Thousands Cheer As Elvis Takes Stage
by Mike Anthony
Minneapolis Tribune
November 6, 1971

When Elvis Presley sauntered onto the stage of Met Sports Center Friday, night - his guitar slung over his shoulder - the flash bulbs lit up the room and 17,600 people gave out a bellow that might have been heard in Osseo.

At that moment, Joanned Azzoni, 21, St. Paul, put her hands above her ears and screamed, "I can't believe it. I can't believe it."

Miss Azzoni is an Elvis fan. She has posters all over her room at home, she said, and a menu on top of her TV set, from Presley's last appearance in Las Vegas, Nev., as well as a bunch of rocks, supposedly from Presley's home in Memphis, Tenn. The rocks were given her by her grandmother.

The day tickets went on sale for Elvis's show, Miss Azzoni was at the Met Center along with several hundred others at 7 a.m. "And I have been crying since I got them," she said.

Five minutes before the show started she and her friends, Julie Jaeger, 20, and Linda Jaeger, 28, were waiting, binoculars poised.

"I couldn't concentrate at work all day," said Julie "Who could concentrate? All the orders, I sent out, they must have been all wrong, I have no fingernails left.

Said Linda, "I've waited 15 years for this. When I first saw Elvis on the Sullivan Show I vowed I'd see him some day."

Seemingly everybody brought binoculars and a camera. The flash bulbs popped all evening. Three middle aged women sat in the balcony before the show peering at the stage. "Is that him?" said one. "No it can't be. He's got a moustache,"

Diane Nelma, 28, flew in from Chicago, Ill, Friday night to see the show and planned to fly right back afterward. "Why?" Because I just love him," she said.

The age range of the audience was wide but it was predominantly later 20s and early 30s, ran through 70 minutes of many of his old favorites ("Heartbreak Hotel," "Blue Suede Shoes," "Love Me Tender") and some newer songs ("Proud Mary" and "Bridge over Troubled Waters"). He sounded better than ever.

Clad in all white, he finally threw the flowing red scarf from around his neck into the audience. It landed on a policeman seated below the stage and six girls leaped at the policeman. One lucky girlgot the scarf and ran to her seat.

Courtesy of Scott Hayward