Even though Elvis started to perform live after the release of his first record he was a natural born stage hog. Like nobody else he was able to connect to the audience and to entertain it in his unique way.

In the summer of 1954 Elvis started to perform with Scotty Moore on guitar and Bill Black on bass. In late 1955 the group was joined by a drummer named DJ Fontana, on several occations The Jordanaires were added for harmony vocals. Between 1954 and 1956 Elvis performed over 100 concerts each year, in 1957 the number of live shows was reduced drastically and in 1958 he stopped the concert business altogether. In 1961 Elvis performed three shows for charity, this time accompanied by his studio musicians from Nashville. A huge tour had been planned for 1962, but when the sponsor (RCA Victor) refused to come up with the demanded prepayment of one million USD the whole project was scrapped. From 1963 onwards Elvis focused on movies and soundtracks, so the idea of performing live was not under discussion at all. In 1969 the king started to perform in Las Vegas on a regular basis, a year later he re-activated the touring business and in 1971 he also began regular engagements in Stateline. Of course the band had grown, now Elvis used a lead guitarist, a rhythm guitarist, a bass player, a drumer and a pianist. Additionaly there was an orchstra and several harmony vocalists. Commercially the concerts were extremely successful. On tour empty seats were rare, the engagements in Vegas and Stateline were 100% sold out.

In the final years the concerts began to show some wear and tear. Elvis missed out the current trends of stage design, light effects and pyrotechnics, which made the production appear outdated, almost boardering the unprofessional. The same can be said about his attitude. The final rehearsal sessions that deserve to be called that way were held in December 1975 and therefore the set list wasn't updated to a considerable degree. To make it worse he often performed his songs quite sloppy, a trend that could be observed as early as 1970. The audience forgave Elvis each and everything, most of them were too much in awe of him to rate his performance in any way. They were just happy to be in the same room with him and didn't even realize when he performed way below his abilities.

Concert Tours

From 1954 to 1957 Mr. Presley was constantly touring, but then he took a long break that lasted (with the exception of three concerts in 1961) until 1970. In March he played a few shows connected to the "Houston Live Stock Show And Rodeo" and went on two short tours in September and November. The following year there was a longer tour in November. From 1972 onwards the concert tours became a regular part of his work again. There was a tour after each Vegas stint and another one jammed in during the summer. In 1976 Elvis played Vegas just once and his ever decreasing health made longer tours impossible. So his manager booked short tours of 10 to 15 days with recovery periods of 2 or 3 weeks inbetween.

With the exception of Canada and Hawaii in 1957 the king never performed outside the USA. The reason was simple: Money! Elvis refused to play huge stadiums on a regular basis and therefore would have been limited to indoor venues which often were smaller than in the US. Because the admission fees could not be raised all that much, the revenue would have been lower or at best the same. Additionally the organization would have had to deal with different laws, tax systems, languages and currencies. All the local promoters, lawyers, tax advisors and translators would have cost a lot of money, so the profit of a tour inside the US was much higher.

In August 1997, two decades after his demise, Elvis returned to the concert stage. The musicians played live, the king participated via a huge screen. Two years later the production went on tour and this time the king played all around the globe and in huge stadiums. Over the years there have been several editions of the production and -believe it or not- the zombie tours lasted longer the the king's career when he was alive!

To read more about the concert tours and the corresponding recordings just tap on the poster.

Las Vegas

In 1829 Rafael Rivera discovered an oasis in the desert and called it Las Vegas (the meadows). A few years later the Mormons build a fort to offer meals and rest to the ones travelling between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. In 1844 Nevada became the 36th state of the USA, findings of gold and ores attracted many people, even more settled in the area when the Hoover Dam was constructed in 1931. The mafia was quick to realize the advantages of the liberal laws and started to build hotels and casinos. Well known performers were booked and soon the city gained credibility and attracted people from all over the world. Of course the Las Vegas of the old days was far from what it is now. Instead of extravagant hotels, grandiouse shows and family entertainment  it was gambling, prostitution, alcohol and drugs. The name "Sin City" was well deserved.

For that very reason Colonel Parker wanted to book Elvis in Vegas as early as in 1955 (before he even had taken over the management officially). The city was full of adults and he wanted to find out if Mr. Presley could be sold to an older audience. The experiment took place at the New Frontier Hotel from April 23rd to May 6th, 1956. Elvis performed 30 shows and was paid $15,000. The result was devastating. Neither the songs, nor their presentation or the humorous interludes were appreciated by the audience. The young man from Memphis obviously appealed to teenagers only.

Thirteen years later the world had changed. The teenagers of the 1950s had grown up and the movies had broadened the audience of the king. So Presley and Parker tried again and announced they were open for offers. An engagement of four weeks was priced at $500,000, for two weeks they demanded $300,000. Elvis was to perform once each day and twice on Fridays and Saturdays. The Monday would be his day off.

The demands were not met, instead the management of the International Hotel offered $400,000 for a stint of four weeks. But Elvis would have to pay the musicians himself and had to perform twice each day with no day off.  To prove the inappropriateness of the king's demands, the hotel management granted to pay a penalty of $50,000 if another hotel would offer him better conditions within the next twelve months. That was to crucial factor to sign and so Elvis agreed to perform 57 shows between July 31st and August 28th, 1969.

The International Hotel had just been built and was the largest and most luxurious entertainment resort in Vegas. After having been sold, renamed Las Vegas Hilton and expanded several times it even became the largest hotel in the world from 1981 to 1990. In 2012 it was acquired by Goldman Sachs/Gramercy Capital and sold to Westgate Resorts in 2014. Today it's known as Westgate Las Vegas.

While the first engagement still was underway a long-term contract was signed. From 1970 to 1973 there were two engagements each year, one in January/February and the other on in August/September. Evey stint was four weeks with two performances each day and no day off. In total Elvis was paid 5 million USD. When the hotel was sold to the Hilton Group in 1971 the contract offered a clause to back out, but all parties agreed to move forward without making any changes.

Elvis quickly got bored of Vegas, but the tiresome obligation also made him a lot of money. So when the contract ran out in 1973 a compromise was found: The king would continue the procedure, but the engagements were cut down to two weeks each and the fee was 1.2 million USD. This contract was about to run out after the "Elvis Summer Festival 1975", but when the singer had to cancel the stint after five shows a "Pre-Holiday Jubilee" was announced for December. On behalf of his ailing health Mr. Presley performed just once each day, the exceptions were the Fridays and Saturdays. The Hilton did not reduce the king's payment, because even though the hotel had the biggest showroom in town the engagement was completely sold out. This was almost a miracle, because December was one of the weakest months in Vegas and most showrooms were almost empty or closed at all.

Because of the huge success the management of the hotel was keen to book Elvis again in December 1976. It is said that the king and his manager demanded 100% of the gate receipts and were accepted. With a showroom of 2,000 seats, a ticket price of $29 and 15 shows it would have been a whopping $870,000!

In 1977 the Hilton Hotel had added a convention center with a capacity of 7,000 seats and was keen to ensure a sold out house with another "Pre-Holiday Jubilee". Around the time Elvis died the management of the hotel was in negotiation with Colonel Parker and I am pretty sure an agreement would have been reached. 

By tapping on the poster you'll be forwarded to reviews of all the Vegas engagements, etc.

Stateline/Lake Tahoe

The Lake Tahoe is located at the boarder between Nevada and California and was discovered by Kit Carson and John Fremont in 1844. Three tribes of the Washoe lived there, who called the area "da ow a ga" (fringe of the lake). Because the pioneers didn't understand the language, they thought it was a single word, misinterpreted what they had heared as "tahoe" and named the area "Lake Tahoe". So today the area is named "lake fringe of the lake", which is quite funny. Anyway, just like in Las Vegas precious metal was found and more pioneers flocked the area. In 1944 "Harvey's Wagon Wheel Saloon And Gambling Hall" opened at the Nevada side of the lake, competitors followed and soon there was a second gambling paradise in the state of liberal laws. In California gambling was not allowed, so the mountains were developed into a skiing area.

One of the gambling ressorts in Stateline was Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel. It had been build in 1965 and the High Sierra Showroom offered 1,200 (dinner show) or 1,400 (cocktail show) seats. In the 1970s the capacity was broadened to 1,800 seats. From 1983 onwards the ressort was named Del Webb's High Sierra Hotel, between 1990 and its closing in 2009 it was the Horizon Casino Resort.

Because Elvis had become the major attraction of Vegas and strengthened the image of the International Hotel, the management of Del Webb's Sahara Tahoe Hotel wanted to book him, too. To convice the star to perform in their considerably smaller showroom, they offered $25,000 more per week than the International was paying him. So Elvis entered the stage 27 times between July 20th and August 2nd 1971 and received $300,000. Elvis returned to the same conditions from May 4th to 20th 1973 and from May 16th to 27th 1974. Because he had missed out eight performances in 1973 due to illness, the king performed another short stint in Stateline from October 11th to 14th 1974.The final engagement took place between 30th April and 9th May 1976 and included 14 performances. Just like in Vegas he appeared just once each day, the only exceptions were Fridays and Saturdays. But even though the number of concerts had been halved, the fee was increased to $315,000. No bad deal, if you ask me!

To read reviews of the engagements and some of the recorded concerts, just tab on the poster.