For Elvis first tour of 1976, he would go to only four cities to perform eight shows in six days. The first stop on tour nineteen was in Johnson City for three shows in two days. The first show was 17th March and this show featured the first live version of the showstopper Hurt and 7,000 fans saw Elvis wear the Silver Phoenix suit.

For the second show, Elvis again wore the Silver Phoenix suit in front of another capacity crowd of 7,000.

For the third show in the Freedom Hall, Elvis wore the V-Neck suit with Puffy Sleeves and again played to a screaming 7,000 fans.

On to the second city on the 20th March, Elvis performed and Afternoon & Evening show at the Charlotte Coliseum to two more 12,000 capacity filled stadiums. The afternoon show saw Elvis wear the Silver Phoenix suit for the final time and also featured the final live version of the ballad Until Its Time For You to Go. The Evening show saw Elvis invite young children in the audience onto the stage to meet their idol. He wore the White Bicentennial suit.

The next stop was in The Cincinnati Riverfront Coliseum for another two shows in one day. The afternoon show had an infamous accident when Elvis ripped his Blue Bicentennial jumpsuit during Polk Salad Annie and having to leave the stage to change into the Rainfall suit for the rest of the show. The evening show was seen by another 17,540 fans and they witnessed Elvis making an emergency announcement for a fan attending the show to visit the help desk immediately as the fans daughter was rushed to hospital and missed Elvis rock Burning Love in the Rainfall suit again.

The last show of this high standard tour was in St Louis and another full Kiel auditorium saw Elvis wear Black Aztec suit and sing the last live version of Let Me Be There.

The second tour of 1976 was, like the previous one, a short, seven day, eight show tour but this time he play in seven different cities.

The first stop for the tour was in Kansas City wit Elvis wearing the White Bicentennial suit and some of the highligts included Steamroller Blues, the new Hurt, Burning Love, America The Beautiful which would be performed at most of the shows this year & Little Darlin'. During the show Elvis had to make an emergency announcement for "Bonnie to go to the first-aid room".

On the 22nd April they were playing in Omaha and this show was released from the soundboard by FTD and is the only soundboard recording we have from this tour as-yet. Elvis wore the V-Neck Suit and sang great versions of How Great Thou Art, It's Now Or Never & Funny How Time Slips Away.

Show three was in Denver on the 23rd, and he again wore the white Bicentennial suit and gave a fantastic performance with a lot of songs performed after the introductions. Some of them were: Hurt, My Way, Love Me Tender, Funny How Time Slips Away (with a reprise) & Mystery Train-Tiger Man medley.

Not much is known about the show on the 24th in San Diego because there is no circulating recording of this show, but Elvis wore the Blue Bicentennial suit for the first time during this tour on this date.

April 25th saw the group in Long Beach for an afternoon and evening show, with Elvis wearing the White & Blue Bicentennial suits at each show respectively. Highlights of these shows include And I Love You So, Hurt, Blue Suede Shoes, It's Now Or Never & Funny How Time Slips Away. At the evening show Elvis introduced the band The Eagles.

On the 26th Elvis played to a packed crowd in Seattle and gave another stellar show in the White Bicentennial suit.

The last stop of what was a highlight, but underrated, tour for 1976 was in Spokane with Elvis wearing the flamboyant Aztec suit for the last time on tour (he would wear in over the next two weeks in Lake Tahoe). Not much is known about this show either, but three songs - C. C. Rider, My Way & Burning Love - were released as bonus songs on the FTD release America (22nd April 1976 show).

This tour is the last of what has become known as the Bicentennial tours because throughout most of the previous tours during 1976 Elvis wore the White or Blue Bicentennial suits for nearly every show, but both suits were worn for the final time during this tour. This was also the tour where America The Beautiful was last a regular in the show. After this is was performed but not at every show like it had been from the rest of the year.

The tour kicked off in San Antonio on 27th August, with a regular setlist for the period but with a surprise Burning Love getting its only performance during this tour.

The next night - 28th - has long been a myth in the Elvis World, with rumours that a lot of fans walked crying out because Elvis was in such a bad state and could hardly perform. No circulating recording is known from this show, and just a few photos exist of Elvis in the White Bicentennial suit. He looks happy to be on stage, but rumours are that he could hardly move or speak.

In Mobile on the 29th Elvis played an afternoon and evening show in front of a combined audience of over 21,000. During the afternoon show Elvis sang part of Turn Around, Look At Me, & the evening show featured good performances of That's all Right & Mystery Train-Tiger Man just before he closed the show.

It was onto Tuscaloosa on the 30th for one show. That show has been released by a bootleg label from the soundboard and it is highly regarded among fans as one of the best sounding soundboards from his entire career. It's a good performance with Elvis reprising the ending of America The Beautiful, and, again, singing the Mystery Train-Tiger Man medley.

On the 31st, in Macon, Elvis sounded happy to be on stage, and the circulating 8MM footage backs up that theory. The crowd are treated to an unusual, August version, of Blue Christmas.

Little is known about the next show, in Jacksonville, as there is no recording known, but there are photos of Elvis in the Blue Bicentennial suit seeming happy & smiling.

There were rumours that Elvis cut short the show in Tampa on the 1st day of September because of the "older and less enthusiastic crowd", and the circulating audience recording backs that up. After the band introductions Elvis performed Hurt & Hound Dog then he let Kathy & The Stamps perform a song each, before going into Can't Help Falling In Love.

It was onto St Petersburg for the next show, and there's nearly 30 minutes of amateur footage showing Elvis giving the crowd what they want - a great, entertaining show. Help Me got its first, and only, outing during this show.

On the 4th there were two shows in Lakeland's Civic Center. During the afternoon show, when introducing JD Sumner, Elvis informed the audience that JD was born in Lakeland and on the same property that the Civic Center now stood.

Jackson was the next city, with Elvis wearing the Blue Bicentennial suit, singing another version of Blue Christmas, and the band playing an instrumental version of Jingle Bells. He also sang a great version of How Great Thou Art.

It was farewell to Huntsville on the 6th with an afternoon and evening show. Wearing the White Bicentennial suit for the first show, the belt buckle fell off and Elvis toyed with it for a while before tossing it into the audience as a memento to a lucky fan. The suit would now go into retirement. This was the last time he would do two shows on the same day!

The last two shows of the tour were in Pine Bluff on the 7th & 8th. During the last few shows of this tour, Elvis started getting Sherrill Nielson & Kathy Westmoreland & even the Stamps to sing solo songs. During these shows they performed a total of five songs were performed solo by band members, and that's excluding the 20 minutes introductions, and Why Me Lord which was performed partly by the Stamps. The show on the 8th, though, was the best show of the tour with highlights being One Night, Polk Salad Annie, That's All Right, Blue Suede Shoes & How Great thou Art.

On the October 1976 Elvis tour things seemed to start turning around and with an opening show on 14th October in Chicago Elvis wearing the Inca Gold Leaf suit looking a lot slimmer gave a strong concert but problems with the sound in the stadium was a big let down and Elvis could hardly hear anything during the first half of the show. The second show of the tour was in the same stadium and was the same as the day before from Elvis with no real surprises but a strong performance. The next show of the tour was in the Duluth MN Arena.

In Minneapolis on 17th October Elvis looked very tired on stage but like both shows either side of the 17th show - there is no audio of this show as of yet to see what the performance was like. On the 18th Elvis was in Sioux Falls.

On the 19th it was proclaimed Elvis day in Madison and Elvis performed wearing the Blue Rainbow suit for the first time in over two years but this time with the belt from one of the 1975 two piece suits instead of the Original Blue Rainbow suit and one of the highlights was an unusually timed Blue Christmas.

20th October saw Elvis in South Bend wearing the brightly coloured Flame Suit for the first time on stage and he gave a good performance in front of the 12,000 capacity crowd in the Notre Dame University Stadium.

The 21st October show was in the city Kalamazoo Wings Stadium and Elvis wore the Ace Of Spades Suit for the first time since nearly two year to the date of its debut but this time with the V-Neck suit belt and he sung good versions of And I Love You So and a full reprise of his latest single hurt.

22nd October Elvis went on stage looking very good in his Inca Gold Leaf suit at the University of Illinois stadium with a fun version of Little Darlin and a well performed Heartbreak Hotel.

On the 23rd Elvis performed possibly the best show of the tour in Cleveland with most of the songs here performed well and the highlights were America The Beautiful & a fantastic Mystery Train-Tiger Man medley. Maybe the only let down was the false start only of Little Darlin.

The 24th October show in Evansville's Roberts Municipal Auditorium was a sell out with 13,000 fans seeing Elvis in the Indian Feather suit performing hits such as Help Me & Polk Salad Annie. On the 25th Elvis was in Fort Wayne wearing the Blue Rainbow suit again and performed the last live version of the hit Burning Love.

Elvis was in Dayton on the 26th October performed with Colonel Parkers team selling out of all merchandise at this show while Elvis performed wearing the Flame Suit for the second and last time on stage and singing his first hit That's All Right just before closing.

For the closing of this tour Elvis was back in Illinois this time performing for his 10,200 fans from Carbondale wearing his Inca Gold Leaf Suit and performing the fun song Fairytale and a nice version of Help Me. After this show Elvis went to his hotel room and ordered all his staff to leave him alone and was in severe depression which lasted several days.

The penultimate tour of 1976 were just 2 weeks before the start of his final Las Vegas season, and it lasted just seven days, between 24th & 30th November. Things kicked off in Reno on the 24th, with Elvis coming on stage in the Indian Feather Suit, and starting the festivities early with the first of five performances during this tour.

Things then moved onto Eugene for the first of two performances in the city's McArthur Court arena. Wearing the Blue Rainbow suit, the audience recording that's circulating of this show is very heavily edited and only a handful of songs are released and nearly all are cut/edited. A complete recording does exist but isn't available to collectors right now.

On the 26th the band were in Portland for Elvis' final appearance in the city. Wearing the Inca Gold Leaf suit, giving a brilliant show with one of the highlights being the national anthem - America The Beautiful, which received a standing ovation.

The second appearance in Eugene was next up, and this show is maybe the best of the whole tour, with great performances of How Great Thou Art, Steamroller Blues, It's Now Or Never & Hurt. This show was released in fantastic sound from the original master tape directly from the fan that recorded the show.

Another two good shows followed on the 28th & 29th, in San Francisco's Cow Place, with Elvis appearing in the King Of Spades suit on the first night & the Blue Rainbow suit the next night.

The last show of the tour was in Anaheim, with Elvis wearing the Indian Feather suit again, and giving the full 14,300 fans what they wanted - a fantastic performance. Some of the highlights included It's Now Or Never, And I Love You So, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Polk Salad Annie & his first song; That's All Right.

For the last tour of Elvis' most hectic year of touring, Elvis played in five different cities in five days ending with probably one of the most highly rated shows after the Aloha Special.

His first show, on tour 27, was in Wichita with Elvis coming on stage looking rather slim in the Blue Rainbow jumpsuit, sitting at the piano and singing the classic Unchained Melody for the first time on stage.

Then it was onto Dallas, wearing the Indian Feather suit for this show, treating the lucky 9,800 people in the Memorial Auditorium to a bit of Hey Bo Didley Ronnie "Big D" Tutt's Drum solo. The third show was Elvis first and only ever performance in Birmingham's Civic Center Coliseum sporting the Inca Gold Leaf suit for the final time and singing two very moving final versions of For The Good Times and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

The penultimate performance on this short tour was Elvis farewell to Atlanta, he treated the 17,000 lucky fans in the Omni to the second and last live version of Such a Night, and what a night it was.

The last show in this very high quality tour was the famous New Year's Eve show in Pittsburgh with Elvis wearing the Black Phoenix suit for the first time in over a year and performing 29 fasntastic songs including rareties such as Rags To Riches and the final of two Auld Lang Syne before introducing his father and daughter to the audience. Other highlights from this show are the rarely live version of Reconsider Baby and the great Funny How Time Slips Away.