CD Bootleg: Opening Night At Lake Tahoe

[Dark Moon]

Opening Night At Lake Tahoe

AudiRec proudly presents: ELVIS – OPENING NIGHT AT LAKE TAHOE – a brandnew CD which will be released shortly. It includes an audience recording of the complete and so far unreleased performance from April 30, 1976 (the Opening Show was actually a Dinner Show, there were two performances this day).

Welcome to another AudiRec CD release which takes you back to the spring of 1976. At the time this CD is being released it means that it´s actually kind of a “40th Anniversary”. To be honest, we did not plan to do this just because it is exactly 40 years ago that Elvis played his final Lake Tahoe-Season.

As a matter of fact Elvis was working very hard the whole year of 1976. While in January Elvis had a rather quiet time and even showed some effort to just relax and have fun, early February he was kind of “forced” to record new songs for an album release and early March he was back on tour. We all know from “Elvis History”, that the “King” would have done much better for his health if he would not let himself being that busy but for whatever reason tour after tour was being scheduled… and done. No matter what the critics in many newspapers wrote about his performances – at least they had to admit that Elvis´ popularity (at least all over the USA) was so big that ticket-selling for any upcoming concerts didn´t even need any advertising. Billboard´s Headline in early March 76´ told us “No Ads, But Presley SRO On Current 5-Concert Gig” for the short tour in March. “Elvis plans busy spring” was another headline shortly after this and it said “Like Lightning: Who says Elvis isn´t working hard? Before he stars at the Sahara Tahoe April 30 – May 9, Elvis will be on a concert tour”, then adding the dates and finally conclude “Elvis is still the super superstar”.

So when Elvis came to the beautiful area of Lake Tahoe at the end of April, he most likely was not aware that this would be his last season at the Sahara Tahoe Hotel. The shows have mostly been described by fans as “relaxed” with “lots of surprising moments”, but there were also remarks saying that the “King” looked unhealthy and tired. From what we can hear on the so far released CDs it sure was a mixture of all of this and still we believe that this last engagement had many moments fans do not want to miss.

Please be aware that this new release is limited to 300 copies only! Be sure to get your copy if you are interested. Once you have it in your hands, we hope your spare time will allow you to sit back, put your headphones on, flip through the accompanied 16-page booklet and listen to the show from April 30, 1976. It´s Lake Tahoe! It´s the Sahara Tahoe Showroom! It´s ELVIS! Enjoy!
Tracklisting:
Lake Tahoe, 30.04.1976 Opening night
01. Also Sprach Zarathustra 02. C .C. Rider 03. I Got A Woman / Amen (medley) 04. Love Me 05. Let Me Be There (false start only) / If You Love Me (Let Me Know) 06. You Gave Me A Mountain 07. All Shook Up 08. Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel (medley) 09. Trying To Get To You 10. Polk Salad Annie 11. Band Introductions 12. What'd I Say (James Burton) 13. Drum Solo (Ronnie Tutt) 14. Bass Solo (Jerry Scheff) 15. Piano Solo (Tony Brown) 16. Electric Piano Solo (David Briggs) 17. School Day 18. America The Beautiful 19. Hurt 20. Burning Love 21. How Great Thou Art 22. Funny How Time Slips Away (with reprise) 23. Hound Dog 24. Can't Help Falling In Love (with false start) 25. Closing Vamp / Announcements

[King77]

Ja wieder eine Show die wir schon auf CD-R haben in gepresster Form. Die Tonqualität ist ganz passabel u. deshalb müsste die Import auch gut hörbar sein.

[Mike]

Langsam befürchte ich, dass ich mich auch zu einem erprobten Hörer entwickle, denn ich finde die Qualität gar nicht mal so schlecht. Sicherlich - wie meistens - wie aus dem Blecheimer, aber die Instrumente sind zum größten Teil gut zu hören, der Chor und Elvis's Stimme ist im Vordergrund. Daher gebe ich mal für die AR-Liebhaber ein

[Mike]

Da erinnere ich mich an die erste Publikumsaufnahme, die ich gehört habe. Das war eine Radio-Show, die Rader, ich glaube auf dem Sender RSH, ausgestrahlt hatte. Da wurde dann Suspicious Minds gespielt und ich dachte mir: "Was ist das denn? Singt Elvis da in einer Kneipe?" Erst später habe ich geschnasselt, dass das eine Konzertaufnahme war. Damals fand ich das gruselig... heute würde ich dazu wohl "kann man gut anhören" sagen!

[ich]

Ich finds immer noch gruselig Hör mir meine Paar welche ich habe nie an .....für was auch wenn man vom gleichen Lied gute bis sehr gute Aufnahmen hat......

[Tafka S.]

So sehe ich das im Grunde auch. Die Klangqualität steht ganz klar im Vordergrund. Katastrophal klingende ARs (manche würden auch sagen: kann man gut anhören ) kämen mir nur in den CD-Player, wenn es sich um denkwürdige Auftritte handelt (siehe z.B. Indy-Konzert '77, Pearl Harbor '61, Vegas-Opening '69, Jackson-Benefit-Show '75, New Year's Eve Pontiac '75, wobei es ja nicht alles mitgeschnitten wurde).
Suspicious Minds in einer professionell gemasterten Stereo-Fassung würde ich prinzipiell allen anderen Versionen vorziehen, alternativ zur Studio-Version von '69 gern auch als Vegas '69- oder Honolulu '73-Live-Version.