Elvis' Super '50s Star Still Bright
By Bob Kostoff
Buffalo Courier-Express
June 1974

NIAGARA FALLS - The afternoon Elvis Presley concert, which had officials worried for a variety of security reasons, went off smoother than Elvis' voice Monday.

Not to say that the rock n roll superstar of the '50s didn't perform admirably. he did.

And his fans, many of the older variety sprinkled with a goodly number of new ones, showed their enjoyment with noisy enthusiasm.

But, for the most part, the 10,000-plus fans were orderly, kept so, no doubt, by the tight security measures.

Lt. Charles Schmahl of the convention center-metro unit said there were no particular traffic problems with incoming traffic just prior to the 3 p.m. starting time.

The afternoon show had been billed as a "sellout". but $10 tickets for the performance were on sale at the box office. Several persons out front were attempting to sell tickets they couldn't use, but police were watchful there was no "scalping" going on.

Elvis didn't appear until after the intermission at 4 p.m. and sang most of his popular hits until 4:50 p.m. The warmup show was creditable, especially the singing of the Impressions, but the crowd restlessly awaited its hero.>/p>

Verve, Enthusiasm

Elvis was a little more subdued than the Elvis of old, but only slightly so. He sang with verve, movement, enthusiasm. The occasional bumps and grinds of old, accompanied to drum rolls, brought shrieks from distaff members of the audience.

Many of his grinding body movements came with the suggestive song "Fever," not one of Elvis' better numbers, but sufficiently motorized to keep the crowd near fever pitch.

He worked mostly up tunes of past fame: "I Got A Woman," "All Shook Up." "Hound Dog," "Teddy Bear." And he threw in a couple of fairly new ones, "Let Me Be There" and "Help Me," from his new album.

Elvis also went through dozens of scarfs, tossing them to front row admirers. He made sure the scarfs went around his neck before passing them to the public.

At the end, the crowd surged through a rope around the west end of the stage, but security men clasped hands and held the crowd away from Elvis.

Traffic continued heavy as fans began pouring into the city for the 8:30 p.m. concert, but, again, there were no serious tieups.

Courtesy of Archie Bald