The tour began on May 20th in Knoxville/Tennessee and ended on June 2nd in Mobile/Alabama. It was organized by Concerts West and Electric Factory Concerts, in total the tour generated 2.3 million USD. After having paid all expenses and his manager Elvis earned 800,000 USD.
Tour Stations
05/20/1977: Knoxville, Tennessee; Stokley Athletics Center (13,000 spectators)05/21/1977: Louisville, Kentucky; Freedom Hall (18,000 spectators)
05/22/1977: Largo, Maryland; Capitol Center (19,000 spectators)
05/23/1977: Providence, Rhode Island; Civic Center (13,500 spectators)
05/24/1977: Augusta, Maine; Civic Center (8,000 spectators)
05/25/1977: Rochester, New York; Community War Memorial (10,000 spectators)
05/26/1977: Binghampton, New York; Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena (7,125 spectators)
05/27/1977: Binghampton, New York; Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena (7,125 spectators)
05/28/1977: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Spectrum (18,850 spectators)
05/29/1977: Baltimore, Maryland; Civic Center (12,841 spectators)
05/30/1977: Jacksonville, Florida; Coliseum (10,300 spectators)
05/31/1977: Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Louisiana State University Assembly Center (15,000 spectators)
06/01/1977: Macon, Georgia; Coliseum (10,242 spectators)
06/02/1977: Mobile, Alabama; Municipal Auditorium (11,000 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
Compared to the previous tour Elvis' condition had worsened. His face appeared to be bloated and his voice at times sounded comparatively weak. Even the change of his stage costumes had become a thing of the past. By now Elvis wore the "Mexican Sundial Suit" every night. But the king also suffered from financial pressure. The previous year he had agreed to consider his stage shows a joint venture with Colonel Parker. Therefore he had to pay him half of the earnings. Due to his financial situtation the manager had deferred the difference to his previous share, but now he made clear, that he expected the backpayment by the end of the year.
Nevertheless Elvis appeared to be quite motivated. On some evenings he accompanied himself on guitar during "That's All Right", "Are You Lonesome Tonight" and "Blue Christmas" or presented rarely sung songs like "The Wonder Of You" and "An American Trilogy". On May 30th he even added "I Really Don't Want To Know" to the set list. But he couldn't keep the strenght for long. Good concerts in Rochester and Binghampton were followed by abysmal shows like the one in Baltimore.
For years there had been reports about his deteriorating health, in March he had to cancel several concerts, the reviews got worse with every tour and his former bodyguards started to release excerpts from their forthcoming tell-it-all book. The fans still were loyal and believed every excuse and explanation. But to everyone else it was obvious, that the man was in trouble. The only good news was the announcement of the television special "Elvis In Concert", which was to be filmed during Elvis' next tour and would be aired in October.
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