Memories of 'Elvis On Tour'

When I was eleven (1981) my Dad bought our first video recorder. It was a VHS top-loading Ferguson Video-Star, with a ‘remote control’ handset that was attached to the machine with a long cable. It came together with a free one hour blank video tape which, since he’s also brought home a pack of three hour tapes, he gave to me. 

Not long afterwards ‘Elvis On Tour’ was shown on TV. I forget the channel that showed it, but it must have been BBC1 or BBC2 as there were no ad breaks. I sat cross legged and real close to the TV for what seemed like ages waiting for the film to start, my one hour tape in the machine and my fingers hovering above the ‘play’ and ‘record’ buttons that had to be pushed simultaneously for recording to begin.

“My Daddy had seen a lot of people who played guitars and stuff and didn’t work. So he told me, you should make up your mind about either playing guitar or being an electrician…I never saw a guitar player who was worth a damn!” - EP, opening lines of Elvis On Tour.

I’d heard Elvis before on the couple of LP’s my Dad owned and I’d seen a TV broadcast of ‘Aloha From Hawaii’ that was shown on TV following his death on 16^th August 1977 (sadly, my first Elvis memory is his death and the reports on radio and TV that followed). But, since I was seven years old at the time, little remains in my memory, other than The Aloha stage set and Elvis singing Hound Dog, which at seven, was (rather predictably) my favourite Elvis record. I’d also seen a few of his films from the mid 1960’s – they were always on TV to mark the anniversary of his death – but I didn’t like them very much, the songs were usually rubbish - An opinion I hold to this day. 

So I’d stuck with his records from then on and had accumulated a small collection of Elvis LP’s and 7” singles that I’d either been bought as Christmas or Birthday presents or that I’d managed to persuade someone to give to me. By the age of ten, I was getting copies of ‘Elvis Monthly’ magazine regularly (My Mam had bought me membership in the Official Elvis Presley Fan Club of Great Britain when I was nine, so I also received the members only magazine TCE – Taking Care of Elvis)

and had read about Elvis On Tour and seen (usually the same dozen or so) photographs that the magazines were prone to use and re-use repeatedly for years. I became obsessed with it, looking through my little stack of Elvis magazines and Annuals for any information I could find and hoping that one day ‘On Tour’ would be shown on TV, instead of the likes of ‘Clambake’ or ‘Paradise Hawaiian Style’! 

Looking back, it’s hard to remember a time when finding photos and information on a musician or a film was difficult, and even more so, actually being able to own them. So that VHS machine was now going to record onto my prized one hour blank tape, and I’d be able to watch and re-watch the film I’d waited so long to see. I can still remember the huge anticipation, doubting that it could possibly live up to my huge expectations. 

I’d read, over and over, the reports on his live shows and the huge hype and emotionally driven reports of his live appearances, witnessed by fans and reported in the pages of ‘Elvis Monthly’ etc.

I hit play/record. The film started…

It’s my opinion that the April 1972 tour encapsulates everything that was great about Elvis in the 1970’s. Fifteen cities in fifteen nights, sold out arenas and thousands of fans on the point of uncontrolled hysteria coupled with some of the definitive performances of his later stage repertoire. 

Elvis was on top form at this point in his career and it comes across magnificently in the three concerts that form the main body of the films live footage. The Hampton Roads, Greensboro and San Antonio concerts show Elvis at the summit of his ability as a singer. Often unleashing magnificent, powerful vocal performances unequalled in twentieth century popular music, his range is absolutely incredible. Check out his versions of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and ‘American Trilogy’ from Greensboro 14 April 1972, both definitive versions that I would argue are amongst the finest of his career

But On Tour didn't just collect together some random live film and leave it at that. It also showed Elvis backstage, in the recording studio and travelling with the entourage. 

Since Elvis was never over-exposed in the news media (he never gave an in-depth interview in his life) and access to him had always been closely guarded, what On Tour preserves is (at least in a small way) a glimpse into his world of hotels, limos and a tour schedule that modern artists wouldn't ever begin to match. Let’s not forget that at this point in his career, Elvis was constantly performing. A punishing itinerary often (in Las Vegas especially) performing two and even three shows a day! 

Unlike That’s The Way It Is, filmed in July and August 1970 in Las Vegas, On Tour is Elvis unleashed from the confines of the Hilton Hotel in Vegas and let loose on the road, something that is evident in his On Tour performances - They explode with energy and confidence.

An hour into the films TV broadcast the tape stopped and started to auto rewind as if to rub salt into a wound. I was devastated. It would be another year before I’d see ‘Trilogy’ onwards and that would more than make up for this mishap with the tape length as I got to see ‘On Tour’, along with ‘That’s The Way It Is’, on the big screen, when the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne, started having Elvis movie screenings on Saturday afternoons. (I even got a discount on the ticket price as Fan Club members got in cheaper). Happy days!

Since that first viewing, over thirty years ago, Elvis On Tour remains my favourite of his films and I have seen it around 150 times (I did say I was obsessed!). I now own it on Blu-ray, and whilst that edition has its flaws (The opening of Johnny B Goode has been replaced by Don’t Be Cruel because of Chuck Berry and his refusal to let it be used on the Blu-ray release), the print isn’t exactly marvellous and there are no extras, despite many hours of material existing on the underground bootleg collectors market.

My ‘On Tour’ quest isn’t over yet. Who knows, one day I may see a deluxe version released, not unlike the ‘TTWII’ special edition DVD and the ‘Aloha’ and ‘Comeback’ deluxe DVD releases from several years back. One day…one day.