Elvis Brings down House At The Dome
by Charles Garder
Houston Post
March 1, 1970

Elvis Presley brought down the house and all the attendance records of the houston Live stock Show and Rodeo came tumbling down on the shoulders of his white shirt Saturday night at the Astrodome.

Presley, the entertainment sensation of 15 years ago, is making his first public appearance in 10 years and he proved his audience appeal still exists, at least in Houston.

The largest crowd ever to attend a rodeo performance to Houston - 43,614 screaming fans - were present Saturday night for the rodeo and Elvis' fourth of six performances.

He had drawn the largest matinee crowd - 34,443 Saturday and his two performance total excceded by 3079 the two-performance total attracted by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans here two years ago.

Elvis returns for two shows at 2 and 7 pm today and tickets are still available for both performances.

The four performances in wich Presley, his band and vocal grouphave appeared have drawn a total of 131,064 people to the Astrodome.

It is by far the greatest start that the Hosuton event has made since it moved to the Dome in 1966. The show's attendance record was established in 1968 and through Saturday night of that year a total of 117,695 people had attended five performances, one more than this year.

The attendance records are, of course, world marks for indoor rodeo events.

Presley who has never been known as a talker on stage, probably expressed it perfectly Saturday night when he commented:

"You have been a fantastic audience," he said prior to introducing his associate in the 45-minute show.

Police are stationed around the arena to keep the audience away from Elvis but Saturday afternoon, a fan sneaked in through the rodep chutes and was within a few feet of the star when he was apprehended by police.

The giant audience was alsoan inspiration for the cowboys.

Jimmy Dix took the first go round lead in the bareback competition. Bernard Betz grabbed the lead in the calf roping event and Dan Willis moved to the front in the Brahma bull riding.

Courtesy of Sebastiano Cecere