Another Opening Night

[Thomas]

Yesterday I found an older bootleg called "Another Opening Night" to be part of my Elvis collection. As I was bored with a recent flow of really bad audience recordings, it seems that I stored this one without ever having listened to it. Yesterday however I gave it a try, expecting nothing more than another substandard show à la "Tucson 1972" in bad sound quality.

As I pressed the "Play" button, I cleared the way for many suprises to reach me this evening. First of all, I was blown away by the really cool sound on this CD. After the first lines of "C.C. Rider" I felt like I was really sitting in the audience of this August 4th 1972 Vegas opening show. It was so scary I had to open my eyes. The term "Recording Done First Row In Vegas" on the CD seems to be based on a fact.

After just a few minutes I could tell that Elvis was in an absolutely great mood that night. "A Big Hunk Of Love" is performed second, giving way to a very unusual set list:

C.C Rider
A Big Hunk Of Love
Never Been To Spain
You'Ve Lost That Loving Feeling
Love Me Tender
Mystery Train / Tiger Man
What Now My Love
Love Me
Little Sister / Get Back
Blue Suede Shows
One Night
You Don't Have To Say You Love Me
Hound Dog
My Way
My Babe
Introductions
Can't Help Falling In Love

Elvis starts to chat with his audience, which is rare for this period of time. After his usual jokes ("tough way to make a living folks") it happens: Elvis tells a fan to "hang on, i'll be there in a minute" and adds: "I'm free, you know!". Interesting gem to have on CD, because just 14 days later, Priscilla announced that she would leave Elvis.

After a somewhat bored but still happy rendition of his oldies, he then attacks the rare My Babe. It is a shame that there is some kind of sound distortion on the CD during that song.

He then introduces some people in the audience (I couldn't understand which because of the distortion) and then disappears again with his usual closer, "Can't Help Falling In Love". Interesting to hear people cry "No!" after just the first few notes, they must have been used to this closing number already.

All in all, this is a Must-Have in every live concert collection. The sound is great for an audience recording, I would even prefer this to a soundboard. Elvis is in a really good mood, and delivers a very interesting show. If he was not at his vocal peak that night, he was on the peak of everything else in his career.

Get this, if you can ...

[Keith Richards, Jr.]

Thanks Thomas, great review! I have never even heard of this CD. Usually I stay away from audience recordings, but the track listing on this one is so unusual that I probably should get myself a copy. Do you have a scan of the cover, so I can see what it looks like? Is this one of those cheap looking bootlegs?

Keith Richards, Jr.

[Rob]

Elvis performed "An American Trilogy" following the introductions, but it was cut out of the show. I just listened to this (No Fooling Around) a couple of months ago.

I love those 1972 shows.

[Thomas]

Hello Keith

It is not a Rolls Royce I guess, but I have seen worse covers.

Here's a link to what the CD looks like:
http://www.elvisoncd.com/EIGENECD_a-z/import/A/anotheropeningnight.htm
However I didn't find "American Trilogy" to be part of my package.

While surfing for a picture, I found this remark on tcb-world.com: "Please note: the concert on this cd is identical to the one released on the import: No Fooling Around! The No Fooling Around! cd however is the one to get. It features some interesting bonus songs and the sound quality is better."

I guess you'll be better off going for this one, then.

[Keith Richards, Jr.]

Hello Keith

It is not a Rolls Royce I guess, but I have seen worse covers.

Here's a link to what the CD looks like:
http://www.elvisoncd.com/EIGENECD_a-z/import/A/anotheropeningnight.htm
However I didn't find "American Trilogy" to be part of my package.

While surfing for a picture, I found this remark on tcb-world.com: "Please note: the concert on this cd is identical to the one released on the import: No Fooling Around! The No Fooling Around! cd however is the one to get. It features some interesting bonus songs and the sound quality is better."

I guess you'll be better off going for this one, then.

Thanks T.

Keith Richards, Jr.

[Joe Car]

Great job, thanks Thomas!

[YDKM]

Yes that Aug 4th 1972 show was a good one. just for completeness i obtained the missing version of An American Trilogy(just to hear it) another great version, but a BIG drop in audio quality from the rest of the show.

[karlos]

thanx Thomas for very good review

[Rob]

Yes that Aug 4th 1972 show was a good one. just for completeness i obtained the missing version of An American Trilogy(just to hear it) another great version, but a BIG drop in audio quality from the rest of the show.

I still wish they would have left it in. A little note of, "Due to tape damage, An American Trilogy is of lesser sound quality than the rest of the show" would do just fine. Much better than completely omitting it.

[drjohncarpenter]

I still wish they would have left it in.

It may be that the superior August 4, 1972 tape source used for No Fooling Around! did not have any version of "An American Trilogy" at hand -- thus, no inclusion.

[Hav-A-Tampa]

Thanks for the review!

Reading about the show, and Trilogy being cut out, made me go look for the cassette tape of the show I got sometime back in the early 80's... And to my surprise, Trilogy is missing on the tape as well! Rob, are you 100% certain he performed it that night?

[Rob]

Rob, are you 100% certain he performed it that night?

Absolutely, 100% certain.

[voldto]

the wonder of you (performed right before one night) is mssing from both those bootlegs too

[cjelvis]

The wonder of you is missing on the VIP release too, I have the song only on my audio tape.