Why the audience was seen in Elvis In Concert

[harris497]

In Elvis on Tour and other arena shows, Elvis couldn't see the audience but in the CBS special through the whole show you could see everyone! Why?

In TTWIS you can see the audience but was that always like that in Vegas?
Thanks

[Tony Trout]

In Elvis on Tour and other arena shows, Elvis couldn't see the audience but in the CBS special through the whole show you could see everyone! Why?

In TTWIS you can see the audience but was that always like that in Vegas?
Thanks

With regards to EIC and the houselights being up, CBS was filming a concert documentary and they requested that the house lights be up.

As for Vegas, the lights (run by Lamar Fike, by the way), weren't always "up" (watch the beginning of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" and you'll notice that the lights are completely down except for that one spotlight on Elvis's back). During the segment where Elvis drinks a bit of champagne from that lady's glass, the lights in the showroom are all the way up. And the abbreviation for the movie title is as follows: TTWII.....not TTWIS (unless that was a typo?) If you're referring to the 2001 special edition of TTWII it's abbreviated like this:

TTWII-SE

In "Elvis On Tour", the house lights were always down - he even mentions this to the film's directors when one of them asks if he's ever played off of an isolated incident in the crowd or played/sang to anyone in particular in the crowds during a show: "That's difficult because of the lighting." During the little bit of footage of the April 14, 1972 Greensboro, NC concert, he asks for the house lights to be brought up and left up for a bit so he can see the audience and makes the comment, "It's funny but..I...(...I really can't see you! I can only see, like, the first row here." Then again, and I don't remember where I read it or saw it, but he always requested that the house lights stay down because he suffered from terrible stage fright. That and the fact that he suffered from secondary glaucoma which, in all likelihood had he lived, probably would have put him blind as he got older.

In "Aloha", the lights were up (I'm assuming) so that they could get the best camera angles/positions.

In EIC, I would say that the same answer to the above applies here as well (although, of course, he looked much worse during filming of EIC).

[drjohncarpenter]

In Elvis on Tour and other arena shows, Elvis couldn't see the audience but in the CBS special through the whole show you could see everyone! Why?

In TTWIS you can see the audience but was that always like that in Vegas?
Thanks

The 1977 special was all about the fans.

The 1970 film was all about the show, and a little bit about the fans, and the hotel steaks.

P.S.
What is "TTWIS"?

[Tony Trout]

P.S.
What is "TTWIS"?

He meant to type TTWII but - instead - he typed TTWIS......and I corrected him (if you care to read my post).

[Rob]

I always care to read your posts, Tony.

Doc, please read Tony's posts from now on.

[harris497]

Hi Tony thanks for your answer and yes I meant TTWII! I liked that you were able to see the audience in EIC as you can see how many people Elvis managed to bring in! When I was a child I thought there was like a million people at the Aloha concert (it was only 5500 and the mirrors at the side made it look more). But watching EOT though it's interesting to see when the camera is almost behind him on stage that you can't see a thing!

Thanks again