Elvis on the road vs. Elvis in Vegas

When most big-name stars were (and are) touring once or twice a year if that, the biggest star of them all was was touring 10-11-12 months of the year as well as playing month-long residencies in Vegas and Lake Tahoe.
We all know Elvis loved to perform and that he grew to hate playing Vegas after the first couple of years.
When he was on the road he was performing for his most devoted fans but in Vegas a good percentage of his audiences were just curious high-rollers who were not music fans at all.
Virtually all of the most unusual shows I have heard come from Vegas. In Vegas he would do the 10-minute karate katas and give extraordinary speeches about karate, drugs, the Bible etc. this almost never happened on Tour.
Also, the only time I have ever heard Elvis use the F-word on stage was from a Vegas show.
Also in Vegas he would experiment musically more- particularly for the opening shows- a good example was the opening show in 73 or 74 where he opened with Big Boss Man instead of CC Rider and sang mostly Blues for the rest of the show.
I think I can say that most or all of us ETAs on here started out as FANS. And then we evolved into ETAs. So we have read biographies on Elvis, studied dozens if not hundreds of bootleg and official concerts and even read some of the books he read. So we have a pretty good insight into the personality of the man we are emulating, and of course this knowlege helps us put on a much better show.
It's obvious from Cd's such as Desert Storm or Night Fever In Vegas where you can hear the entire show that his mood was different to when he was on the road. I actually enjoy the Vegas shows more as it is sort of experiencing different sides to Elvis' personality- so I am glad that we can hear the rages, the practical jokes, the speeches etc.
One thing that makes Elvis stand out from everyone else is he was so complicated and had so many facets. I would say that any ETAs Elvis education is incomplete unless they have heard at least a few of these rarer Vegas shows and watched a few of the bootlegs such as Pittsburgh '76, Burning In Birmingham etc.

Wow what a great read, thanks JR! Ive never thought of it like that before - that the Vegas rants etc are more interesting about Elvis as it shows the other sides of his personality but your right. Its a little like I love to see TTWII practice session maybe more so than the final show and the Elvis on Tour bootleg of his practice sessions as it shows him being him a bit more, not the Elvis on stage as a performer. You can see both the playful side of him but also a lil bit of the frustration on getting things right. He is magical to watch anyway but seeing these little moments help to understand who he was a lil more. Its just like as well (sorry Im going on a bit now lol) but in aloha from Hawaii when he was singing that song (God what is it?....) and he does it again and again and again - is it the hawaian wedding song? Anyway you can see hes gettin a lil p*ssed off but he carries on regardless, through gritted teeth but you can see he is getting agitated. Again just shows the human side to this most beautiful superhuman icon.

I really enjoyed reading that and you are right

yeah have to agree great post. i would love to get hold of some of the rare stuff . although i have seen some stuff on you tube. really anoys me that they wont release any more dvds of this footage.there was a guy selling dvds in Blackpool but they had no sound on them youd think in this day and age they would be able to put it all together. yeah i thik he proberbly got allot more excited about touring differant places and we all know he would of been great touring Europe. He would of loved it wouldn't he? oh if only!!!

The Night Fever In Vegas is a great show and seemed to be enjoying himself for that show.

His introduction when he says 'good evening ladies and gentleman, my name is Tom Jones and your all in the wrong place'.

I think the moment he said the 'F' word was not really in a malicous way but a great response to a guy in the audience.

Just before Elvis does 'Trilogy' a woman shouts out 'I love you Elvis' and Elvis replies back 'thank you dear' when as guy shouts out 'I hate yer Elvis' and instantly Elvis says back 'f*** him' and the audience love it as Elvis starts 'Trilogy'.Im sure there was a smile on Elvis' face when he says that.

Elvis didnt take kindly to being told what to do by anyone in the audience.On the Pittsburgh show when Elvis is talking about a song he is just about to do an audience member tells him to sing it' or get on with it or something and Elvis tells the person i,ll sing it when im ready and for a moment the famous temper of Elvis almost erupted.

He nearly didnt go ahead with the first show at Madison Square Garden cause the audience booed comedian Jackie Kahane, Elvis' warm-up act.

That F-word incident at the Night Fever In Vegas show, you can hear the audience gasp when he says it. Then he immediately goes into American Trilogy. But when after the first verse Voice sing their solo, he laughs a bit to himself and then says "Nah- just kiddin" to which the audience break out into applause.
It's an unbelievable moment and there are a few others form this 1974 Season as well. I also have the Closing Night CD where he comes on stage riding Lamar's back and with a toy monkey pinned to his neck!!!!
Was this a reference to him wanting to fire the Colonel- something about "Someone help me get this monkey off my back".
Also from this show he starts Bridge Over Troubled Water but sings it to the tune of Suspicious Minds!!
These Vegas shows are out of this world for showing the different sides of the King and they are essential homework for any ETA who is worth their salt.
As are the bootleg shows where you can see him do some unusual moves, variations on his closing bows, different styles of karate as well as accepting a lot of weird gifts from fans!!
Again, very important research material for any ETA.

where could i find this footage? this sounds great i must say this is great reading

The bootleg ones I'd better not say as I don't want to get into trouble!
But there is an OFFICIAL label called Follow That Dream that do these beautiful CDs with ENTIRE concerts on them!
To hear the complete shows with no editing is amazing and this company does a great job every time. I want to hear & see as much of the King as I can and this includes all the banter with the band, the occasional swearing and rants against the Hilton management & X-Rated versions of songs!! Also some very rare songs live like Return To Sender, Help Me Make It Through The Night, Such A Night, Down In The Alley.
They bring out a different concert on CD just about every couple of months.
As for the DVDs of concerts again I'd better not say but the best ones are crystal clear picture & with audio matched up as well.
Here are what a few of the Official CD's look like (no bootlegs shown here):