and harmony vocals), Jerry Scheff (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Tony Brown (piano), David Briggs (keyboard) and The Joe Guercio Orchestra. The harmony vocals were provided by The Sweet Inspirations (Myrna Smith, Sylvia Shemwell & Estelle Brown), J.D. Sumner & The Stamps (Larry Strickland, Ed Hill, Ed Enoch & Gary Buckles) as well as Kathy Westmoreland and Sherrill Nielsen.
About The Tour
During this tour Elvis presented himself in comparatively good shape. His weight and motivation were back to the level of July 1975, supposingly because of his new girlfriend Ginger, who had to be impressed. Just like on the previous tours and in Vegas the singer used some of his older jumpsuits. This time it was the "Blue Swirl Suit" (in combination with the belt of the "White Two-Piece Suit"), the "Indian Chief Suit" (in combination with the second belt), the "Inca Gold Leaf Suit" (with its original belt, but with the buckle of the first "Indian Chief" belt), the "Embroidered Arabian Suit" (in combination with the belt of the "V-Neck Suit") and the "Black Phoenix Suit" (in combination with the second belt). Musically Elvis was quite flexible, too. He included songs like "Big Boss Man", "Reconsider Baby", "Such A Night" or "For The Good Times" and premiered "Rags To Riches" as well as "Unchained Melody". His voice sounded impressive, but his singing lacked the precision of the past. At times he also gave the impression to be on uppers. However, in total this might have been Elvis' best tour since July 1975.
Audio
