'Elvis 1970 Oakland Coliseum Arena'
A Photographic Memoir by Maria Columbus
- Book Review by Nigel Patterson -
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'Elvis 1970: That’s the Way It Was in Oakland' - published by super-fan Maria Columbus.
A new 120-page, full-color photobook takes Elvis fans back in time to one of his most high-energy nights on tour and gives readers a front-row seat to a legendary moment in music history.
On November 10, 1970, Elvis rocked a sold-out crowd at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Maria Columbus, was lucky enough to see Elvis live multiple times and has packed this memoir with 94 full-color photos tracking Elvis’ every move.
The book captures the entire night from the second Elvis stepped into the spotlight to the final, iconic “Elvis has left the building.”
EIN's Nigel Patterson checks out this new photo-book ...
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Book Review
Elvis 1970 Oakland Coliseum Arena
'That’s the Way it Was in Oakland'
– A Photographic Memoir by Maria Columbus
Elvis Special Publishing, 2026, Hardback (9.75 x 8.25 inches), 118 pages, Illustrated (color), ISBN-13: 979-8259933606
Reviewed by Nigel Patterson, October 2026
(review copy of book provided to the reviewer)
Hundreds of photobooks/journals have been published presenting Elvis on and off stage. So, do we need another one?
On November 10, 1970 Elvis Presley went on stage in Oakland, California to electrify 14,000 screaming fans. One of those fans was Maria Columbus.
Maria doesn’t provide a narrative account of the actual show, instead letting her photos tell the story. And they do this without fault, showcasing Elvis’ range of movements, emotions, and expressions.
Maria is a polished photographer. Being taken (mostly) from row 5 in the audience the “full color” photos in her book are striking, ranging from Elvis standing to action shots. The photo quality is especially impressive given Maria is not a professional photographer!
While black and white photos have worked reasonably well for documenting Elvis’ live performances in the 1950s, two-tone photos have not been as effective for his 1969-1977 performances. They often look emotionally flat and lack the element of real movement. This is not the case with “color photos” of Elvis live on stage from 1969-1977, with color offering a more alive, emotionally engaging, viewing experience.
Many photos (or similar photos) are repeated on opposite pages, one a long shot and the other cropped/enlarged as a close-up shot. This device is very effective.
Some of the photos are accompanied by the title of the song Elvis is singing.
There are many highlights in the book, and with the approximately 90 concert photos presented in chronological order, they provide a vibrant visual account of Elvis’ concert performance.
I particularly liked:
- Opening theme – And here comes Elvis (p17)
- Action shot (pp 30-31)
- Elvis leaning forward with mic close to his face, his yellow guitar striking and Charlie and James in frame to his right (p45)
- Full-length side-on shot of an expressive Elvis (p53)
- Elvis interacting with the Sweet Inspirations and the Imperials (p60 and similar shot p116)
- Elvis about to eat his microphone (pp64-65)
- Elvis doing his side-stretching exercise mid-song (p73)
- Elvis in ‘crouching tiger, hidden dragon’ like pose (pp84-87)
Maria describes her book as a “photographic memoir”, although when combined with her background memories and archival material, it becomes an affecting memoir in both words and photos.
It is also better described as a photo journal because of the additional features which include:
- Some of Maria’s memories of her early ears in the Elvis world
- History of The Elvis Special Photo Association (TESPA) with sample pages from one of its newsletters
- A number of interesting archival media reports and reviews of the show
- Information about the venue
- Show set list
- A page devoted to the jumpsuit Elvis wore for the show - the Nail Swirl (aka “Apache” and “I Got Lucky”) jumpsuit
- An interesting story about how she acquired her tickets for the show, and more.
While Maria’s narrative is minimal it is interesting and informative. For example:
“Elvis began this concert booked by Jerry Weintraub Management II. Three jets were chartered for this tour to fly Elvis’ entourage that included six members of his band, a 21-piece orchestra and 9 vocalists. Elvis traveled in Conrad Hilton’s personal G-2 corporate jet.
“Ticket prices for this tour remained at $10, $7,50 and $5…… In the audience were members of the rock band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. In recognition Elvis included Proud Mary in his show.”
The book design is perfect to showcase the concert and non-concert imagery. This is not surprising as the designer was Elvis Day By Day’s, Kees Mouwen, who also provides the Foreword (“How Great He Was”) to the book.
“Elvis 1970 Oakland Coliseum Arena” is the first in a series of photobooks Maria has planned. Presently, she is also working on books visually documenting Elvis’ performances at the Cow Palace in California and in Las Vegas in 1969-1970.
Overall Verdict: Answering the question I posed at the beginning of this review, after reading and looking through Maria Columbus’ debut book, the answer is a resounding YES to another photobook/journal! “Elvis 1970 Oakland Coliseum Arena” is a fan-pleasing release. It captures a trim and energetic Elvis at the peak of his powers following his comeback to live performances. Maria’s mix of strong photos, memories, and archival material is an important record of a memorable concert from a wonderful time which seems like a lifetime ago.
About the author/photographer: Maria Columbus has been a well-known figure in the Elvis World since the late 1960s. She and Jeannie Tessum founded the fan club, The Elvis Special Photo Association (TESPA), in 1969, and the club operated for over 25 years. It was dedicated to connecting Elvis fans and sharing candid concert photos. Maria attended around an amazing 100 Elvis concerts and took hundreds, if not more than one thousand, photos. Along with Jeannie, she was lucky enough to be allowed, by Colonel Tom Parker, into the press conference Elvis held after his opening show in Vegas in 1969!
Unlike most Elvis photobooks/books, it is presented in landscape rather than portrait format.
“Elvis 1970 Oakland Coliseum Arena” is available in hardcover (from Blurb.com) and softcover (from Amazon). - Check here on Amazon US
Summary Ratings
Score: A to F (“A”: Excellent; “B”: Above Average; “C”: Average; “D”: Poor; “F”: Very Poor)
| Element: |
Rating |
Additional comments |
Narrative (text) |
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Informative background text |
Illustrations (visual) |
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As candid photos taken from the audience floor the “full color” images are impressive and evocative |
| Book/page design |
A |
Neatly balanced page design with good use of white space |
| Book Binding |
B |
Perfect (glue) bound rather than stitched |
| Paper Stock |
B+ |
Premium matte |
| Language |
- |
English |
| Target audience |
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All fans and particularly “jumpsuit junkies” |
Comment on this review
Book Review by Nigel Patterson
-Copyright EIN October 2026
EIN Website content © Copyright the Elvis Information Network.
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