March 13, 1975 saw the beginning of rehearsls for the upcoming Las Vegas engagement. Five of the new songs from the RCA March 10-12, 1975 Studio Sessions were selected, as well as older numbers like "Tomorrow Night" and "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck." Two Don Robertson ballads were tried but rejected. As usual there were a number of unrecorded songs that Elvis felt could work in the show but never became regular features, songs like "Susie Q," "You Can Have Her," and "You're The Reason I'm Living."
Elvis remained a popular attraction in Las Vegas and on the road. As long as he kept singing, kept his banter to a minimum, and kept up his frenetic schedule, it seemed he'd be able to go on making money indefinitely. The feeling of those shows has been posthumously documented on RCA's Elvis Aron Presley (The Silver Box): solid, occasionally engaged, but with little real spark. Recorded March 22, 1975 Midnight Show, first released on Live in Las Vegas
*The Complete Recording Sessions by Ernst Jorgensen*
I've never gotten over what they call stage fright. I go through it every, every show. I'm pretty concerned, I'm pretty much thinking about the show. I never got completely comfortable with it, and I don't let the people with me get comfortable with it, in that I remind them that it's a new crowd out there. It's a new audience and they haven't seen us before, so it's gotta be like the first time we go on.
We do two shows a night for five weeks. A lot of times we'll go upstairs and sing until daylight---gospel songs. We grew up with it, from the time I was, I can remember, like two years old. It more or less puts your mind at ease. It does mine. (Random comments by Elvis.)
*Elvis, Word for Word by Jerry Osborne* |
