Mystery Train/Tiger Man - 12 August 1970 Midnight Show

Introduced to the Elvis Presley show on 31 July 1969 in Las Vegas on his return to live performing the Mystery Train/Tiger man medley was a  clever fusion of the old and new.
Mystery Train, the old, was recorded at Sun Studios on 11 July 1955 and Tiger man was the new, never properly recorded in the studio by Elvis but is perhaps synonomous with The NBC Special where it was first heard during the sit down segment although not included in the original TV show. The song itself from that sit down show at 8PM on 27 June 1968 was released on album 'Elvis Sings Flaming Star' in 1968, on the RCA Camden budget label!!
At the beginning of the first day of recordings in Nashville on 4 June 1970 an informal jam of this medley was recorded by Felton Jarvis and this was officially released on the FTD album 'The Nashville Marathon' in 2002.
Despite being an ever present throughout Elvis' inaugural Vegas engagement it was dropped completely for the January/February 1970 run but was reintroduced for opening night of the next stint on 10 August 1970 and that version would be played over the opening credits of the original TTWII 1970 movie. The medley would come and go on a show by show basis throughout the 70's and would latterly be used as an alternative penultimate number in the show instead of the usual 'Funny How Time Slips Away'.

This version filmed at the beginning of  the 12 August 1970 Midnight Show was also appeared in the original movie but only the 'Tiger Man' portion was used as it linked a fan club convention in Luxembourg with the second live section of the movie.

Only two songs into this show and Elvis is already in the groove! Just watch his face closely in Tiger Man as he pushes the song along and that breathtaking 'whoo' just before an amazing guitar solo by James Burton plus if you listen closely you can hear cheers of appreciation from the audience during the song!!

Stranger In The Crowd - 13 August 1970 Dinner Show

Recorded in Nashville on 5 June the studio master would be released on the 1970 TTWII album. The only footage of 'Stranger In The Crowd' to make into either the 1970 or 2001 versions of the movie was a short clip of a high energy rehearsal in Culver City.
When 'The Lost Performances' was released in 1992 we were able to see songs from the 'lost' 13 August Dinner Show, the only show not to have footage included in the first movie. Strangely, the only song from this show to be filmed and omitted from 'The Lost Performances' was 'Stranger In The Crowd' and it was not until 2007 when a two disc edition was released on DVD featuring both the 1970 and 2001 movie that this song was officially released. With the footage still in it's raw state it was tucked away on the special features on disc 2 which contained the original 1970 movie.
Wearing the 'Red Ladder' suit, Elvis would sing 'Stranger In The Crowd' live for the first and last time at this show.
As seems to be the norm with Elvis of this period, the vocal is well judged with Elvis making the most out of the catchy choruses but not over using the power his new mature voice had. If you listen carefully you can hear the Latin-american arrangement coming through on this live version in the second half of the song, around the 3 minute mark.
The audio in this video has been replaced with superior audio from Sony's TTWII Deluxe Edition's disc 7 containing this show.

Down In The Alley - 19 August 1974 Opening Show

Down In The Alley was the third song laid down on the second day of recordings at Studio B in  Nashville during the May 1966 sessions which would create the Grammy winning gospel album 'How Great Thou Art'.  On the 26 May 1966 it would be the eighth take that would become the master and as was the norm in the late 60's RCA would stick regular studio recordings onto the back of soundtrack albums in this case 'Spinout'. The result of this practice was that as the CD era began many of these classic recordings were lost to a potential new generation of fans.

For Elvis' eleventh Las Vegas season beginning on 19 August 1974 he decided to go for a complete revamp of his setlist which included dropping the 2001 theme, See See Rider and I Got a Woman / Amen. The show now had a low key opening with Big Boss Man, Proud Mary before 'Down In The Alley' and 'Good Time Charlie's Got The Blues' neither of which would be perfromed live again and these were followed by the last live performance of 'Never Been To Spain'.
Both 'Proud Mary' and 'Never Been To Spain' had been absent from the setlist for almost two years to the day. Other new additions this opening night were 'Let Me Be There', 'If You Love Me (Let Me Know), Softly (As I Leave You) and three from his new album, the title track 'Promised Land', It's Midnight and If You Talk In Your Sleep. In short this meant that in one opening show Elvis either introduced or re-introduced more than have the songs (10 from 19) but of those 10 three would never be performed live again and another 'Proud Mary' never after the following Midnight show.
By the following show, the 20 August Dinner Show, the normal formula of the Elvis Presley show was restablished with the remaining six new songs dispersed throughout the show.
The reasons for this almost immediate u-turn have been a source of debate for the last forty years. It seems that Elvis was underwhelmed by the audience reaction to the new setlist and either due to panic or impatience he reverted to type the following night.
During August 1974 the shows were mostly of a high standard with Elvis in excellent voice throughout but it was clear that all was not right. Many shows contained monolougues on Karate or other subjects and this would culminate on closing night with 2 September becoming the most infamous show of Elvis' career and one that without being played in full and with parts taken out of context (ie in isolation) would be drive the agenda of many in the media particulary throughout the 80's!!!
This, taken from that opening show was first available on one of the most bootleg albums ever, a 2 CD set titled'From Sunset Boulevard to Paradise Road' which also included the rehearsal of the new songs. It was 2008, however, before the show was released officially on Sony's collector label 'Follow That Dream' titled 'Nevada Nights' which also contained the 21 August Dinner Show which gives a good contrast to the setlists.

Hurt - First time performed Live 17 March 1976

When Elvis walked onto the stage at The Freedom Hall in Johnson City, Tennessee on 17 March 1976, it was the first tour show Elvis had done since the closing show in Asheville, North Carolina on 24 July 1975, save for one show on New Years Eve in The Pontiac Silverdome.
There had also been a Summer Vegas season cut short after five shows due to ill health and the December season in Vegas to cover those cancelled shows from August.
Wearing his silver phoenix jumpsuit Elvis introduced two new songs to his setlst, America (The Beautiful) as 1976 was the US bicenntenial and Hurt.
Hurt had recently been recorded at Graceland the previous month and this live version is almost a carbon copy of that studio master.
Unlike subsequent live performances this version has no reprise, is at a slower tempo and does not have the big sliding ending as on the Elvis In Concert album from Rapid City on 21 June 1977.
Of note is that Ronnie Tutt is absent from this short tour, his place on the drums taken by Larry London.

Rubberneckin' 26 August 1969 Dinner Show

The thirteenth song that Elvis recorded during those landmark recording sessions at American Sound Studios in Memphis in 1969 and featuredin his final acting movie - Change of Habit.
This rare live recording first appeared on the 1991 RCA/BMG box set Collectors Gold without the false start included here.
In 2005 FTD released the entire 26 August 1969 Midnight Show, titled All Shook Up, from which this song was performed and put the song into it's proper context and it is also the same show from which the famous laughing version of Are You Lonesome Tonight originates.
26 August 1969 was a strange night as far as the setlist was concerned as the two shows also produced the only live performances of Rubberneckin' and Inherit The Wind especially since August 69 probably had the most rigid setlist that Elvis would employ with rarities at a premium.
Considering this was Elvis' first live performance in eight and a half years this was understandable with band and singers all new, a tight setlist keeps any problems with unfamiliarity at a minimum and creates a comfort zone.
As Elvis' confidence increased the rarities appeared, this track was performed a full four weeks into the engagement.
The actual reason for performing this 'Memphis trio' was actually for inclusion in what would become 'Elvis In Person' a fact Elvis tells the audience before singing Inherit The Wind at the Dinner Show, odd therefore that all three were ommited from the album and were only officially released 24 years later!
Listen out for Elvis singing a few lines of 'Loving You' after the song has concluded.

Suspicious Minds, 12 August 1970, Midnight Show

This is the very version of Suspicious Minds used in the original 1970 TTWII but not the re-edited version from 2001 and was filmed at the legendary 12 August Midnight Show.
Written by Mark James and recorded at American Studios in Memphis on January 23, 1969 Elvis immediately included it in his setlist on his return to live performances on July 31st 1969
The song itself would evolve in the Elvis Presley live show and it would become mariginally faster with each Vegas engagement, in fact the tempo even increased during the 1969 engagement . It would become a permanant fixture in the show in every tour and Vegas or Tahoe engagement until mid 74 and the end of Tour 13 in Salt Lake City on July 2nd. The exception would be at the Jan/Feb 71 Vegas engagement where it would be sang at only 8 of the 57 shows. After the Salt Lake City show on 2 July 74 Elvis would sing it only a further five times - at the Midnight shows on 22, 29 and 30 August 74 and on the first two shows of the abandoned August 75 Vegas engagement.
There was almost a final outing for one his most famous songs in LIncoln, Nebraska on 20 June 1977 although to be perfectly accurate after performing 'Help Me' Elvis says 'Suspicious Minds?' in response to a fans request and the band begins the intro but Elvis then remarks that instead 'he will be doing a new song' which would be himself on the piano singing 'Unchained Melody'! This concert, incidentally, was bookended by the two shows which would be filmed by CBS for 'Elvis In Concert'.
The video comes from the unofficial box set "Elvis - That's The Way It Is, the Complete Works" and the audio from the magnificent SONY "That's The Way It Is" deluxe edition. So turn your volume up loud, sit back and enjoy Elvis at his very best!

Bridge Over Troubled Water (03/08/73 CS) funny, unusual live version

The closing show to Elvis' ninth Vegas season was unusual to say the least. It was a fun show with Elvis having a lot of jokes both with the band and the audience.
What is evident occasionally during this show is that Elvis is also in a bad mood, not with the audience or band but with the Hilton hotel's hierarchy and their treatment of one of it's employees, Mario a favourite maitre'd of Elvis in the hotel's Italian restaurant.
This version of Bridge Over Troubled Water is unique in the Elvis musical library. It is obvious that the next song should be Suspicious Minds and the band start to play this but Elvis sings Bridge to the tune of Suspicious Minds and after some laughter decides to do Bridge. Still having fun he changes the lyrics and then loses track and forgets the lyrics. Charlie Hodge attempts to jog Elvis' memory by singing the words to which Elvis jokingly replies 'Two bit amateur' and the rest of the band and much of the audience respond by joining in unison to end the first verse to which Elvis gives a grateful appreciation - priceless, touching and great fun.
It must be said though, that having read many reviews of this show and they range from those who think this performance of 'Bridge' and the show in general is good fun to those who suggest that Elvis was being unprofessional to criticise the Hilton hierarchy in public whilst also in a lucrative contract with them and that he was being disrespectful to the music, his band and the audience for changing and clowning around with the lyrics so much, citing this track as prime example since in their opinion that is not what the audience paid for.
This show was released by Sony on the FTD label in 2004 titled Closing Night and many fans and reviewers criticised that decision saying this show should never have been released. It is worth noting however that this was the last of a 58 show run with two per night so why not have some well earned fun with the audience on closing night?