fg76 wrote:When I was a early Elvis concert fan from the 1990's, I was amazed when I found this concert. I wasn't totally aware of how bad 1976 was as a whole at the time, but I always knew how bad 1977 from the limited knowledge I had. After years of study, you know Elvis was still pretty ill and any well being from the show may have been an illusion - but that show to me is still a great show that blows a lot of shows out of the water. Maybe you have to put it in the proper context, but when I first listened to it on cassette in 1997 - it was mind blowing because here was Elvis Presley with a superior, but familiar Elvis In Concert type voice and looking almost thin. I mean compare a Feb 12 or Feb 20 (1977) photo with the Dec 31 (1976) photo and if you didn't know better - you'd think they were years apart.
When he stopped Little Sister that night, it was because the band started it "too fast." It wasn't a perfect concert, but it's one of those shows that still has something. Maybe the best version of Hurt ever performed. Wish RCA had been there, and that concert was Elvis In Concert.
That's three times that he told the band to slow down. Big Boss Man, Fairytale ("Slow it down. SLOW IT DOWN."), Little Sister. It wasn't always Elvis who rushed.
I agree that this show caused some confusion to those of us who came later to the party. If you didn't know how much trouble he was in throughout '76 (and you wouldn't unless you were there, or collected photos or tapes) you might just think his real problems started in '77. This Is Elvis contributed to that storyline, if unwittingly: "In 1977, I started to feel like things were slowly getting out of control."
The soundboards of Birmingham and Dallas reveal flaws that would likely be picked up were a Pittsburgh tape to surface. But, those shows weren't New Year's Eve. Elvis had bad memories of Pontiac fresh in his mind. He'd obviously been working over the holidays to get himself into better shape. The audience arrived on a bitterly cold, snowy night, ready to party. Something magical happened that night, and we are very fortunate to have the show so well documented.
"Don't tell me to play it. I will when I get ready. Do you understand me?"