CBS aires "Elvis In Concert" on October 3, 1977 at 8:00 pm. The show becomes the most successful television concert of the year, but even with the hype caused by his death the programm was seen by less Americans than "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite". The new tv special had a rating of 32.7% while "Aloha" had reached 33.8%. In Germany "Elvis In Concert" premiered on August 19, 1978.

Production

In early 1977 Colonel Parker suggested to do another tv special. The idea was to film and record two or three road shows, edit a "television concert" of an hour and release a soundtrack album. The purpose was simply to generate income and meet the contract with RCA without having to do any extra work. With the help of the William Morris Agency the manager negotiated a contract with the CBS Broadcasting Inc. The company was willing to pay $750,000 to Elvis and $10,000 to All Star Shows (of which the king owned 25%) for promotion work. RCA also agreed to produce a soundtrack, so with the forthcoming summer release the required number of albums in 1977 was delivered. CBS hired Dwight Hemion and Gary Smith, who already had worked with people like Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand and Paul McCartney and who would end up with no less than 24 Emmy Awards.

Much to everybodys amazement Colonel Parker made clear right from the start that Elvis wouldn't be involved in the production process at all. Of course he would allow the camera crew on stage, but otherwise he wasn't to be bothered with anything. When the CBS people visited the king's concert in Chicago on May 1st, they were alarmed even more. Elvis looked pale and overweight and didn't act dynamically at all. Besides that his show was somewhat long-winded and lacked real musical highlights. Especially Dwight Hemion must have been dismayed, because he had worked with Elvis on "The Steve Allen Show" in 1956, but the man on stage hadn't much to do with whom he had seen and heared back then. They all agreed that it was hard to fill an hour with a show like this, but the fans still appeared to be excited to see Elvis in person. So it was decided to emphasize on the sideshow and give the tv special the touch of a documentary. On June 1, 1977 the forthcoming tv special was officially announced.

The tour began on June 17th in Springfield and ended on June 26th in Indianapolis. Because of Elvis' bad condition it was somewhat tricky to ensure that he got the motor running, but wasn't running out of gas yet. So it was decided to give him two days to warm up and film/record the third, forth and fifth show of the tour. Unfortunately it turned out that CBS and RCA couldn't capture the show in Lincoln on June 20th, so they had to work with the material filmed and recorded on June 19th in Omaha and June 21st in Rapid City.

On June 19th everybodys worst nightmares came true. Elvis face was bloated and he was obviously under the influence of some substances. Between the songs he barely got out a proper sentence and his vocal performances also left much to be desired. It was apparent that the majority of the tv special had to come from the next concert. The star seemed to be aware of the problem and pulled himself together to the best of his abilities. His eyes still were somewhat glassy and he was slurring his speech a little, but at least he didn't look all that bad and seemed to know where he was and what to do. The camera crew filmed his arrival at the building and also covered a little native girl giving him the "Medallion Of Life" as well as a conversation with the mayor of Rapid City.  On stage Elvis delivered a much better show, even though he couldn't compete with his performances in 1973 (Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite) and 1968 (SINGER presents Elvis). To get as much footage as possible the CBS crew interviewed fans and members of the show and also caught the pre-show atmosphere in the venues when posters, buttons, soft drinks and popcorn were sold.

After reviewing both concerts everybody agreed that the lion's share of the live material had to come from the footage shot in Rapid City. The show was edited and approved by the Presley camp. Further it was determined that "Elvis In Concert" was to be aired on October 3rd. After Elvis had died, there were several discussions about what to do with the show. It finally was decided to give it a touch of an obituary, to change one or two songs and to film Vernon Presley thanking Elvis' fans for all the flowers and cards regarding the demise of his son. The airdate of October 3rd was kept.

A long time after Elvis' death Janelle McComb, a friend of the Presley family, revealed that the king had given her his copy of "Elvis In Concert", admitting that he had approved, but never seen it. I am pretty sure he knew exactly what a mess it was and didn't want to see himself on stage in such a bad condition.

Urban Legends

The major fairytale regarding "Elvis In Concert" is the story, that  the special would not have been released if the king hadn't died and/or that additional footage would have been filmed in August or September. As written before, the show was edited and approved by the Presley camp and an airing date was determined. So appart from Vernon's message at the end of the show a very similar edition of "Elvis In Concert" would have been televised on October 3rd if the king had been around. 

October 03, 1977

The show opens with statements of enthusiastic fans. While Elvis arrives at the airport, the venue is prepared for the concert. More and more people fill the auditorium, food and merchandising is sold. While the orchestra plays "Thus Spake Zarathustra" the king arrives backstage and waits for his cue to enter the stage. It's the first time we get to see him from a close range. He has put on several pounds since the "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite" show and looks somewhat unfamiliar.

The concert quickly reveals how low the king was sunken by 1977. His voice sounds sluggish, inflexible and old. Sometimes it has a nasal undertone, much more prominent than four years ago in Honolulu. An especially sad experience is the gospel "How Great Thou Art". Two years ago the king was honored with a Grammy Award for his performance of that song on the album "Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis". Now he lacks control, misses notes, and the power soon leaves after a few loudly bellowed lines. To make it worse Elvis also changes the lyrics to "how great I think you are". While most of his oldies had been performed in rather lackluster fashion during the "Aloha" concert, the presentation of his golden greats is now downright embarrassing. The medley of "Teddy Bear" and "Don't Be Cruel" is performed without any energy and Elvis apears like a robot when too many scarfes are thrown into the audience. He mixes up the lyrics to "Jailhouse Rock" and when he starts to shake at the end of "Hound Dog" it simply looks ridiculous.

Elvis condition is pitiful. His face is bloated, the eyes are glassy and he slurrs the words. But he's still very likable. It seems he realizes the disgracefulness of the situation and makes fun of it. Obviously neither the masses of medication nor the yes-men he surrounds himself with can drive his sense of irony out of him. At times he pulls himself together and delivers. His short performance of "I Really Don't Want To Know" is excellent, also "Hurt" and "You Gave Me A Mountain" are performed very well. Another highlight is "My Way", which now sounds more like a statement than a song.

Because Dwight Hemion and his team are fully aware of the singers bad state, they try to shift the focus a bit. The live material is interrupted by statements of Elvis' fans. They talk about their enthusiasm for him, his carisma or his assumed honesty and religiousness. These scenes serve the purpose of avoiding to show Elvis and to point out, that the singer is still a relevant figure and his concerts are still big events.

During "Can't Help Falling In Love" Vernon Presley is shown, saying positive things about his son and about Colonel Parker. Then the show is over and Elvis leaves the venue in a long black limousine. In an epilog a visibly shaken Vernon thanks the fans for the flowers, cards and condolence messages and explains that the audience had just seen the final live performance of Elvis. This mistake certainly was owed to the situation and wasn't a trick to sell the tv special or the album.

Soundtrack

On October 3, 1977 RCA released the soundtrack album, a month later it was followed by a single. The RIAA certified the records with Gold and Platinum, combined they sold more than 7.5 million units. Just tap on the covers to get to the reviews.

Elvis performing "My Way"