June 26 – When He Left The Building For The Last Time

The end of an era. After 1684 concerts over 23 years, Elvis Presley made his last concert appearance, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis this night in 1977.

18 000 fans paid $15 a ticket to see him, and all things considered, he went out on a high note. The tour had been problematic and subject to scathing reviews. He didn’t show up for a show in Baton Rouge and a show in Omaha CBS taped for TV a week earlier was said to have him “sweaty” and with a “small voice…talks more than sings” and “unable to articulate or project” according to one of his biographers, Peter Guralnick. Expectations were therefore not high for this show, but according to the Indianapolis Star, “he appeared in a gold and white jumpsuit, white boots, bounding onstage with energy that was a relief to everyone.” Nonetheless, another reporter from the same paper noted the show was “downright tacky and outdated…lighting was only adequate and the sound was poor compared with some of today’s top tours.” The clip below from a few nights earlier gives you an idea of the stageshow and sound.

Elvis arguably seemed like he was on the brink of yet another career comeback then. He’d just put out a new album, Moody Blue, which would go on to become his first top 10 studio one of the decade and the single “Way Down” off it did pretty well, reaching #18 at home and actually topped the British charts – his first #1 there since “The Wonder of You” in 1970. And although he wasn’t a regular on hit radio anymore, he was still a very popular live performer. The year before, he’d done over 100 concerts,. Although a large number of them were in Hilton Theater in Las Vegas, they began the year in Johnson City, Tennessee, ended on New Year’s Eve in Pittsburgh and hit any number of American cities along the way including Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Rochester and even Fayetteville, N.C. He had the time to do that now, without the pressure of movies to make and with him still adhering to manager Colonel Tom’s directive to stay within the U.S. alone.

So the Indy fans saw the concert and went home happy.  Of course, none of them knew they’d seen his last performance. Elvis died less than two months later.