Elvis Las Vegas shows

[slimjim]

Just got the DVD (documentary followed by one of his shows). I believe this is from the early Vegas days. It's great to watch and there are some great songs and it's overall a good performance. But I can't decide whether I'm just being taken in by the myth of it all (The King at his height doing what he did best) or whether I should be more critical about it. I could argue that he appears to be going through the motions somewhat, that he is reliant on very professional musicians and singers to make it sound so good, that the audience are a pushover. To be honest, as a performance, it wouldn't stand against the likes of Plant, Mercury, Jagger at al. What do other people think?

[simonoly]

I disagree, Elvis used strong backing singers and musicians to complement his music not to make him sound better. The only fault of Elvis' live shows was that they were badly managed and produced

[magicbeatle]

I think Elvis seventies period was excellent. However, as the decade went on he became more ill and didnt always give the best performance he could have. But it was because of his health, not for a lack of talent. And even then, he had it in abundance right up to the day he died. He never lost his incredible voice!