The final years of Elvis Presley’s career were a far cry from his peak of fame in the mid to late 1950s, but he still landed a few professional punches before his tragic death in August 1977. One of those occurred in mid-March 1974, when Presley returned to his hometown to perform a string of shows at the Mid-South Coliseum.
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Presley’s residency at the Memphis venue, roughly 15 minutes away from his impressive Graceland estate, was the first time he performed in the city since 1961. Ticket demand was so high that Presley’s team crammed in four shows in two days, a testament to the arduous schedule Presley was trying to keep in the mid-1970s.
The performances were compiled into a live album titled Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis, which RCA Records released four months after the shows in July 1974. Despite critics pointing out Presley’s weakening stage presence, the album garnered him a Grammy Award for his performance of “How Great Thou Art”.
If Elvis Presley Was Faltering in Memphis, His Fans Didn’t Seem to Mind
From his professional career to his personal home life, the 1970s were a particularly tumultuous time for Elvis Presley. The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and his Queen, Priscilla Presley, divorced in 1973. The musician’s substance abuse was worsening and even led to hospitalizations. Yet, Presley continued to hustle, performing 168 concerts in 1973. The following year was even busier.
The scene at the Mid-South Coliseum in March 1974 is what one would expect from an Elvis Presley concert. Clad in a white jumpsuit, Presley performed classic rock ‘n’ roll tunes, gospel songs, and patriotic numbers. He used scarves to dab his face and threw them at a ravenous audience of women who screamed and shrieked every time Presley wiggled his hips or called someone “hon.”
Moreover, the fact that one of his performances from those Mid-South concerts won a Grammy Award is testament enough that he was in decent form, if not full-on fine. However, Presley’s condition deteriorated in the months that followed his Memphis return. In September of that year, J.D. Sumner recalled Presley arriving at a show in College Park, Maryland, more than a little worse for wear.
“He pulls up in the car, and he fell out of the limousine, to his knees,” Sumner recalled in Peter Guralnick’s The Unmaking of Elvis Presley: Careless Love. “People jumped to help, and he pushed them away like, ‘Don’t help me.’ He walked onstage and held on to the mic for the first thirty minutes like it was a post.”
Indeed, those final years were rocky. Still, every once in a while, a glimmer of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll at his prime would peak through like it did in Memphis.
Photo by Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
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