It was a nice warm August day. The sun was shining and the weather looked great. Everything was normal and the King, Elvis Presley was in town. He had never played Portland, Maine before. This would be his first and his opening stop on his new tour. But this show would be nothing like the past shows on other tours. There was a surprise planned by the aging rocker from Memphis, Tennessee.
At 8:30 PM, the lights went down and the usual Space Odyssey began. Then came the roar of Ronnie Tutt's drumming. And then, there he was. Strutting from one side of the stage to the next. Showing off his slimmed down figure and a new look. The last time fans saw him in June, he was overweight and struggling to get through shows. Gone was the sequence jumpsuit as Elvis wore a white 2 piece jacket suit with rhinestones down the legs and sleeves.
The new look also came with a new show. As Elvis walked to guitarist and friend, Charlie Hodge, he placed a guitar around his neck and walked to the mic. "Babe your getting' closer, the lights are goin' dim". The crowd roared as Elvis opened his show with his latest smash hit, Way Down. Then Elvis took a minute to tell the audience that this was a new look to a new man. The place erupted into a loud roar of cheers from the sold out 17,000 fans. "well, well well well, well I'm tired of this song, aren�t you? (teasing the crowd about his usual routine I Got A Woman/Amen" The crowd once again roars. Then Elvis jumps into another new song, Moody Blue. The crowd once again goes nuts. Then Elvis talks to the audience. "good evening ladies and gentlemen, we hope you enjoy our show. We're gonna do something different tonight. Elvis then pulled out some of his earlier records from the 50's.
First came a medley of Baby Let's Play House/Milkcow Blues, followed by Shake Rattle And Roll, and a ballad, That's When Your Heartaches Begin. Elvis though still wanted to do some of his later music also. He followed the 50's hits with Polk Salad Annie before falling on his back and then jumping up to continue the wild rocking ending. Elvis then slowed the tempo to catch his breath, so he goes into the gospel classic, how Great Thou Art and Amazing Grace.
After the gospel medley, Elvis jumped into Burning Love, In The Ghetto, and Any Day Now. The magic was felt throughout the arena as Elvis jumped into the up tempo rocker Big Boss Man and then followed up with a wonderfully longer than usual full length version of Jailhouse Rock. Elvis then introduced his bandmates and giving them solos. Then he jumped into the soft ballad Hurt and followed that with And I Love You So. The soft mood quickly changed again as Elvis yelled out "you wanna rock? Let's rock!" as Elvis jumped into the rare Good Rockin' Tonight. Elvis then asked the crowd what they wanted to hear and the response was I'm Leavin', a song he recorded back in 1971. Elvis told the sold out crowd that he was happy being back on tour and feeling good for the first time in a long time. Then he went into Funny How Time Slips Away.
Elvis wasn't ready to leave the stage just yet. He had a few more surprises for the sold out crowd. CC Rider was usually his opening theme, but Elvis saved it for the last part and then told the crowd, "This is a new song off of my new album and we've never done this live before, so bare with us" as he sang It's Easy For You. Elvis seemed to really be enjoying himself and went into the fast paced rocking medley of Mystery Train/Tiger Man.
Elvis usually would close out his live show with Can't Help Falling In Love, and it was next. But instead of leaving the stage, Elvis continued to sing. "We love to sing for ya ladies and gentlemen" as he said to the crowd, then went into a new closer For The Heart. As the music continued to play, Elvis spoke into the mic and said "thank you" and then laid the microphone on the floor and walked from each end of the stage to salute his adoring fans. Then out of nowhere he vanished and was gone. Then a deep voice rang out "Elvis has left the building".
Songs performed by Elvis on August 17, 1977
Way Down
Moody Blue
Baby Let's Play House/Milkcow Blues
Shake Rattle And Roll
That's When Your Heartaches Begin
Polk Salad Annie
How Great Thou Art
Amazing Grace
Burning Love
In The Ghetto
Any Day Now
Big Boss Man
Jailhouse Rock
Hurt
And I Love You So
Good Rockin' Tonight
I'm Leavin'
Funny How Time Slips Away
CC Rider
It's Easy For You
Mystery Train/Tiger Man
Can't Help Falling In Love
For The Heart