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Once a year on June 26th I take time-out to listen to Elvis’ final performance to remind myself what a glorious musical legacy he left for of us and also that even in his final months Elvis truly cared for his fans and had a strength and aura that could never be matched. In February FTD announced their historical release of 'Elvis: The Last Concert'. Two additional concerts, Sioux Falls Oct 18 1976 and Atlanta Dec 30, 1976 previously released with the FTD 'On The Road With Elvis' Bruce Jackson book augment this 3-CD set. If Col Parker was alive he might have suggested the title of ‘Elvis Sings His Last Concert - plus two other performances from the previous year’ as there is little connection between the importance of Elvis’ final concert and the two other 1976 performances. With Elvis’ Last Concert featuring an audio upgrade from producer Anthony Stuchbury perhaps he should have been allowed to upgrade all three. That would have been a neat connection and “Boy-Mah-Boy” the Atlanta 1976 concert desperately needs improving. This pack is already Sold Out with a reprint to come so there is no doubt that collectors truly wanted Elvis’ final concert to be officially released. However both previously released Sioux Falls and Atlanta 1976 soundboards unfortunately disappoint, one for a lacklustre performance and one for the lacklustre sound. When first released I only played them twice before filing them away. But FTD have re-released them and so this time I made a more determined effort to check them out more closely.
EIN has contacted FTD several times to inform them they were spelling Sherrill Nielsen’s name wrong on their recent ‘Last Tours’ sets. So perhaps to avoid this issue FTD are now crediting him as ‘Shaun Nielsen’ – but they still get it wrong spelling it as ’Shuan Nielsen'!. Does anyone proof read these FTD covers since Joe Guercio is also spelt “Joe Guercia” and Larry Londin is regrettably credited as “Larry London.” But onto the main fare… June 26, 1977 in Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, 18,000 Elvis fans were settling into their seats to prepare for the night's performance. They suffered through the opening acts, anticipation building as they awaited the moment they would finally see Elvis. During the show's intermission, the arena was abuzz with chatter. Then at about 10pm the lights in the arena were dimmed and a hush fell over the crowd. They knew that this was the moment they had been waiting for. The timpani rumbled as the horns played the familiar opening theme from 2001. Audio Quality: Luckily the audio- mix was always surprisingly good for an audience recording with clear Jame Burton guitar, Jerry Scheff bass, orchestra and Elvis’ vocal easy to hear. The main annoyance with the old bootleg releases were the seemingly endless talk from the nearby women, as well as someone firing off their clicking camera. On this new version Anthony Stuchbury has done his best to remove the extraneous noise letting you hear more of Elvis. The bootleg’s scratchy high-frequency noise has also been smoothed out making it a more even sound. The infamous original bootleg ‘Adios’ released way back in 1993 by ‘A.J. Records’ which ran 71 minutes also had some edits and drop outs. These have been fixed on the new release which runs the full 77 minutes.
CD 1: The Last Concert, Indianapolis, June 26, 1977 – 77 minutes. Fill-in drummer Larrie Londin's snare hits hard as Elvis arrives on stage with the whole crowd going wild with anticipation. This is real proof that even in his final tour Elvis still had that incredible aura and power over his audience. Elvis belts out, “Oh see, See See Rider…” and once again the crowd erupts. Elvis sounds full of energy and ready to deliver a memorable 'Closing Night' concert. This is nothing like the dreadfully weak Omaha concert filmed by CBS the previous week, nor the very sad “Mumbling in Madison” from two nights before. Fans who expected a ‘DES’ miraculous audio upgrade of the old audience bootleg may be disappointed as this still has to be an audience recording. Producer Anthony Stuchbury however has noticeably reduced a lot of the annoying audience squeals and it is easy to hear Elvis when he talks to the crowd and you really feel part of the audience.
‘I Got A Woman / Amen’ has a great feel to it and Elvis does a lovely unusual swoop from ‘I Got A Woman’ to ‘Amen’ @02:51. Elvis, obviously feeling energetic, also asks the band to up the tempo and then says, “Sing it with us everybody” with the arena atmosphere of everyone joining in with The Sweets and Stamps nicely captured on this audience tape. Elvis sounds energetic and in a good mood (he hadn’t just got out of bed this night!) telling the crowd, “It’s a pleasure to be here and you sound like a fantastic audience. We hope to entertain you tonight”. A well-sung ‘Love Me’ gets a huge applause - the audience reaction is such an important part of this last concert. ‘Fairytale’ “the story of my life” is a lovely version with JD’s bass-line and backing vocals nice and clear. Elvis sings his heart out obviously in pure enjoyment. It’s a great version. Notably that piercing fan squeal that always started the song on the old bootlegs is gone, along with the general audience talk during the choruses. This is a nice upgrade. ‘You Gave Me A Mountain’ with some very neat drum-work from Larrie Londin is very fine, Elvis sings it with real power with none of that sad tiredness that often crept into his later versions. There’s a very sweet growl on Elvis’ final line, “You gave me a mountain this…… ahrrrrrrr, time” The crowd-pleasing oldies get the usual treatment – but with the audience recording you can hear just how much they were adored and applauded by his loving fans. Oddly on this final night Elvis gets Sherrill Nielsen to repeat the end of his ‘O Sole Mio’ solo before Elvis sings ‘It’s Now Or Never’ for the very last time. Luckily ‘Little Sister’ (disappointingly not performed at Rapid City) gets a good work-out tonight. Hearing an audience request Elvis suggests ‘Release Me’. He asks “what key did we do it in James?” which is not surprising since Elvis had performed the song less than a handful of times since 1974! A total shock for the band and orchestra, it’s a very fine, cool-tempo last version with some great backing-vocals from The Sweets along with some fine guitar. “Totally unrehearsed” notes Elvis, it’s a real treat. Elvis then notes, “We’re working tonight through a list of songs that we can do” and then chooses another spontaneous audience request for ‘I Can't Stop Loving You’ which he last performed in Huntsville over two years previously. It really was a special night – even if the audience didn’t realise it. ‘I Can't Stop Loving You’ is another treat, again taken at a cool-pace and sung with a real emotion and again with powerful backing-vocals. Listening to “Those happy hours that we once knew” .. is always rather poignant knowing that this was Elvis’ very last hour on stage. Keeping the excitement going Elvis then chooses ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’. Only performed twice so far in his 1977 tours this final version was sung with a lovely sensitivity and was both beautiful and outstanding. Again, such a treat. The audience recording is very impressive for the demanding mix of Elvis, band, orchestra and backing-vocals. The good-humoured Introductions that follow include Elvis introducing Ronnie Tutt replacement drummer Larrie Londin, teasing him about being a large man, noting that “he’s about the size of London!” Unsurprisingly Londin then plays the drum-solo of his life and gets a great round of applause. Elvis rightly remarks, “Whoo, fantastic.” Elvis final ‘Early Morning Rain’ is also a longer version than usual, features some beautiful playing from John Wilkinson and is a truly delightful version. One month before in May 1977 for some odd reason Elvis decided to introduce his 1970 RCA single ‘I Really Don't Want To Know’ into his set-list. Most fans will know it from the Rapid City ‘E.I.C.’ version – but tonight’s was better. James Burton played some lovely blues-guitar and Elvis sang it with a lovely emotional touch. A shame it was still the shortened version. Telling the crowd, “One of our latest records is called Hurt” Elvis gives a touching final performance easily hitting the power-ending. Sadly no reprise tonight. Straight to the required but throwaway ‘Hound Dog’ Elvis was heading for home. It has to be a disappointment that at his final concert Elvis did not include ‘Unchained Melody’ which he had performed just the previous night in Cincinnati. Before leaving Elvis gives a lengthy and genuine thanks to everyone involved in the show. He thanks his father, asking him to join him on stage noting, “He’s been sick, but he’s doing very well.” Elvis then thanks his sound engineer “Bruce Jackson from Australia” also Felton Jarvis, Bill Porter and “my girlfriend Ginger” as well as her family, plus Dr Nick, cousin Patsy “nutty as a fruitcake”, Billy Smith’s wife Jo Smith and finally the audience. “Most of all I’d like to thank you. I’d like to tell you this is the last day of our tour and we couldn’t have asked for a better audience - you really made it worthwhile.” Elvis’ last words on stage being, ”If you want us back, just let us know and we’ll come back.” A rousing last version of ‘Can't Help Falling In Love’ follows with a big power-ending final note, after which Elvis remained onstage longer than usual, pacing back and forth, soaking up the love that the fans were offering him. At that point Elvis turned and joined Joe Esposito and his father and walked off the stage for the very last time. It was a very, very special night and always worth another listen.
While CD 2 and CD3 have both been previously released by FTD – with me only giving them a cursory listen - this time I made a more determined effort to check them out properly one more time. CD 2: Sioux Falls, Oct 18 1976 However something happened between his terrible concerts of August / September and his next tour. Even with the threat of the Wests-Hebler "Elvis: What Happened" book about to be published (or possibly because of it) there was a definite and positive change in the month leading up to Elvis' October 1976 Tour #22. FTD have released multiple concerts from this 1976 tour including the two opening ‘Chicago Stadium’ shows of Oct 14 & Oct 15 plus ‘A Minnesota Moment’ from Oct 17 all proving that some of that old magic was back. In 2017 FTD also released the Oct 16 Duluth Arena show (The Bicentennial Show double-cd) with the Sioux Falls, Oct 18 performance eventually being released as one of the ‘bonus cds’ with the Bruce Jackson ‘On The Road with Elvis’ book. At Minnesota’s Sunday show Elvis had energy, there was a laugh in his voice and he seemed to be enjoying being on-stage and performing to his beloved fans. So perhaps he had a bad night’s sleep but the following day Sioux Falls, his fifth concert of the tour, was a low-energy performance that offered little excitement compared to the beginning of the tour.
Sioux Falls, Oct 18 – 62 minutes. ‘See See Rider' sounds ok, with JB’s chicken-pickin’ guitar and Tony Brown’s piano prominent even if Ronnie Tutt’s percussion is a little buried in the mix. ‘I Got A Woman / Amen’ with the usual “well, well, well” intro sounds routine and lacks the energy of the previous night. Elvis even admits, “I can do that when I first wake up”. ‘Love Me’ is taken slowly but does feature some nice Fats Domino piano courtesy of Tony Brown. Elvis at least changes the tour set-list deciding on ‘Fairytale’ rather than Charlie’s suggestion of ‘If You Love Me’. Sung only five times during the tour, this is in fact the only version of this song released by FTD from this tour. ‘Jailhouse Rock’ ups the pace while ‘You Gave Me A Mountain’ is ok for a 1976 version even if it doesn’t have the enthusiasm of the previous night. Elvis’ wavering vibrato shows that he was tired, even though it also adds some quiet emotion to the lyrics. Elvis sounds a little tired but reacts nicely to a sound from the crowd joking, “There’s a dog in the audience!” The crowd-pleasing oldies ‘All Shook Up’ / Teddy Bear / Don’t Be Cruel’ are very low-key even if they get the crowd screaming. ‘And I Love You So’ is gentle but again proves how tired Elvis was with his vibrato slipping off the note at times. Surely one night off per week was not a lot to ask of Parker? ‘Fever’ - “got to be the longest bass-solo in history” - is lacklustre but has the crowd screaming. ‘Steamroller Blues’ is the usual laid-back ’76 version but ups the energy with some nice piano work from Tony Brown and J.B. guitar. Elvis puts some energy into the ending working together with The Sweets and JD. As is often the case Elvis gets more focused as the concert goes along. Before the next song there is some discussion where Elvis cleverly jokes about the PA system, "Why's that thing humming? Perhaps it doesn't know the words!" At the closing night concert of his previous tour in Pine Bluff Elvis badly messed up his attempt at his bicentennial tribute 'America'. This was probably the reason that Elvis had left the song out of his set-list on the first three shows of this tour (including Minnesota). However it was back tonight and with no mistakes and a power-ending was one of the better versions getting a huge applause. (Again a ‘Minnesota Moment’ bonus track) The Introductions are routine but with Elvis in a good mood. He jokes about ‘Captain Kangaroo’ Ed Hill as well as having to introduce Stamps’ Buck Buckles for the first time. Elvis asks John Wilkinson to lower they key for a short but sweet ‘Early Morning Rain’ while Elvis seems more enthused with JB’s ‘Johnny B Goode’ than often the case. The tape cuts out mid piano solo and fades back in the middle of the first verse of a fine version of ‘Hurt’ - which gets a huge applause and a deserved last-verse reprise. Elvis’ energy levels are up for a crowd-pleasing ‘Hound Dog’ before the surprise of ‘Blue Christmas.’ The band keep teasing the intro of ‘Funny How Times Slips Away’ but instead, and with no introduction, Elvis starts ‘Blue Christmas’ which while a treat for the audience is lacklustre compared to his version two night’s previously in Duluth. At his 1976 concerts if Elvis was tired he would often get Sherrill Nielsen or Kathy Westmoreland to do a solo spot. Tonight Elvis suggests he has “a lot of talent up on stage” so gets Kathy Westmoreland to sing a piercing ‘My Heavenly Father.’ Surely the fans would have been hoping for more Elvis? Perhaps Mystery Train / Tiger Man or Funny How Time Slips Away? Instead with the comment “You’re a fantastic audience and any time you wants us back here just let us know” he wraps up this rather low-key Monday concert with a routine low-energy ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love.’ To be honest there is very little that fans can learn from this performance except that Elvis was tired and that the earlier concerts from the tour were all better. Giving Elvis one day off a week whilst on tour really could have helped. If there were any highlights it was the return of ‘America’ to his set-list and the rather average ‘Fairytale’ both of which were Bonus Tracks on the rather good ‘A Minnesota Moment’ that FTD released in 2010.
CD 3: Atlanta December 30, 1976 – 79 mins Sadly those December concerts would be our last glimpse of that fabulous musical beacon that shone so brightly back in August 1969 in Las Vegas. Atlanta was a popular destination for Elvis. In 1956 he played sixteen shows across five days. In the seventies Elvis played Atlanta for five shows in 1973, three shows in 1975 and in 1976 three shows in June followed by the grand finale on December 30 1976. The previous night Elvis had performed a high-quality show in Birmingham (FTD's Showtime '76') and the following night the tour cumulated with Elvis’ New Year’s Eve concert in Pittsburgh. There is no doubt whatsoever that Elvis’ show in Atlanta on December 30 was a stunning performance with Elvis throwing in the rare ‘Reconsider Baby’ as well as the super-rare ‘Such a Night’. Unfortunately the reason that this concert is rarely mentioned is that the soundboard audio quality is so poor. Back in the 70-80’s there were portable double-cassette decks where you could copy cassettes at double speed. They always came out sounding muffled and sub-standard and were only good as a reference. I have little doubt that Elvis’ engineer Bruce Jackson used this method to send his brother a copy of the show for the main reason that near the beginning Elvis jokes, “Watch the feedback Bruce, or I'll send you back to Australia in a kangaroo pouch!” It is a great quote and a worthy memento but sadly the musical part of the show is so muffled and badly mixed that it is not a performance that you would return to when the others from the tour sound so much better. There is also a lot of tape-hiss and background hum. It’s a real shame that FTD didn’t let Anthony Stuchbury improve the audio for this 2026 re-release. Elvis’ concerts in Birmingham and Dallas (Dec 28) sound magnificent in comparison and even Elvis’ audience recorded Pittsburgh New Year’s Eve concert ('The Final Countdown') features a cleaner less muffled sound.
The CD kicks off at the start of ‘See See Rider’ and immediately you can tell how poor the soundboard audio quality is. The tape sounds like it was recorded through a sock with Tony Brown's piano dominating the sound, Elvis’ voice struggling in the background, there’s no clarity and hardly any percussion at all. When we get to the guitar solo it basically becomes James Burton and Tony Brown playing by them. Despite all of this you can tell that Elvis is full of energy as he teases the band along and that it was going to be a very good concert. A fine ‘I Got a Woman / Amen’ sounds a little better, at least you can now hear The Stamps but Tony Brown's piano annoyingly dominates, as it will through the rest of the tape. Elvis sounds wide-awake and having fun as he jokes, “Good Evening, I'd like you to welcome you to ..Wait a minute, wait a damn minute… It's a pleasure to be here. I can feel your enthusiastic and everybody on stage is happy to be here.” And then the classic, “Watch the feedback Bruce, or I'll send you back to Australia in a kangaroo pouch!” Sadly ‘Big Boss Man’ that follows only reveals how bad the recording is as for the first half of the song Elvis’ vocal is totally inaudible. It’s just piano, no drums and very muffled. The audio mix does improve but ‘Fairytale’ “the story of my life” sounds like just Elvis, Tony Brown and James Burton to start with. After the first verse, Elvis stops the band and asks for it in a slower tempo. There is a lovely moment afterwards where somebody brings a lighted birthday cake. Elvis comments, “I can’t see out there so I wasn’t sure what it was. Happy Birthday – thank you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that jazz.” At which point the whole audience take off in singing Happy Birthday to Elvis with the band joining in. It’s a very cute moment. ‘You Gave Me A Mountain’ has a nice “Lord, Lord” ending so again it's a shame it is so muffled. For ‘O Sole Mio’ Sherrill Nielsen gets the hilarious introduction as “This guy in the blue flannel underwear” and on ‘It's Now or Never’ Elvis tries hard to impress. Strangely you can hear some bongos on the mix but Ronnie Tutt is still missing! ‘Jailhouse Rock’ once again is just James Burton and Tony Brown's piano with everything else buried in the mix. Unlistenable. However if there is any reason to enjoy this soundboard it’s when Elvis chooses a spontaneous ‘Such A Night’ from an audience request. “In the key of E” says Elvis and it is his best ever live version, nearly complete and with a great “ohh, ahh ohh ahh” ending. Elvis is obviously in a great mood chatting to the crowd and putting his guitar one for a spontaneous ‘Reconsider Baby’. “I’m trying to think of the words as it’s been 77 years since I did it.” It’s a great version - but again sadly muffled and with overpowering piano. The following night, New Year’s Eve Elvis did a better version. ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’ is another audience request “my mouth feels like a bail of cotton” Elvis adds. It starts seriously with Elvis calling out the keys to the band for some reason (it had been a regular in his recent Las Vegas season) but soon disintegrates to the joking-with-Charlie version. ‘That's All Right’ would be a great version - “my first record we only think we had was an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and a stand-up bass” except one again Tony Brown’s piano obscures everything except Elvis. Elvis chats with the fans and is in a great mood (happily medicated tonight) and says “I’ll tell you what I’d like to do… Keep the lights up.. I’d like to do a song called 'My Way'.” ‘My Way’ powerfully sung would be a lovely version if you could only remove the piano! It’s close to being Elvis solo with piano accompaniment, but not in a good way. Showing what a great mood he was in “Ride the hog” it was straight to a rockin’ ‘Polk Salad Annie’ where Elvis really rocks out at the end, but it’s too muffled and with too little backing vocals to want to play again. The Introductions includes a first rate and enjoyable extended version of ‘Early Morning Rain’ which while piano-guitar focused luckily has some orchestra and backing-vocals breaking through. A fine ‘Love Letters’ this time of course features a dominant David Briggs on piano. Afterwards there is a very enthusiastic ‘School Day’ “Hail Hail Rock’n’Roll” which Elvis gives a super-power ending “Whoo, fantastic”. Elvis is on point and focussed noting that, “Our latest record is ‘Moody Blue’ but we are going to do ‘Hurt’” – it is an obviously great version that is sadly ruined by the over-dominant piano. ‘Hound Dog’ is similarly unlistenable. Elvis explains, “If you don’t mind, I'd like to play the piano” which leads into ‘Unchained Melody’. Elvis jokes, “Just bear with us because I have to look at the chord changes” followed by a delightful “hey, hey, hey” Elvis’ laugh which is a truly lovely moment. ‘Unchained Melody’ would of course have been another stunning version but this time Elvis is sadly drowned out by his own piano playing! Such a shame. Noting, “All kidding aside, you are one of the most fantastic audiences we have ever had and any time you want us back, we’ll come back. Take care of yourselves.” ‘Can't Help Falling In Love’ wraps it all up. How sad that Elvis would never return to Atlanta. There is no doubt that if we had a good quality soundboard of this concert it would rate as one of Elvis's most enjoyable performances and one of the very best concerts from the last 12 months of his life.
Review by Piers Beagley. Click here to comment on this article
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