BIG BOSS MAN IN VEGAS
Last year, an unofficial CD was released under the title "If You Talk In Your Sleep,"
and contained the opening show of Elvis' Summer Festival, 1974, the first such summer season
to be just two weeks long.
August 19, 1974 - Opening Show
(by Anne E. Nixon)
The date was 19 August, 1974, and the vast showroom of the Las Vegas Hilton was crammed with
patrons and fans eager to see the king open his eleventh stint in the desert city. Amongst
the crowd sat Vernon Presley and his wife, and Elvis' girlfriend, Linda Thompson.
Being opening night, there was just one show at 10 pm. There was no "Theme from '2001"'
opening; the king strode right out to be greeted by a huge roar of approval: the "Peacock"
suit he was wearing looking stunning on him. The diamond-studded Maltese Cross around his
neck caught the lights, sparkling brightly. A couple of rings adorned his long, elegant
fingers. The king was ready and so was the crowd.
"C C Rider" was dispensed with; instead, Elvis began with a pounding "Big Boss Man."
The guitar he usually used for the opening two songs was also dispensed with. Elvis' legs
pumped up and down to the beat of the song that had made such an impact in his '68 Special.
He wasn't satisfied with the sound, and had Charlie turn the volume of the amplifier up.
The crowd wasn't reacting as well as they might, and Elvis seemed a little nervous,
his voice at first a little hoarse with tension.
However, the beat carried on with a driving "Proud Mary," and then Elvis introduced himself
thus: "My name is the NBC Peacock", a reference both to his suit and to the station logo of
the American TV company. He joked that he'd done the next song "when Charile was a child,"
and launched into a bluesy "Down In The Alley," one of the bonus songs from the "Spinout"
album nearly a decade earlier. This was Elvis at his brilliant best, singing the blues,
and what a shame that it was to be a 'one off' for this show only.
The bluesy theme was continued with the wonderful "Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues,"
which he'd recorded at Stax, Memphis, the previous December. A couple of telling ad-libs
were included: after "Play around you'll lose your wife" he muttered "Already done that,"
and after "Play too long you'll lose your life" he added "Almost did that." Read into that
what you will! Again, a pity this didn't become a regular song in his shows, because it
obviously had a lot of meaning for him and was the kind of song that he did so well.
"I've done a lot of things in my life, but," began Elvis, using this as the introductions
to "(I've) Never Been To Spain." The bluesy side of Elvis was getting yet another chance to
shine. He said he'd do one side of his new disc, asking Charlie when it was coming out.
"It's Midnight" got its' Vegas debut, and the strong ballad obviously had a lot of meaning
for Elvis. The other side of the new disc also got its' first airing. "if You Talk In Your
Sleep" was the title, and later in the season, Elvis would build a karate demo around this
tune, don his black karate jacket and shades, and then add a monologue about his interest in
karate. But for now, he just sang the song, and said it wasn't about him. He joked that
Charlie wrote it, then said it was really Red West.
What to sing next? "I Got 'Fever', 'I Just Can't Help Bellevin" and 'I'm Leavin" all at
once," he said, but chose the latter, and sang it beautifully. By now, Elvis was much more
relaxed.
During the toe-tapping "Let Me be There" Elvis was given his only gift of the show - a yellow
canary on a piece of elastic. He bobbed it up and down in time to the music.
Telling the audience that there was something he'd wanted to do for along time, he began to
narrate the story behind "Softly As I Leave You," and then let Sherrill Neilsen sing it as he
spoke the poignant words. Their final line duet was perfectly executed, and Elvis gave
due credit to Neilsen afterwards.
"OK, take it on!" urged the king, and everyone on stage put their best into the catchy
"If You Love Me Let Me Know." A nod to the past then, as Elvis sang and kissed his way
through "Love Me Tender," although he muttered, "I don't wanna do it." But he put his
audience's preferences first, and he certainly enjoyed the audience contact, noticeably
cheering up and with his eyes twinkling as he kissed the ladies, and he even blew a kiss
towards Charlie jokingly. Something amused him, and he asked "Who was that girl who put
that 'hoomey' on me?" Well, it sounded like he said "Hoomey."
An energetic "Polk Salad Annie" led into the introductions. Elvis was in a very jokey,
witty mood. He said of the Stamps, "Some of the finest voices in the country - and some
cities," and embarrassed Kathy Westmoreland by saying she had on a see-through blouse.
He said Ronnie Tuft was one of his karate students, and "another weirdo" was Duke Bardwell.
"is that D double-0 K?" he asked him. He asked Voice if they had opened the show, saying
he'd been upstairs watching a movie.
Joe Guercio, the crowd learned, was from Wahoo, Nebraska. Elvis was laughing, and naturally
he had to shout "WaHOO!" In more serious vein, he introduced Gunther Wiibms from the Barnum
& Bailey Circus, whom he called "one of the greatest animal trainers in the world."
Continuing the theme of rare on stage performances, Elvis sang a dynamic "Promised Land," and
then introduced another guest in the audience, He'd met this fellow for the first time when
he'd visited the set of "Kid Galahad," he said, and the crowd gave a great reception to
TV's "Kojak," Telly Savalas.
Obviously attempting new things, ELvis did a rare version of "My Baby Left Me," It was gutsy
and he enjoyed singing it. He helpfully picked up a drumstick that Ron Tutt had dropped, and
returned it to him at the end of the song.
Becoming really involved in the lyrics of "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Elvis arched up onto
his tiptoes to place emphasis on the word "Bridge" just before the song's close.
There was a lot of audience reaction when he sang and jiggled through "Fever," telling his
legs to "quit, quit, quit!' The penultimate song began "You ain't..." and there was a clash
of symbols. "Y'all from Mississippi round here?" Elvis paused to ask some people in the
crowd. "Y'all ain't nothin"', he re-started "Hound Dog," giving the crowd more reason to go
crazy, and especially so when he did a long and exciting "chang, chang," ending, sweat a-fiying.
Telling the crowd they'd been a fantastic audience to work to (despite their initial feeble
response) Elvis began his traditional closer - this at least had not changed. He handed out
scarves a-plenty during "Can't Help Falling In Love."
There was an amusing incident in the show that is not apparent from simply listening to it:
a child of around seven was carded down to the ramp by her father, and looked really
thrilled to get a kiss and a scarf; and upon seeing this, one man carried another man down
over his shoulder, making Elvis laugh at their ruse as he gave him a scarf.
The show is refreshing to listen to, and must have been a very special one to attend in view
of the rare performance of some songs. Why did Elvis revert to a more familiar pattern
during the rest of the season? Was it because the opening night crowd was not as responsive
as he'd hoped? Whatever, it is good to be able to listen to this innovative show in superb
quality. (I based this feature on Chistine Colclough's report in the Elvis News Service
Weekly." Thanks to D. for the tape).