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One Night With The King

May 21, 2006 | Other
The young Belgian Elvis Matters fan club tries to conquer the Elvis world. They try to do so by putting fans and Elvis first. Their first step outside Belgium was to The Netherlands, was "One Night With The King" enough?

On May 20, 2006 they organized the spectacular event "One Night With The King" featuring The Sweet Inspirations, The Imperials, Joe Guercio with a 75 piece orchestra and of course the TCB Band, including John Wilkinson. To support this original line-up of artist who performed with Elvis on stage we got Jenson Bloomer (vocals) and Tony Smith on guitar with the Dutch Lee Towers as the special guest.

The night was as spectacular as the line-up we all know from "Elvis The Concert", so you know pretty much what you saw on stage. But there were two big differences.

For starters, there was no Elvis on a big screen, there were two lead vocalists making the show a bit less Elvis than The Concert, but more lively because we see real people on stage. With these real vocal performers you tend to focuss less on the image you see the big screen. We must say that Jenson Bloomer had more vocal power than Lee Towers, showing so on the big show stopping songs like "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "Hurt", but we clearly saw Lee enjoying himself, pointing the spotlight and his admiration on the band, not himself.
Lee Towers did a great version of "Just Pretend", but needed a bit of help from Jenson on "Suspicious Minds" when he tended to follow his own arrangement and not the band and orchestra (which deserves a compliment too, completing the live seventies concert experience).
John Wilkinson added his bit to complete the band and the show singing "His Latest Flame" and his signature song "Early Morning Rain".

As a bonus the band did a second version of "Suspicious Minds" to close the show with a bang. A performance like that, by the original line-up of Elvis former musicians, a big orchestra, a strong vocalist and all the Elvis fans - from 16 countries - having fun could be released on any party compilation to get a party started.

The second big difference with the "Elvis The Concert" we know was the intimacy. This concert was far more intimate than the stadium events we know from "Elvis The Concert". Even more so than "The Concert" in Amsterdam - which we still consider one of the best The Concerts - you could get "up close and personal" with the performers. Even Ronnie Tutt found a drum set in the spotlight near the edge of the stage.

The song list, counting 35 performances, was balanced, all the showstoppers were there with the additional rockers to get the crowd moving.

Conclusion

We can't help but wonder how the fan club pulled this off, how can a big concert be so intimate and an intimate concert that big? We hope we can get one more night with the fan club that makes sure Elvis matters. Without any doubt it was the biggest Elvis Party ever in The Netherlands.
jan wrote on May 22, 2006
i was there and it was fantastic, a great evening
Elkris wrote on May 22, 2006
What a night! This proved to be a fantastic show that emanated nothing but the utmost respect to the legacy of Elvis' music. A great, big thank you to all the artists on stage - particularly Jenson Bloomer, who really outdid himself on "Hurt" - and to Elvismatters for a thoroughly professional production which honours the memory of the greatest performer ever.
Aron wrote on May 22, 2006
Elkris, I couldn't say it better. It was a great show with even greater artists. I feel that this show was at the same level as 'Elvis The Concert': everybody made a very great job and TCB. Only Elvis was missing but that he'll do for ever.
Ton Bruins wrote on May 23, 2006
I was there and enjoyed the show very much. I must say that Lee Towers' performance was weak, but Jenson Bloomer did well all though he has no charisma at all. It was very obvious that everybody on stage had a great time. They were smiling and were very enthousiastic. Joe Guercio was clowning around a lot and The Sweet Inspirations were as wild as ever ! One of the Sweets had a pill or two too much I think...Highlights were The Imperials when they did "Sweet Sweet Spirit", "He Touched Me" and "How Great Thou Art". James Burton is a little too serious I guess and was complaining about the sound some moments. You could see that by his movements and gestures. Too bad that some people can not behave themselves during a show like this. They talk too loud through the songs and keep walking around, very annoying. Especially during the "Sweet Sweet Spirit" people kept talking and didn't listen. But anyway it was a great show and had a good time. The 2000 people that were there a fantastic evening. The only one who was not there was .....Long Live The King ! Thanks ElvisMatters !