Philadelphia, PA. November 8th 1971
By Jonathan Takiff
A
peculiar odor wafted through the Spectrum last night, the smell of perfume and
hair spray.
Flashes
of the fifties, of the Eisenhower generation predominated in this sellout crowd
of 16,601, a squealing, squirming, even occasionally sobbing bunch paying homage
to their king of rock and roll.
'Twas the night that Elvis came to town. Flashes of my own youth hit heavy too.This eleven year-old was too young to witness El's last Philly visit, back in 1957 at the Arena, but he was an omnipresent guest in my room then ... walls covered with color glossies of his cocky insolence, floor littered with his fan mags (" Who's Better - Elvis or Pat? "), had the phonograph continually blasting his latest golden smash.
Photographer unknown © Philadelphia,PA.
Nov. 8th 1971
My
parents wished him a passing fancy. We fans knew better then and still do. Elvis
ignites with a show biz presence that's unextinguishable dynamite.
Following
a pleasant enough set from the Sweet Inspirations trio and an embarrassingly bad
comedy routine from Jackie Kahane, the charge went off last night at 9:20PM,
trumpeted in to the schmaltzy tune of Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra
" and a blinding light show of camera bulbs.
Decked
out in spangly white from up-turned collar to his boots, accented with silver
buttons, black lined cape, black guitar and scarf, the raven-tressed (dyed, ya
know) King made a spectacular appearance.
Which
was really nothing, compared to Elvis' hour-long performance, a 19-song marathon
accompanied by 24 musicians, a mixed chorus of 8 and a hefty security force of
25.
Opening
with his first claim to fame, Arthur Crudup's " That's All Right, Mama
", Elvis seldom strayed from the winners circle.
For
memories we got " Love Me Tender ", " Heartbreak Hotel ",
and " Love Me ", for change of pace Ray Charles' " I've Got A
Woman ", " Lawdy Miss Clawdy ", Chuck Berry's " Johnny Be.
Goode ", " Believe Me " and " You've Lost That Loving
Feeling ", complete with Phil Spector's arrangement.
Though a sure-footed belter on the uptempo ditties ( sharply accented by James Burton's guitar ), El's throaty style proved best suited, as always, to the ballad form. Only this gent would dare pull off a transition from the raucous " Hound Dog " to his sweet gospel number " How Great Thou Art ". And with an extraordinary gutsy rendering of " Bridge Over Troubled Waters ", Elvis put every other reading of this lovely song to near shame.
Photographer unknown © Philadelphia,PA.
Nov. 8th 1971
The
music is only half the show, however, when Elvis is on stage. Not quite the
kootch dancer of old, he still ships the crowd to a fairthewell with a sly shake
of the head, wide spread sexy stance, knowing wiggle of the knee or karate kick
to the imaginary gullet.
Perpetual
motion, El stalks his prey with a killer's instinct, drawing blood from one
section of the audience with the toss of a scarf, retreating to up stage
security then attacking against another group of loyalists. Several
ladies undergarments were tossed on stage as a tribute, though quickly snapped
out of sight by stage security men. No sense getting obvious, hmmm?
Cynics
continue to credit the Elvis phenomenon to (ho, hum) this sensuality inherent in
his physical presence, or the baser instincts provoked in listeners by his
guttural moans, or the hip hypstering of manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Although the photos used on that page aren't too good, we wanted to use them because there were from the actual concert. You can see better pictures of Elvis wearing this stage attire in the Jumpsuit Junkies section at : 1972-14
Originally published in the Philadelphia Enquirer