Just three weeks after he had to cancel a few concerts in March, the king was back on the road. Even though Elvis visited several cities, he had appeared in half a year before, the majority of the shows was sold out. The admission fee was $10.00, $12.50 and $15.00. The concerts were booked by Management III and RCA Record Tours.
Tour Stations
04/21/1977: Greensboro, North Carolina; Coliseum (16,565 spectators)04/22/1977: Detroit, Michigan; Olympia Stadium (15,600 spectators)
04/23/1977: Toledo, Ohio; University Of Toledo (9,322 spectators)
04/24/1977: Ann Arbor, Michigan; Crisler Arena (12,000 spectators)
04/25/1977: Saginaw, Michigan; Saginaw Center (7,197 spectators)
04/26/1977: Kalamazoo, Michigan; Wings Stadium (7,200 spectators)
04/27/1977: Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Milwaukee Auditorium Arena (11,854 spectators)
04/28/1977: Green Bay, Wisconsin; Brown County Veterans Memorial Coliseum (6,532 spectators)
04/29/1977: Duluth, Minnesota; Duluth Arena (7,755 spectators)
04/30/1977: St. Paul, Minnesota; Civic Center (17,000 spectators)
05/01/1977: Chicago, Illinois; Chicago Stadium (20,000 spectators)
05/02/1977: Chicago, Illinois; Chicago Stadium (19,600 spectators)
05/03/1977: Saginaw Michigan; Saginaw Center (7,197 spectators)
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
Because Elvis hadn't completed the required album yet, Felton Jarvis once again brought along professional recording equipment. Even though the concerts didn't include anything new, he hoped to catch at least a song, that had not been part of one of the many live albums of his employer. Finally he ended up with "Unchained Melody" (April 24, 1977), "Little Darlin" (April 24, 1977) and "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (April 26, 1977).
Most of the reviews were negative. One critic wrote "If he appeared live and in concert tonight in my back yard, I wouldn't bother to raise the window shade". And there were headlines like "Fans Of Elvis Pay A Lot To See Little" or "He Stunk The Joint Out!". On many occasions he appeared to be tired, sometimes he slurred his speech and was obviously under the influence of something. He also just used two jumpsuits: The "Mexican Sundial Suit" and the "Embroidered Arabian Suit". Maybe because he had appeared in many regions just a few months earlier, he included some rarely performed songs like "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "The Hawaiian Wedding Song", "Big Boss Man" and the medley of "Mystery Train" and "Tiger Man". He even started the final concert of the tour with "That's All Right" and also tried to perform "Trouble". However, he didn't manage to sing the last mentioned song and finally gave up.
The shows in Chicago were visited by a CBS team. Elvis had agreed to film a tv special in June and the producers wanted to check out the current presentation. But even though the concerts in Windy City belonged to the best ones of this tour, it soon became clear, that Elvis couldn't carry a tv show of an hour anymore. And so the production team decided to give the program a touch of a documentary and emphasize on the sideshow. They had no choice, the contracts were signed.
Audio
