Elvis Returns to the Shell: new date.

On July 30th, 1954, a young Elvis Presley played what is considered his first real public concert at the Overton Park Shell. Elvis' first single for Sun Records, the now-legendary "That's All Right (Mama)," had just been released, and Presley was a relatively unknown opening act on a multi-artist bill headlined by country singer Slim Whitman.

Elvis would perform several shows at the shell over the next year, before becoming the biggest star rock-and-roll would ever know. This fall, the King returns, in a way, to the venue that launched him when Elvis, the 1968 NBC television special now popularly known as "The '68 Comeback Special," will be screened in the park as part of the 12th Indie Memphis Film Festival.

The screening was planned to take place on Friday, October 9th, at the recently refurbished and renamed Levitt Shell. But due toi bad weather, this was cancelled. The new date is no Friday October 16. The screening is being presented by Elvis Presley Enterprises and co-presented by the Levitt Shell and the Memphis Flyer. It will be free and open to the public.

"Elvis changed the world with his performance of 'That's All Right' at the Overton Park Shell 55 years ago. It's exciting that a whole new generation of Memphians will be able to experience that song and many others in the same venue in 2009," Scott Williams, vice president of marketing for Elvis Presley Enterprises, said in a release announcing the event.


2009/10/15 Memphis Flyer - www.elvismatters.be / www.epgold.com