Elvis; Live in Alexandria, Louisiana, March 30th, 1977
Over March 29th and 30th, 1977, Elvis played two shows at Rapides Parish Coliseum, Alexandria, Louisiana. This is a partial soundboard recording of the second night’s performance, during which Elvis was sufficiently troubled by malfunctioning sound equipment that he invited sound engineers Felton Jarvis and Bruce Jackson onto the stage to make his point. He also re-interpreted a line of And I Love You So to reflect his feelings on the matter.
The Alexandria Town Talk reviewed the first night’s performance, and part of this review was quoted in Peter Guralnick’s bio, Careless Love, as a general (and not entirely fair) wider commentary on Elvis’ level of engagement and showmanship during this period;
“…Tuesday night Presley was on stage less than an hour; he was impossible to understand when (or if) he talked between numbers…he never said one word to the audience or mentioned how nice or not nice it was to be in Alexandria… He came on stage, did a few numbers and then dashed off – no encores, no extra bows, no nothing…”
The review in its entirety was not as devastating as that one paragraph, and seemed to reflect the reporter’s bewilderment over the hysteria of the fans, and the fact that the show itself was, in her own words, ‘great fun’, ‘Capital E’ entertaining, and ‘Capital P’ professional, in spite of its musical shortcomings.
The reviewer noted Elvis’ consideration in giving attention to those seated behind the stage, complimented his rendition of Early Morning Rain, joked that How Great Thou Art should have been renamed ‘How Loud Thou Art’, and urged Elvis to include more contemporary numbers in the set.
This show provided no warning of the disaster that would befall the tour the following night. In Baton Rouge, as showtime approached, Elvis was semi-conscious and could not be roused. The decision to cancel was made at the last minute, when the arena was already full and seated. A very quick evacuation from the city was arranged, a statement was released explaining Elvis’ ill-health, and the Baton Rouge show, along with the other three remaining nights of the tour, were rescheduled. (A little correction for fellow Elvis nerds; the cancelled shows would be honoured the tour after next, not the next one as briefly mentioned in the presentation, expanding the tour beginning May 20th to 14 dates.)
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