Elvis. Vancouver, Canada Empire Stadium. August 31, 1957
By Rosa García Mora
On August 31, 1957, Elvis gave one of the most legendary concerts of his career. Elvis, Scotty Moore, Bill Black and DJ Fontana, along with the Jordanaires, traveled to Vancouver, Canada, on the train that would take them to perform at the Empire Stadium, in front of 26,500 people. It was the second of a tour of the Northwest of the country, which had already begun the previous day in the city of Spokane.
This would be their third time performing outside the US, having already performed in Toronto and Ottawa in April, but for Elvis this would be the last time.
It was the largest crowd Elvis faced in 1957. 26,500 people attended the show, reaching absolute madness and hysteria at Elvis’ performance.Thousands of fans ignored security to get a spot in front of the stage. The show had to be stopped twice for security reasons. Colonel Parker told Elvis to tone down his performance and movements a bit, but Elvis didn’t listen. Elvis always had to be himself on stage and he couldn’t contain his rebelliousness and his feeling. However, he had to shorten the duration of the show, and he had to “trick” the audience on the way out, since there was no way to control the audience. To do this, he gave his gold lamé jacket to a member of his entourage (believed to be his cousin Gene), to put on and get into a car, so that the fans would think he was Elvis, and he managed to leave the stadium unharmed.Hall of Fame DJ Red Robinson was the one who introduced Elvis on this day at Empire Stadium.
Before the show there was a press conference as was usual for his performances.
Robinson tells us that when the press conference was over, the reporters were ushered out of the room, but since he was the emcee for the show, he stayed with Elvis while they waited for the show to start. At that point Elvis, who must have been in the mood for some fun, came up with one of his pranks. He opened the door to the stadium’s locker room, and borrowed handcuffs from one of the policemen standing at the door… Then, before Ben knew it, he had handcuffed him to the shower rail. He then hid the key, turned around, and walked away laughing.
A performance that was a great success for Elvis, and his last outside the USA.
Article written and providen by Rosa García Mora. https://www.facebook.com/rosa.garciamora.12
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