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CONCERT DATE: December 28, 1976. Dallas, TX.
Elvis And His Fans - A Parody All The Way Criticizing an Elvis Presley concert because the music was disappointing is like criticizing Christmas because there's no snow. At Elvis' Dallas concert Tuesday night, it didn't make any difference that he was flat when singing his opening song, "C.C. Rider," because the fans were screaming so loud that you couldn't hear anyway. From the minute he walked on the stage, the flashbulbs started going off like a psychedelic earthquake. From then on the fans were as much a part of the show as Elvis. He wiggled his finger, they screamed. He started using his guitar like a machine gun, they collapsed. He did a parody of his famous gyrations, they hysterically tried to crawl on the stage. It didn't seem to matter that Elvis looked only half awake or that the gyrations remained a parody all night. THE NEXT SONGS, "Love Me," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Love Letters," and "Fairytale" were almost secondary as the fans concentrated on the big event - trying to catch one of the scarves Elvis took from his neck and threw to the screaming audience. There was a man who stood behind Elvis who did nothing but hand the singer scarves to put on for a second and then throw away. In response, the grateful fans rushed up to the stage, with long stemmed roses, flower leis, stuffed teddy bears and stuffed hound dogs. They were not responses Elvis could ignore for long. About every 20 minutes, he walked up and down the stage holding out his arms as if he were pronouncing a benediction over the audience. The fans were practically weeping with joy. There were times you couldn't be sure what was going on. Elvis would give a benediction and then he'd do his machine gun routine. Then he combined them. Then he picked up a sheet of paper and announced he hadn't quite learned the words to the song he was going to sing next. In between, he managed to sing "Jailhouse Rock," "Now Or Never," "My Way," "Unchained Melody" and "Hurt." IT WAS A COMBINATION that shouldn't have worked, but somehow it did. The air was electric. The screams and the flashbulbs never stopped for the hour he was on stage. It continued right on after the concert as the salesmen selling "super Elvis souvenirs" plowed through the lobby hawking $5 Elvis tee-shirts and $10 Elvis posters. It had 65 year old grandmothers weeping and their 6 year old granddaughters clapping. It was hardly ever music but whatever it was exciting. |