Age Gap Ends Awhile: Elvis Knocks 'Em Cold
by Jerry McDaniel
The Albuquerque Journal. April 20, 1972.

It had been a long time since I'd seen Elvis Presley. The last time was the old downtown Armory in early 1955. The Armory is gone, but Elvis still lives.

At that time, he was just a little lead-in act for a singer named Faron Young, and it turned out, ole Faron just about didn't get on that night, ehat with a stunned audience's reaction to Elvis' action.

ELVIS CAME back to Albuquerque Wednesday night, and if Faron had been here this time, he wouldn't have got on at all.

When the band hit the intro for "C.C.Rider," and a white clad bejeweled Presley strode on stage, it was obvious from the screams the applause, and the bouncing up and down girls that the same electricity that shocked an Albuquerque crowd 17 years ago was still there.

Elvis grabbed the sell-out crowd of 11,847 fans with a shot of C.C., set them up with "Proud Mary," and knocked them out with a nostalgic presentation of "Love Me Tender."

The body movements that everyone has always heard almost were held to a minimum during the first six numbers, but Elvis let go when he came to "Poke Salad Annie." so did the crowd. With Elvis shaking and the fans screaming, Presley brought the old songs: All Shook Up, Teddy Bear, Don't Be Cruel, Heartbreak Hotel.

THEN A PAUSE, then Elvis mumbling: "You ain't ..." And the crowd responding with another scream. And Elvis laughing and saying, "You don't what I'm gonna sing."

They did too, and here it came: "Hound Dog," All right! More screams. more bouncing up and down.

The crowd? For anyone accustomed to going to rock shows, it was unusual. There were those kids who were at Armory 17 years ago, only they were 30-35 years old this time out. There was the young freaks and the young straights. Probably as good as a cross-section of Albuquerque as has turned out in such numbers in a long time.

IF ELVIS glanced at a 35 year-old woman, she screamed. If he glanced at her 13 year old daughter, she screamed. For about an hour, the generation gap was gone.

I never was that big an Elvis fan. I don't have an Elvis record in the house. But I never saw anything quite like what happened at Tingley Coliseum Wednesday night.

Courtesy Of Albuquerque Public Library