THE KING OF COMEBACKS HAS US ALL SHOOK UP
IT’S 50 years since Elvis Presley made a comeback that reverberated around the world, long before the age of the internet. Five decades on, it’s a performance that still has the ability to make waves.
It may be difficult to believe now — especially considering the ongevity that the King’s music has had — but by 1968, Elvis’s career was considered to be over. Well, his music career at least.
Then his manager Colonel Tom Parker negotiated him a deal with NBC for a TV show which he envisaged as a Christmas special.
Producer and director Steve Binder thankfully had other ideas and instead recorded four one-hour performances — the Burbank Sessions — and spliced them into what would become known as the ’68 Comeback Special.
Dressed in black leather, Elvis wowed the tiny audience during the recordings, a feeling that was replicated throughout the world as stations syndicated the show after its December 3 broadcast date.
Its success proved to Elvis what most people had known all along: that he belonged on the stage.
He only did one more film after this then returned in earnest to performances in Las Vegas.
This Is Elvis documents the story of the comeback show. It focuses on the music but also touches on how Elvis was convinced to do it, the worries it caused among his friends, the slow breakdown of his marriage to Priscilla after the birth of their daughter Lisa-Marie and his growing reliance on drugs.
These sidelines are, however, merely breaks between the music and the over-riding feeling is one of joy at watching one of the greatest ever performers simply doing his thing. In fact, Act Two contains none of the side stories at all and is just a re-enactment of the comeback show. This is entirely the right way to go — why clutter a show about Elvis with tragedy and sadness when you could instead just spread the joy that his music brings? Songs such as Heartbreak Hotel, Hound Dog, All Shook Up and Don’t Be Cruel had the crowd on their feet, while you could hear a pin drop when Steve Michaels launched into Love Me Tender.
Impersonating Elvis is nothing new — there’s an entire industry built around it in the US. Yet the Canadian is absolutely impeccable.
The stance, the dance moves, the lip raise, the cockiness, it’s all there. But it’s the voice that brings him to another level.
BELTING out crowd pleasers such as Suspicious Minds and A Big Hunk O’ Love is all very well — and he does it superbly — but it’s when he takes on the slow numbers such as Can’t Help Falling In Love With You and In The Ghetto that he really displays his true Elvis credentials.
As I mentioned, the entire second act was given over to the music, and the audience were on their feet from beginning to end.
Steve’s interaction with them was spontaneous and clever, and he had them eating out of the palm of his hand. The recreation went so far as to have him kiss a fan in the front row as he handed her the iconic red scarf that he used to mop his brow.
Special mention must go to the support cast and musicians, there wasn’t a beat out of place and there is clear chemistry between them.
This show is an absolute must-see for Elvis fans, and even those with only a passing interest in the music will be on their feet bopping along. Long live The King!