Presley Music Thrills Sellout Crowd At Arena
By Stuart Wilk
Milwaukee Sentinel
June 29, 1974

Elvis Presley was here.

Shortly after 9:30 p.m. he bounded onto the Arenastage - strapped his Elvis guitar across his Elvis chest, curled his Elvis lips into a rich thick pucker, batted his Elvis lashes and opened his voice in undisptedly Elvis song.

The effect of all this was devastating. Whistles, obscene mating calls, tears and good old fashioned screams were hurled at him - the same way they've been hurled for 19 years.

His Public was there in force and if there was ever any doubt (There wasn't.) that the middle aged cult figure had lost "it" (How could he?), they were dispelled a few seconds after the first chords of "C.C Rider" came blaring from the Arena amplifiers.

Actually, any conceivable doubts were dispelled long before he took the stage.

Hawkers selling Elvis pins, Elvis posters, pictures of the Oficial Elvis Mansion (views of front and back entrance) and other Elvis souvenirs were doing a booming business.

"Everybody wants to take home a little piece of Elvis," shouted the hawkers.

His show was substantially the same as the pageant he brought to Milwaukee two years ago - garish, overproduced, corny - everything an Elvis audience pays $10 a ticket for.

Of course, no one is more aware of the charade than Elvis himself. He trades on his wiggles and winks with unbashed give-em-what-they-want commercialism. It's a success formula hard to beat and easy to capitalize on.

There's even a bit of macho to Elvis - beneath the coy boyish grin. his face lights up with delight as he coaxes the women in the audience to lunge for the Elvis body, only to be forcefully knocked back (and sometimes down) by an army of burly Elvis bodyguards.

The luckier ones in the audience got to take home a scarf soaked with real Elvis sweat. He tossed them out at regular intervals, making sure to mop off his face and chest with them before dangling them before his lunging fans.

Dressed in a skintight white outfit, bejeweled with two blue blue spangled eagles. Elvis went through an hour of showmanship with his warm pleasant voice usually drowned out by 11 backup singers or 11,800 boisterous fans.

For the record, everyone appeared to be having a great time in Elvis' world of batting lashes. Official Mansions and bluespangled eagles.

Courtesy of Francesc Lopez