ELVIS Presley’s
It was July 31, 1969, and Elvis Presley was all keyed up. It was opening night at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, and he was about to give his first full concert appearance since 1961. In June 1968, he’d taped four shows before a live audience for his television special, Elvis, but that had been in an intimate setting, not a 2,000-seater showroom. And there would be no opportunity for any retakes tonight. It was make-or-break time.
“He was ready to fly around the room,” his bassist, Jerry Scheff recalls. “His leg was going a million miles an hour, and his hands drumming on things. He was nervous about how people were going to receive him after all those years. And a lot of stars were in the audience that first night.
“When we ended our first song, the place went crazy,” Scheff continues. “And I could see the look change on his face; like, ‘Oh God, they still love me!’ From then on it was too easy for him.”
And over the next 28 nights, the response was the same. By the time the engagement closed, Presley had performed for a record 101,500 people,
