After the tour in February Elvis and his friends headed for Hawaii. On March 23, 1977 the king returned to the concert circuit, until April 3rd he had to do another 12 live shows. But when the group was about to leave Graceland mansion, Elvis didn't give the impression to be up to the challenge. Unfortunately the worst fears became reality, because after eight concerts the tour came to a halt. In Baton Rouge Elvis simply refused to leave the hotel and 15,000 people had to be sent home after the pre-show. The following three concerts were canceled, too. To avoid legal consequences Elvis was hospitalized after he had returned to Memphis. Because neither the king, nor his manager wanted to return the monies, the shows in Baton Rouge, Mobile, Macon and Jacksonville were added to the schedule of the tour in May.
Tour Stations
03/23/1977: Tempe, Arizona; State University
Activities Center (14,047 spectators)
03/24/1977: Amarillo, Texas; Civic Center (7,389
spectators)
03/25/1977: Norman, Oklahoma;
Lloyd Noble Center (11,415 spectators)
03/26/1977: Norman, Oklahoma; Lloyd Noble Center
(11,500 spectators)
03/27/1977: Abilene,
Texas; Taylor County Coliseum (7,500 spectators)
03/28/1977: Austin, Texas; Municipal
Auditorium (6,000 spectators)
03/29/1977:
Alexandria, Louisiana; Rapides Parish Coliseum
(15,000 spectators)
03/30/1977: Alexandria,
Louisiana; Rapides Parish Coliseum (15,000
spectators)
03/31/1977: Baton Rouge,
Louisiana; State University Assembly Center
(canceled)
04/01/1977: Mobile, Alabama;
Municipal Auditorium (canceled)
04/02/1977:
Macon, Georgia; Coliseum (canceled)
04/03/1977: Jacksonville, Florida; Coliseum
(canceled)
Musicians
James Burton (guitar), John Wilkinson (guitar), Charlie Hodge (guitar and harmony vocals), Jerry Scheff (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Tony Brown (piano), Bobby Odgin (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
After Elvis had found out, that David Briggs was in a releationship with his former girlfriend Linda Thompson, he replaced the keyboard player by Bobby Odgin. However, this change in the line-up was neither a reason for him to set up a rehearsal session, nor to meet with the musician. In fact, both men met for the first time in Tempe/Arizona - on stage. Elvis obviously didn't care for the quality of his show. The same can be said about his outfits. Instead of using a variety of stage costumes, he now was down to the "Mexican Sundial Suit" and the "Embroidered Arabian Suit". The latter one was now combined with its original belt again. From October 1976 to February 1977 he had used the belt of the "V-Neck Suit".
Because Elvis still hadn't managed to complete the long overdue album, Felton Jarvis accompanied the tour with a four-track machine. He simply hoped, that his employer might sing a song, that wasn't included on one of his many live records. But these days Elvis rarely sang anything out of the ordinary and more often than not he sounded tired or appeared to be under the influence of some substances. One of the few highlights were the shows in Abilene and Austin, during which Elvis sang "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Steamroller Blues". Commercially the king still was a success. Even though he visited cities, he had appeared in just a few months before, most of his concerts were sold out.
Audio
