Elvis Pleases Fans
By Gary Jack Willis
Oklahoma Journal
July 1975

Elvis Presley danced the dance of the three dozen scarves Tuesday night in a brimful Myriad, evoking enough screams and yells to cause one to believe the roof was falling.

Fit and feisty, Presley pranced and positioned, sang and snarled and filled nearly every heart with joy. In an hour's worth of Elvis on stage, he sang 20 songs, receiving the biggest hand for his treatment of "Let Me Be There".

Oddly, the song wasn't up to his liking so he did part of it again as a mini-encore. The crowd didn't notice because the majority of it was reaching upper octaves of glee.

Only once Elvis try to create a quiet moment.

In the middle of "Dixie," the audience quieted for a few seconds as he sang, but a voice broke the trance and the screams began again.

During the course of the Elvis portion of the program - two trios and a comedian appeared in the first half - Presley took sweaty scarf after sweaty scarf from his neck and passed them out to the fans causing at least one fight in an aisle.

He must have given away three dozen scarves and as many as 10 kisses, keeping some female fans on the front rows in a frenzy.

Elvis may have proved to the skeptics in the audience that there's no business like show business, an American institution that thrives not necessarily on talent but on showmanship.

That's not to say that Elvis doesn't possess talent. His voice is still in the same shape it was in when he first became a name. His muscular and musical abilities have not depreciated.

Mainly, Elvis Presley knows how to keep on selling whatever it is about him that is magical.

Every grunt or grin generated hundreds of high-pitched howls. Every movement of those hips or hands had the squealers sounding their appreciation.

As a singer, Elvis won't be remembered in the same way as some of his contemporaries because he's different - decidedly different.

He sings his songs or others' songs in his own style, one which is immediately identifiable. In that way, Presley proves that an entertainer today - perhaps always - must be unique to be a superstar.

Elvis shows he's a showman, manipulating the audience to the point that he can curl his lip and get a reaction.

His show contains no elements of surprise, but it needs no drama, for the audience provides the tension.

Presley has reached the point in his career - maybe the plateau - where he doesn't ever need to sing another new song.

The fans are there, evidenced by the sellout of 15,000 - plus tickets in a single day for the Myriad concert. He can probably come here anytime he wants to - five days in a row - and fill the place. If nothing else, Elvis Presley is a phenomenon, finding fans from every walk of life and in generation after generation.

And he also proved another thing Tuesday night.

He sang his last song, bowed in all directions and scooted off the stage. The band kept playing loud and long. Then the announcer closed the show.

"Elvis is out of the building," he said, showing that Elvis Presley doesn't need encores, which he could easily have had.

Elvis doesn't need to milk an audience for its applause. All he has to do is show up.

Courtesy of Scott Hayward