Same Old Thing - Elvis Presley Wows 'Em
by Jim Spoerhase
Spokane Chronicle
August 31, 1957

Mob hysteria gripped Spokane Municipal stadium last night as thousands keyed up teenagers screamed, shrieked and shouted their approval of Elvis Presley.

The wild gyrations and jumpy songs of the Rock 'n' Roll singer whipped a good part of the crowd of 12,000 persons into screaming squealing mass.

Girls Real Gone

To say that teenagers loved Presley would be putting it far too mildly. They even loved the dirt he kneeled on evidenced by the fact about 50 young girls swarmed onto the dirt track of the stadium to scratch up handfuls of dirt where Elvis had kneeled during his final number.

It didn't take much for Presley to whip the teenagers, mostly girls into a frenzy.

Standing stiff and still he wiggled one thumb and that did it - the crowd screamed and moaned.

A wiggle of Presley's knee or the droop of an eyelid se off same kind of reaction.

Those who went out to hear the popular rock 'n' roller didn't stand a chance; you simply couldn't hear, the screaming was so loud.

There were policemen a plenty ringing the stage where Presley jumped, gestured and tried to make himself heard above the roar of the screams.

Boisterous, but definitely, well-behaved, the young audience made no overt moves to swarm toward Presley.

Fast moving policemen kept several girls over the front rail of the grandstand as they almost swooned during a Presley number.

Presley didn't certainly short change his audience when it came to sing. He roared up to the grandstand in an open convertible a 9:37 pm after the show had been going an hour and a half and then swiveled and shouted his way through 18 songs in 50 minutes.

Guards Not Used

The cordon of about 100 policemen and firemen was ready for anything as the crowd reached fever pitch at the end of Elvis' final number, but the popular singer ran to a waiting police car and was whisked from the stadium before his thousands of fans knew what happened.

He left last night by train for his next appearance at Vancouver, BC.

Screams of "Elvis I love you" and "sing to me, baby" punctuated the singer's performance.

Some Are Irked

Almost as unhappy with the show management as the teenagers were happy with elvis, were several hundred persons who had purchased reserved seat tickets on the east side of the field for prices up to $3.50 and were then shunted to the west stands, given cheaper seats and in some cases made to stand.

One couple who protested personally to stadium manager Benjamin C. moore was ushered to a bench in front of the stands only about 50 feet from Presley.

Courtesy of Francesc Lopez