- Taken on:
- 1976/10/22
- Source:
- The Concert Years
- Photo:
- Internet
- Location:
- University of Illinois Assembly Hall, Champaign, Illinois
- Attendance
- 17,000
- Suit
- Inca Gold Leaf Suit
- Info:
-
Between October 14th - 27th 1976, Elvis was on tour once again, he did 14 shows during that tour. It was a stormy period in Elvis his personal life; His three bodyguards were going ahead with writing a book about their boss, and this hurts Elvis terribly. Also his relation with Linda is on shaky ground. Elvis his father had another heart attack and Elvis himself began to have colon troubles. But lucky enough during this tour, these problems were going in the positive direction!
Still, one has to realize that eventhough Elvis had all these things happening in his life, he still was there for the fans, he still tried and gave his best during the shows!
On this picture, made on October 22nd 1976, you can see there was also time for some fun! Elvis was performing at the University of Illinois Assembly Hall, Champaign, Illinois, the evening show started at 8.30 p.m., Elvis was wearing the Inca Gold Leaf Suit and about 17.000 people attended the show.
Pedro Nuno wrote on
February 11, 2011
It's true he gave all he could to us, FANS. But for me it is very painful to see my King, my Elvis in this shape being a sad shadow of his own shadow, not 20 years ago, but only 3 or 4 years ago.
paulreno wrote on
February 15, 2011
I think Elvis looks pretty good in this picture and having fun with the audience.
dgirl wrote on
February 18, 2011
We all know we cant rewrite history but knowing who Elvis was and how he was, to see him in 1976-77 in these awful jumpsuits , in bad shape, is embarrasing to me. He was a sad self parody of his former self and really should not have been out there at all.
paulreno wrote on
April 27, 2012
His appearance looks pretty good here, and he's having a joke with the fans. Should have dropped the jumpsuits - as they are unforgiving unless you are THIN. He lost some weight during the course of the year. But he was suffering from fluid retention, not due to over eating.
Cruiser621 wrote on
September 23, 2019
I agree with "dgirl" 101%. So sad. Thanks to Colonel Parker and his greed for more of Elvis' profits is the only reason I can think of this situation.
Jefffirmin wrote on
May 12, 2021
Looking better than he did in the summer and performances were generally improving but clearly all was not well. I can only assume that Elvis felt somewhat powerless to change the course of his career otherwise he could have chosen to do things differently and not just gone along with the Colonel's plans. Had he made more positive career choices maybe he wouldn't have used the meds so much to 'ease the boredom/pain/pressure/frustration/etc'. If only....
Deano1 wrote on
September 02, 2021
I am amazed by the comments to this photo. Elvis had lost a ton of weight since his September of 76 tour and looks very good here (he has his back arched so his stomach sticks out a little, but flatter than most 41 year olds during that time). Some "fans" here see the year and make comments based on the year instead of the photo. Elvis could have given up the jumpsuits, but fans had grown use to them and had come to expect them. Many artists of the day wore garish outfits on stage (Donny Osmond, Neil Diamond, most disco groups and many rock groups). I guess Elvis could have shown up in a t-shirt and jeans like Shaun Cassidy did. That would have been classy! .... Blaming Parker is so lazy and shows complete ignorance. When Elvis was recovering from being sick in late 75, Parker asked Elvis what he wanted to do in '76. Elvis' reply was to put him on tour as much as possible. The Colonel simply did as Elvis asked. Elvis had had one poor tour up to that point (Oct 74) and had grown tired of Vegas so Parker had no idea that Elvis would struggle in the Summer and early Fall of 76 with his tour shows. After some poor afternoon shows during that time, Parker adjusted Elvis' tours so he no longer had two shows in one day and only one concert per day. Parker was never going to protect the artistry of Elvis as he was hired to make Elvis money. If Elvis hadn't realized (which he did) that by now, he was very foolish. Parker did view Elvis as his cash cow, but he never made Elvis do anything he didn't want to do