The 11-CD Live 1969 was released in 2019 to mark the 50th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s return to the stage after spending the bulk of the 1960s making mostly forgettable musicals in Hollywood. Following his 1968 TV special Elvis and—compilations aside—the best album of his career, From Elvis in Memphis, a re-invigorated Presley stepped onto the 50-foot stage in the 1600-seat/2000-person capacity showroom at the International Hotel in Las Vegas and delivered his first live performance since 1961. According to the Associated Press, he played for 101,500 fans over the course of the four-week engagement, which began on July 31 and ended on Aug. 28. (Fun fact: tickets cost $15.) Live 1969 doesn’t capture the first night back, however. Or the second, third or fourth. Rather, it jumps to the last week, beginning and ending with the midnight matinees on August 21st and August 26th, respectively.
A few of the performances, as eagle-eared fans can attest, wound up on the contemporaneous live albums Elvis Presley in Person at The International Hotel Las Vegas, Nevada (1969), which featured songs recorded on the 24th, 25th and 26th, and On Stage (1970), which included two from the 25th alongside tracks captured during his Vegas return in early 1970. These have been remixed, however. The sound is pristine.
The 11 shows found him backed by an excellent band that included the great James Burton on guitar, plus the Imperials and Sweet Inspirations on backing vocals, and a 50-person orchestra. The sets are fairly consistent, with the earliest ones featuring “Blue Suede Shoes,” “I Got a Woman,” “All Shook Up,” “Love Me Tender,” “Jailhouse Rock/Don’t Be Cruel,” “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Hound Dog,” “Memories,” “Mystery Train/Tiger Man,” “Baby, What You Want Me to Do,” “Runaway,” “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” “Yesterday/Hey Jude,” “In the Ghetto,” “Suspicious Minds,” “What’d I Say,” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” (Interspersed throughout are monologues that find Presley sharing his life story, introducing the band—and telling a fair number of stale jokes.) As the week unfolds, some numbers are dropped and others added, with the latter including “My Babe,” “Funny How Time Slips Away,” “Reconsider Baby,” “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Words,” “Inherit the Wind,” “Rubberneckin’,” and “This Is the Story.”
One thing to know: As the cover art indicates, this is the pre-jumpsuit Elvis, when he had something to prove—if only to himself. While he sang many of his iconic hits, the shows weren’t pure nostalgia. They featured an array of cool covers, from Del Shannon’s classic “Runaway” to the Beatles’ “Yesterday” (with the “Hey Jude” coda tacked on at its end), and included a few new tunes, too. Among the highlights each night were “In the Ghetto,” still rising on the singles chart (where it would peak at No. 3) at the time, and the yet-to-be-released “Suspicious Minds,” which proved to be a rollicking showstopper. As he told London Evening Standard scribe (and future Presley biographer) Ray Connelly, “I get more pleasure out of performing to audiences like tonight than any of the film songs have given me. How can you enjoy it when you have to sing songs to the guy you’ve just punched up?” That enthusiasm is audible throughout his performances.
The box set includes a 52-page booklet that includes rare photos, memorabilia and an essay from Ken Sharp that, curated from old interviews, features insights from Presley, Colonel Tom Parker, Tom Jones, Jerry Schilling, James Burton, Cissy Houston, and others. In the streaming age, however, I’d recommend instead giving a listen to the virtual version—but, given that it’s 13+ hours long, not all at once. I tend to play one show one day and another the next. Doing so enables us to eavesdrop on an Elvis who wasn’t just having fun on stage, but in peak vocal and creative form.
The Old Grey Cat 