Elvis Presley - I Just Can't Help Believing - 2 December 1976, OS - Final Time Performed Live скачать в хорошем качестве

Elvis Presley - I Just Can't Help Believing - 2 December 1976, OS - Final Time Performed Live

On opening night of his final Las Vegas season, 2 December 1976, Elvis was following his standard setlist up to 'And I Love You So' before saying to the band, "Lets do something different", and he then went into a full rendition of a song that he hadn't performed for over five years. Other than a couple of excerpts he hadn't sang 'I Just Can't Help Believin'' since the Midnight show at the same venue on 28 August 1971. This would be the final time that this song would be sung live and here it is completely unrehearsed. That being said, it is remarkable how well the band catch on and then it's Elvis not them who makes the first mistake which he then admits and the song carries on. This performance was testament to a season which started off well, but which seemed to taper off towards the end due to a combination of exhaustion and Elvis suffering from the effects of a twisted ankle which he injured mid-engagement. During the final couple of shows Elvis' tiredness is quite audible in parts but even the best shows of the run pale in comparison to the dynamism and excitement Elvis' first three Las Vegas seasons in 1969 and 1970. In regards to Elvis' mood, Peter Guralnick sums it up with these observations on that December 76 season in his "Careless Love" book: "Vegas started out on a strong note, but it seemed both to fans and to other observers that Elvis quickly ran out of gas. Before the first week was out, he looked “very tired and quite sad,” according to one fan report. Most of the time he talked a blue streak, but he was frequently preoccupied and out of sorts. He swore at the sound system and cut the show short on December 6, explaining that he was in too much pain from a sprained ankle to continue, and then at the late show on December 10, he announced casually, “I hate Las Vegas,” in an aside that was cheered by the crowd" At the conclusion of the next song, reported faithful fan Martha Collins in the British-based Worldwide Elvis News Service Weekly, he “picked up the mike on its stand and asked, ‘Does anyone want this tinny sonofabitch?,’ ” and as the audience “cheered wildly” in response, declared, “I’m not going to get up here and try to sing, because these damn microphones are [so] cheap. I ain’t gonna do it, you know. ’Cause this is my living, folks, my life.” "The final night of the engagement was as disturbing as the rest, particularly for anyone accustomed to the high-spirited, freewheeling atmosphere normally associated with the end of any Las Vegas run. On this particular night Elvis clearly couldn’t focus, he was unable to concentrate, at times it seemed as if he could barely wake up, wrote one distraught fan, who noted that the previous evening, “in an off-mike aside to the singers, he mouthed the words, ‘Only one more night here,’ and made a face as if he were about to throw up.” Nothing from this elusive and fascinating Las Vegas season has yet been released by FTD, although all shows have been released unofficially in one form or another. As FTD have always maintained that they will endeavour to release at least one show from every tour or engagement in the 70's, an official release may yet be forthcoming.