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Paradise, Randers' Style

April 07, 2003 | Other
This year the theme of Elvis Unlimited’s convention was the 30th anniversary of “Aloha from Hawaii”. The weather surely helped – at least when you ignored the strong cold wind – since the sky was deep blue and the sun shone continuously.

On Friday our weekend in Randers started with the “meet and greet party”, where the Danish fans gave the TCB-band and Sweet Inspirations a warm welcome. Glen D. Hardin showed what a great human being he is by not “playing the star”, he welcomed us enthusiastically when he recognized us. Ronnie Tutt starts showing his age, but when he was at his place behind the drums on Saturday, he seemed at least 20 years younger. It was good to see that Jerry Scheff and James Burton seem to be in good health too, as are the Sweets – lovely and friendly as ever. The party ended with a kind of disco hosted by Steve Christopher (Elvis On The Air) and as a surprise short performances by some singers that were scheduled for the show on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday we spent – of course – some time in Elvis Unlimited’s shop and museum (that you should see, whenever you’re near Randers) and re-discovered beautiful Randers. At four it was time to go to Værket (cultural center in Randers) where the Elvis Unlimited merchandise was ready to be bought and some short appearances made the waiting for the show easier.

At eight o’clock it was time for the event itself. Together with the Danish Band “Big Fat Snake” the TCB-band and Sweet Inspirations accompanied many singers, both male and female. Some of them were fair, some should be avoided in the future and some were really good. We do not want to spoil too much room on the negative since it was just a tiny portion of the show, but beware of singers in red dresses and old men that are capable of ruining great songs like “Early Morning Rain” and “Steamroller Blues”. P.J. Proby was a bit strange but his rendition of “Johnny B. Good” was very good, also because of two marvelous solos by James B., and he gave his own interpretations of “Hurt” and “Trilogy”.
The highlights of the show - besides Ronnie Tutt, who was really beating the hell out of his drums – were Stephen Ackles, a Norwegian singer, and Dutch Maarten Jansen who got a real standing ovation for his whole set and in particular for his rendition of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”. Also the set by the lead singer of the band Big Fat Snake was very, very good. To stay in “Elvis terms”, it was a “good show… a real good show”, and announcer Al Dvorin gave it his own finishing touch, like only he can do. Best thing is that – regarding the expression on the face of the lady that represented the Danish Child Cancer Foundation (Børne Cancer Fonden) Elvis Unlimited raised a lot of money with this show, to stay complete in line with “Aloha From Hawaii”.

From this place we want to thank Henrik, Lars and all other people of Elvis Unlimited for another marvelous weekend in Randers. You really showed that the Elvis world can be great!