Syracuse, NY. July 27th 1976
By Dale Rice
The
" King " lives!
Elvis
Presley, displaying the same charisma, vocal range and showmanship which carried
him to the throne of the " King of Rock 'n Roll " in the mid-50s
carried on an open love affair with more than 8,000 of his staunchest fans last
night at War Memorial Auditorium.
Playing
to his second War Memorial sellout in three days, Presley was nothing less than
dynamite as he crooned his way through a fine mixture of love songs and had 'em
rockin' in the aisles with the king of tunes he does best.
Clad in a baby blue and white suit with gold embroidery (and, yes, he does weigh more than he did in '56), Presley came on stage to the dramatic strains of "The Theme From 2001" and exited (under heavy security) 65 minutes later following " Can't Help Falling In Love ".
Tom Loomis ©
Syracuse, NY. July 27th 1976
In
between, a Syracuse-dominated audience fell in love with him. But then, after
waiting 21 years for him to come to town and then waiting for untold hours to
grab up the tickets to this originally announced concert, most of them were
already in his comer before he stepped on stage.
A
steady stream of flashbulbs illuminated the big hall as Presley moved through
" C.C. Rider " and " I Got A Woman ", teasing the
heavily-female audience with many of those no longer infamous " bumps
".
The
crowd joined in as Presley broke into "Amen " and then quieted as the
Tupelo, MS. native switched to one of his biggest hits, " Love Me ".
Presley
got acquainted with the crowd early as Charlie Hodge, the only "scarf
man" in show business, provided him with a seemingly-endless flow of baby
blue and white scarves.
Presley
draped them momentarily around his neck or wiped his thoroughly soaked brow and
cast them into the audience. He might as well have been giving out $10 bills the
way the recipients reacted.
Many
in turn presented him with gifts - handmade items, clothing, yellow roses, etc.
- and a few were rewarded with kisses from "The King ".
Presley's
tremendous vocal range manifested itself in " You Gave Me a Mountain "
and minutes later he had 8,400 Bicentennial-oriented men, women and children on
their feet with a moving vocal and narrative rendition of "America the
Beautiful".
He turned to a medley of his biggest hits - "All Shook Up ", "Teddy Bear " and " Don't Be Cruel " - but got as much applause from songs he borrowed from Olivia Newton-John and Peggy Lee.
Tom Loomis ©
Syracuse, NY. July 27th 1976
"Jailhouse
Rock ", another old favourite and " Polk Salad Annie " followed
before Presley introduced the talented group of singers and musicians who back
him up.
The
latter served as a rest period for Presley while at the same time providing the
opportunity for solo spots for his guitarists, drummer and piano players.
Presley
got in a few bars of " Early Mornin' Rain ", " What'd I Say?
", " Johnny B. Good " and " Love Letters " during the
instrumental solos and then brought the crowd to its feet with a stirring
rendition of a former Timi Yuro hit " Hurt ", Elvis' latest single.
An
encore performance of the latter plus a few short bars of " Hound Dog
" brought Presley to the nostalgic " How Time Slips Away " and
the crowd moved closer with the realization that the concert end was near.
Telling
the crowd that " You've been one of the finest audiences we ever worked
with ", Presley said he'll be back " if you want me ".
A
thunderous standing ovation followed, giving Presley his answer, and security
men whisked him out of the building as a virtual sea of humanity closed in on
the stage.
Love live the "King"!
Originally published in the Syracuse Standard-Post