As written before, Elvis didn't stay in Abilene/Texas. He was flown in from Norman/Oklahoma just prior to the show and left for Austin/Texas right afterwards. On the day of the concert there were still some good seats available, even though it was a Sunday and the Taylor County Coliseum had a capacity of no more than 7,500. On previous visits to Abilene Elvis' shows had sold out within days, there even was a rumor that the singer would cancel if it didn't sell out. However, when he hit the stage all tickets were gone and Presley earned another 70,000 USD plus the profits from the merchandising.

This time the engineer omitted "Also Sprach Zarathustra", "See See Rider", "I Got A Woman" / "Amen" and "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)". The tape starts with the first sung words of "You Gave Me A Mountain". Even though the finale sounds a bit fluffed, Elvis is up to the challenge and sings the power ballad well.

The good ole' "Jailhouse Rock" is presented with zest and is a welcome reminder of everyones' youth.

After Mr. Nielsen has minced the classic "O Sole Mio" Elvis takes over with "It's Now Or Never". Once again he delivers the song well and belts out the chorus in impressive style.

Now Elvis announces "Blue Suede Shoes", but quickly makes up his mind and wants to fulfil a request from "super baby" (whoever that is) instead. And so he performs the SUN classic "Trying To Get To You". Since it's a spontaneous decision he appears to be unsure of the lyrics for a second, but otherwise he delivers a remarkable performance.

Once again omitting the usual medley of "Little Sister", "Teddy Bear" and "Don't Be Cruel" the king asks for his guitar. While Charlie Hodge hands him the instrument and puts a second microphone on a stand to amplify his boss' instrument Elvis tells the crowd, that he had played this town many times when he started out. In fact he'd been to Abilene five times in 1955 alone. After a few bars the king re-starts the song, because he thought, his band had lost the feeling. But then he delivers a spirited performance of his first single release.

Of course Elvis and Charlie cannot help to fool around during the tender ballad. Two blokes making fun of homosexuals and the audience laughs at their silly antics. WTF?!?

Thankfully the standard is raised with a great rendition of Sinatra's "My Way". Vocally Elvis is up to the dramatic ballad and today's rendition easily is the best on this album.

The king continues with the oldie "Fever". As he gives away one of his scarfs he quips, that he has someone backstage making them. Despite he's far away from his slender appearance of early 1973, his antics make the ladies scream just like during the "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" telecast.

Elvis must be feeling really good tonight, because he surprisingly announces to sing "How Great Thou Art". The people on stage appear to be caught off-guard since the singers need a few seconds to get in sync. However, apart from this glitch the gospel hymn is presented very well and Elvis' vocals don't fail to impress. Nevertheless his performance cannot match the ones he delivered up to 1975.

Follow That Dream Records edited out the solos, so the procedure isn't as long and boring here as it actually was. If you want to "enjoy" the complete intros, you can do so on the album "Amarillo '77".

Elvis continues the program with "Hurt", his single release from March 1976. It's another impressive performance, even though the king doesn't repeat the finale.

The sales monster "Hound Dog" is presented in lackluster style. At the end Elvis shakes his chubby body to the brass sounds of the orchestra, which isn't an improvement at all. Needless to say, that the audience loves it anyway.

At this point Elvis usually ended his show with "Can't Help Falling In Love", so the engineer turned his equipment off. Unfortunately the king decided to stay a little longer and asked Sherrill Nielsen to sing "Danny Boy" and "Walk With Me". Afterwards Elvis sang "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy". Especially the last mentioned track is interesting, since it's a rarity. The good thing is, that Felton Jarvis taped a few songs to complete the forthcoming "Moody Blue" album and in contrast to the guy at the soundboard he was able to catch the performance. It can be found on FTD's "Spring Tours '77".