Tampa Florida, September 2, 1976

[ed40]

Found these today at Ebay...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Elvis-Presley-35mm-Slides-Tampa-Florida-September-2-1976-Transparency-/291142185462?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c96d31f6

Great quality pics imo


enjoy, Ed

[ed40]

Included is a review from the concert !

[DEH]

That has to be Elvis' worst jumpsuit.

[drjohncarpenter]

Man, that St. Petersburg Times review by Bob Ross is weird. It starts off harsh:

Elvis laughs a lot on stage these days. He obviously knows that his voice is but a weak parody of the super larynx that made him a star.

And ends up kind:

Elvis is better than nostalgia -- he is no goldie oldie -- he's an "entertainer" now, not an aged rockabilly. Still sings up a storm, too.

Thanks for the find!

[DEH]

Elvis did improve and lost some weight in September/October 1976 compared to some of the car wrecks during the summer of 1976

[drjohncarpenter]

Elvis did improve and lost some weight in September/October 1976 compared to some of the car wrecks during the summer of 1976

Not really. Old friends of management who saw one of the Tampa shows left in tears.

[rickeap]

Yes, really. He clearly did lose weight in September/October. He looked much better and trimmer in the Oct-Dec tours.

[Scott Hayward]

These have been around for some time

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=40533

I've seen some additional ones in some older Elvis mags, too. Here are a few others from this set:

tampa.jpg

[DEH]

That's because they probably had no seen him in a few years. But i have listened to plenty of shows from then and he did some good ones.

[Scott Hayward]

Elvis did improve and lost some weight in September/October 1976 compared to some of the car wrecks during the summer of 1976

Not really. Old friends of management who saw one of the Tampa shows left in tears.

I guess you're talking about Bitsy Mott as written in Gabe Tucker's Up & Down with EP? I wonder if it really was this Tampa concert they attended? In the book, they talk about Elvis' limo pulling up, while elsewhere it is reported that Elvis arrived in from Lakeland on a chartered bus.

My guess is that they actually attended the Feb 14 1977 show in St. Petersburg, which, of course, is right next to Tampa...?

[londonflash]

He may have looked slightly better later in the year but he was still a state.

[Jungle Room Sussex]

Tragic. Even the most misty-eyed Elvis fan (I have an image involving collectable plates and a LOT of cats) has to be saddened by the decline mental and physical of Elvis in the last years. You guys often point out a great show here or a bit of weight loss there - proof he fought like a tiger as long as he could - but nothing short of a kidnap to a remote location could have saved him. Gladys became bloated in ill-health and I believe a lot of the 'Fat Elvis' myth comes from a genetic tendancy to retain water. It's said Stars cease maturing at the age they became famous - in many ways Elvis wasn't a 'whole' person. There was Elvis the showman, the performer, Elvis the big kid having fun, the self-destructive personality and Elvis the lover; it simply isn't possible to round out as a person under the circumstances he faced. I'm in a glass house here; I have character defects and am not judging - please accept that. Elvis on a bad day was still, to me, the King; his voice matured and he went from being a sensation to a sensational singer - literally fantastic. Perhaps only Dean Martin and a few others had 'better' voices, but Elvis was the greatest entertainer of all time.

[Matt Ashton]

Tragic. Even the most misty-eyed Elvis fan (I have an image involving collectable plates and a LOT of cats) has to be saddened by the decline mental and physical of Elvis in the last years. You guys often point out a great show here or a bit of weight loss there - proof he fought like a tiger as long as he could - but nothing short of a kidnap to a remote location could have saved him. Gladys became bloated in ill-health and I believe a lot of the 'Fat Elvis' myth comes from a genetic tendancy to retain water. It's said Stars cease maturing at the age they became famous - in many ways Elvis wasn't a 'whole' person. There was Elvis the showman, the performer, Elvis the big kid having fun, the self-destructive personality and Elvis the lover; it simply isn't possible to round out as a person under the circumstances he faced. I'm in a glass house here; I have character defects and am not judging - please accept that. Elvis on a bad day was still, to me, the King; his voice matured and he went from being a sensation to a sensational singer - literally fantastic. Perhaps only Dean Martin and a few others had 'better' voices, but Elvis was the greatest entertainer of all time.

I like a lot of what you have said here, kind of sums up my feelings, as an Elvis fan I have multiple personalities, one minute defensive, the next why didn't he get a grip of himself that said, IMHO the Elvis of 1976-77 had few moments that could, if any be described as ground breaking. I still love him though .