April 6, 1972: Elvis at the Aud

 


From that cornucopia of concerts in April 1972, I got to review the two biggest. First one was a historic night:

Elvis Still Wields That Old Magic;

But Show, Not Music, Is the Thing 

        Elvis Presley began his first full-scale tour in 15 years Wednesday night in Memorial Auditorium and he began it royally, much like a good king out for an official visit with his loyal subjects.

        Introduced by a classical fanfare suitable for sunrises and thunderstorms, he strode onstage at 9:30 p.m. like a sleek show stallion to high-pitched screams and a blaze of flashcubes among a record Aud crowd of 17,340, most of them in $10 seats.

        When Elvis played here in 1957, it was mostly to screaming teenage girls. Wednesday, however, saw all ages and dispositions, a middling Middle America delegation and a 6-to-4 female-to-male ratio.

        Wearing a light blue pantsuit spangled with silver and a waist-length cape to match, Elvis was magnificent.

        His slit cuffs flashed with white insets, his cape was lined with white, a white scarf framed the jacket opening on his chest. His boots were white and silver ornaments studded his large white belt.

* * *

HE GLIDED to one end of the stage, back to the other, then the music went up. The screams and poor vocal balancing made it hard to recognize the song until after a verse or so. “C. C. Rider.”

        Where Elvis was once boldly sensual, he now expresses a highly-stylized animalism with velvet self-control as intense as his leather gyrations used to be.

        Just a little flourish or an arm here, a leg there, maybe a move with his hips. In his most common action stance, he’d kick the beat archly with his outstretched left leg, ever so slightly rocking his hips and pumping the music along with his right arm.

        And now the “Elvis In Person” banners around the stage made sense. So did the $2 souvenir books. And the posters and the styrofoam imitation straw skimmer hats with an “Elvis In Person” button on the band. Elvis is Middle America’s one and only Dr. Feelgood, well worth the price of this house call.

        Behind him were at least 30 musicians – his regular black female vocal trio, the Sweet Inspirations (who shared the first half of the program with a comedian), plus leading Nashville gospel singers J. D. Sumner & The Stamps, a rock band and a small dance orchestra.

* * *

MUSICALLY, it was an uneven night. The show almost fell flat trying to rave up its second song, the overworked “Proud Mary.” But next off, everyone pulled together for a scintillating “I’ve Never Been to Spain.”

        After a round of vicious feedback problems during a couple of slow numbers and a prancing “Polk Salad Annie,” he hit his own material.

        So good to see he can still do: “Treat muh mean and crool, treat muh laike uh fool, but luh-uhve me.” Patches of high-pitched screaming, more flashcubes, “Blue Suede Shoes,” “All Shook Up,” an easy “Don’t Be Cruel,” “Hound Dog” at half-speed, then full speed. No question that his voice is as strong as ever.

        Restlessness during “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” The crowd seemed almost indifferent. How many took pleasure at super-basso J. D. Sumner sounding the final bottom note? Or saw Elvis teasing the spotlight over to J. D. and throwing him cues?

* * *

POOR RESPONSE to a neatly-turned “I Can’t Help Loving You” made it obvious that the object of the show wasn’t music. The screaming when Elvis threw his scarf to a blonde at the front of the stage during “Love Me Tender” proved it.

        He kissed another blonde with beehive hair, took several hands and threw out three more scarves during the six final numbers. Most potent were “Suspicious Minds” (where he karate chopped out of the invisible trap), a medley of “Dixie,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “All My Trials,” and the classic “Johnny B. Goode.”

        More and more girls and women rushed the stage. He teased one in a red sweater into jumping up to kiss him, then darted safely back from a pack of grabbing hands and leaping faces.

        J. D. Sumner picked out the final bass note in “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” at 10:28. Elvis held out his cape in white radiance, bowed to all four sides of the stage and strode down the exit plank, bodyguards closing in behind him. Girls leaped on stage, but the king was disappearing fast, heading for another state visit in Detroit.

FOOTNOTE: Buffalo indeed was the kickoff date for this first of Elvis’ two tours in 1972 and it was one of the shows filmed for a documentary that won the Golden Globe Award, though most of its footage is from the Hampton Roads, Va., concert, which came right after Detroit.

        Meanwhile, $10 doesn’t seem like much for a concert ticket these days, but for the Aud back then the going rate was $6. Adjusted for the official rate of inflation, $10 would be $63.40 now.

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