My brother, who doesn't much care for Elvis, saw him & the Attractions for $3 or $5 or something like that at Kent State in the winter of 1978. I resented the massive unfairness of this until the mid-80s when I finally saw him in Chicago where he opened the show by letting the stage go dark, then letting loose with a plaintive "Oh I" -- and then stage is instantly bathed in deep red light -- JUST don't know where to begin ... a perfect concert memory and what a way to start a show.
Who -- I had the pleasure of seeing "yer brother's concert" and "yours," so you may focus on injustice if you will.
But the moment you describe was duplicated in Washington, DC at Georgetown's McDonough Arena, a shithole basketball arena with horrible "infrastructure" -- I'm surprised they had any electricity.
The stage had almost no lighting from above, and there was no proscenium. From the fifth row, looking up at nothing (well, maybe a red dot signalling that an amp had power), I and my pals heard those two words, followed by a bath of red from eblow, casting the evilest damned look on his Elvitude.
A memory I'll never lose. "Never" meaning right up until dementia.
By the way, if you ever hear a bootleg of Elvis's Warner Theater show on his first U.S. Tour: yes, I am the asswipe that screamed "Elvis is King" during a dramatic pause in a song, only to eanr a withering look all the way up into the balcony. I know no that he couldn't see me, but he knew that I knew that he could. . . .
Bteween Elvis and Cheap Trick shows, I've "bought" a very, very nice mid-tier cooperative unit in Manhattan.
It's the damage that we do
My brother, who doesn't much care for Elvis, saw him & the Attractions for $3 or $5 or something like that at Kent State in the winter of 1978. I resented the massive unfairness of this until the mid-80s when I finally saw him in Chicago where he opened the show by letting the stage go dark, then letting loose with a plaintive "Oh I" -- and then stage is instantly bathed in deep red light -- JUST don't know where to begin ... a perfect concert memory and what a way to start a show.
ReplyDeleteVery nice, thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteWho -- I had the pleasure of seeing "yer brother's concert" and "yours," so you may focus on injustice if you will.
ReplyDeleteBut the moment you describe was duplicated in Washington, DC at Georgetown's McDonough Arena, a shithole basketball arena with horrible "infrastructure" -- I'm surprised they had any electricity.
The stage had almost no lighting from above, and there was no proscenium. From the fifth row, looking up at nothing (well, maybe a red dot signalling that an amp had power), I and my pals heard those two words, followed by a bath of red from eblow, casting the evilest damned look on his Elvitude.
A memory I'll never lose. "Never" meaning right up until dementia.
By the way, if you ever hear a bootleg of Elvis's Warner Theater show on his first U.S. Tour: yes, I am the asswipe that screamed "Elvis is King" during a dramatic pause in a song, only to eanr a withering look all the way up into the balcony. I know no that he couldn't see me, but he knew that I knew that he could. . . .
Bteween Elvis and Cheap Trick shows, I've "bought" a very, very nice mid-tier cooperative unit in Manhattan.
DIDN't buy