BrianTCB wrote:It was actually a pretty good show.
Let me quote the opinion on this show by an elvis fan and eye witness:
"Sad"
hmmm,,,and how many thousands of other Elvis fans & eye witnesses were there that same show?
There were approximately 12,841 tickets sold for this show.
"If the songs don't go over, we can do a medley of costumes!" - Elvis Presley (August 10, 1970 backstage in his dressing room before the first show of the August, 10, 1970/September 8, 1970 season in Vegas).
what i love about audience recordings and the soundboards of these shows(76 and 77 period) is how they dispell the myths.
they are truth tellers.
sometimes he sounds tired.
sometimes you can tell something just seems off.
or if something shocking happens....like guys jumping up on stage...like the incident in vegas...you hear the audience react.
if he had fallen on stage...you would hear the reaction from the audience.
what they reveal is a performer who started to warm up as the shows go along and an audience that seemingly...by the sound of it....enjoyed the hell out of it.
cisco mentions this alot on his write ups of these shows.
they almost always reveal the exact opposite.
and often dispel this myth that he was a fat slob just stumblin around on stage,barely coherent.
he wasn't always in top form.
sometimes he sounds tired.
but even in the worst shows...theres always that Elvis moment.
usually him at the piano with melody....or an amazing vocal with hurt.
i love audience recordings and how often they slay the myths.
Here is what's supposedly one of the worst, if not the worst Elvis concert.
Judge for yourself. Quite honestly, aside from leaving in the middle of the show, it's still better than Omaha, NB on 6/19/1977 a few weeks later.
I think I agree with this, watching the footage and listening to the show, aside from the obvious absence in the middle of the show, the show definitely isn't the worst show of the year. I would say it falls right at the bottom of average for 1977.
One note I feel I need to make is that this is one of the two shows I've listened to (the other is Philadelphia the night before) where he doesn't hit the big note on Hurt. He reaches for it but he just doesn't seem to hit it. He didn't even attempt the song in Baton Rouge and Macon. It was definitely an up and down tour
The Baltimore show is not even close to the worst performance from the final year. The show itself, though, was bad. Many of Elvis' songs that night were performed well. The problem is the fact that he had to leave the stage. It has happened to other entertainers as well, but rumors were already flying at the time of the sad state Elvis was in. His leaving didn't help much. Unfortunately, a healthy Elvis would never had to do such a thing. He would be gone in in about ten weeks. These two things combined makes folks say that it was a terrible "show," which it was, even though many songs were performed well. If one listens to the show with the stage leaving edited out, it's not a bad listen (for the period).
I've seen him ridiculed by some on this board because of what happened, which I don't understand. He was trying, but should have been nowhere near Baltimore, Maryland that night.
The United States of America have had
forty-six Presidents, but only ONE King!
Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
You're a beautiful audience.