In the 90s the the previous century holograms were nothing but a future dream. But it was possible, to use existing concert footage and isolate the lead vocal. So the idea was born, to present a' capella videos on a huge screen and have Elvis' original band play along live. It was a bold concept, because nobody had done such a thing before and some doubted, that a real concert atmosphere could be created without the presence of the star or that anybody was even willing to pay money to see such a show. But when Elvis Presley Enterprises staged "Elvis In Concert" at the Midsouth Coliseum in Memphis on August 8, 1997, the event was an instant success. The miracle had happened, twenty years after his demise the king was back! Fans and critics were so thrilled, that it was decided to take the show on the road.

Production

The show was produced by Elvis Presley Enterprises (under the aegis of Todd Morgan) and Stig Edgren. Randy Johnson acted as director and planner. Just like in the old days, Joe Guercio was hired as musical director. The clips were taken from the concert movies "That's The Way It Is" (1970) and "Elvis On Tour" (1972) as well as from the television concert "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" (1973). Later editions of the show also featured excerpts of the tv special "SINGER presents Elvis" (1968). Back in the 1990s there were no a.i. tools to filter Elvis' voice, add missing elements or exclude ambient noise. That was done by simply closing the vocal track every time, the king didn't sing or say something. Joe Guercio wrote new arrangements around Elvis' existing vocals. Of course he couldn't stray from the originals all that much, but in general everything sounded a tad more modern. The stage design included three huge screen. The ones on the side showed the live action, the monitor in the middle featured the king. To enhance the effect, the musicians were placed on stage the same way they had been in the 1970s and the light effects in the venues mirrored the ones in the movies. So when James Burton was playing a solo and Elvis looked at him to the left, the display on the accordant side showed what Burton was doing on stage. I saw one of these shows myself and I really have to say, that it worked quite well. Especially in huge venues, one doesn't really notice, if there is a small figure less on stage.

 In its different incarnations the screen show was on tour longer than the real Elvis had been active as a professional musician.However, just like the concert presentation of the king, the virtual version didn't stay up to date. While the band ABBA started to stage hologram shows in 2022, Elvis still was on tour via video screen, just like 25 years before.

1999 to 2013: Elvis In Concert / Elvis - The Concert

Two years after the anniversary event the production went on tour. The band consisted of James Burton (guitar), Jerry Scheff (bass), Ronnie Tutt (drums), Glen D. Hardin (piano) and Joe Guercio with his orchestra. The harmony vocals were provided either by The Stamps Quartet (Ed Enoch, Ed Hill, Royce Taylor and Butch Owens) or The Imperials (Terry Blackwood, Joe Moscheo and Sherman Andrews) as well as The Sweet Inspirations (Myrna Smith, Estelle Brown and Portia Griffin). Sometimes Millie Kirkham was also added to the line up. Not all members of the harmony groups had been on stage with Elvis. When Jerry Scheff left the group, he was replaced by Norbert Putnam. He hadn't been part of the king's personal appearances, but had recorded with him many times. When Ronnie Tutt wasn't available due to his commitments with Neil Diamond, his protege' Paul Leim took over. In contrast to Putnam, Leim had no connection to Elvis at all. Because of the advancing age of the musicians and several fatalities the format was abandoned in 2013.

The show consisted of two blocks of 45 minutes each. The concerts started with "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and ended with "Can't Help Falling In Love". The gospel groups got their own solo spot. The Imperials sang "He Touched Me", The Stamps performed "Sweet Sweet Spirit". The concert included Elvis' 1974 performance of "How Great Thou Art". Because there was no video material available, the screen in the middle of the stage was blank. From the middle of the 2000s onwards an outtake of "Elvis On Tour" was used. By speeding up and slowing down the video, the picture was matched to the vocal track. The were also longer versions of the show, that were presented during the "Elvis Week 2002" (25th anniversary of the king's death) and "Elvis Week 2007" (30th anniversary of Elvis' death). On these occasions the concert also included Scotty Moore, DJ Fontana and The Jordanaires.

2014: Elvis Presley On Stage

A year after "Elvis - The Concert" a new production was sent on the road. Now the videos were projected on a transparent curtain, the musicians stayed in the background. The advantage of this variation was, that anonymous instrumentalists and singers could be used. They were cheaper and easily replacable. However, the quality of the video was too bad for the large projection. It all looked good from the far end of the venue, but to the people in the front it all looked way too pixelated. Even though "Elvis Presley On Stage" was commercially successful, EPE took the format off the market after just a year.

2016 to 2018: The Wonder Of You

In 2015 Sony released the album "If I Can Dream - Elvis With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra" and sold 1.5 million copies (this amount of physical sales equals 225 million paid streams). A year later "The Wonder Of You - Elvis With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra" hit the market and was just as successful. The concept of these albums were similar to the screen-shows. The producers separated the king's voice and added it to newly recorded music tracks. Because of the commercial success it was decided to create an accordant live show. To keep the costs as low as possible, EPE and Stig Edgren didn't book the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, but some nameless instrumentalists. The production was advertised as "Elvis - Live On Screen With Symphony Orchestra" or "... with 40 Piece Orchestra". Because the huge projections on a transparent curtain had not worked out, EPE and Stig Edgren went back to the concept of three smaller screens. From late 2017 onwards there was a huge monitor in the middle of the setup with an oblong, the whole stage encompassing projection screen behind it. To boost the mass appeal, the show was hosted by Priscilla Presley. Sometimes Jerry Schilling acted in her place.

2019: various formats

Since 2019 the show is presented in several formats. The first new incarnation featured the real RPO and also members of Elvis' original band (James Burton, Ronnie Tutt and Glen D. Hardin) with Priscilla Presley and Jerry Schilling acting as hosts. In 2022/23 it was "The Very Best Of Elvis In Concert", this time with The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and no members of Elvis' original band, circle of friends or marriages.

Audio

Clip (Elvis - The Concert 2012)