Elvis on stage in Las Vegas at the beginning of a March, 1975 concert. After his apparent crisis in the fall of 1974 Elvis had an unusually long break before his next series of performances. His break included an extended stay at Baptist Memorial Hospital (the same place at which he would, 2-1/2 years later, be pronounced dead on arrival). The rest must have done Elvis good because, at the age of 40, he bounced back with energetic concerts during this abbreviated Vegas stint and throughout the rest of the year. Carrying more weight than ever before, Elvis still proved himself a dynamic and powerful performer.

On stage in Atlanta, GA, on May 1, 1975. The IKKA Kenpo patch -- symbol of Ed Parker's kenpo system -- was on prominent display on Elvis' black Gibson guitars during most tours and other engagements from 1971 through August 1975, when he started using other guitars (I believe because he gave away his black Gibson's at the Asheville, NC shows that came at the end of his July tour, when he also gave his audiences a record amount of jewelry). I was interested to see, in the '80s movie "Back to the Beach" (starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello), that surf guitarist Dick Dale had an IKKA emblem affixed to his electric guitar.

Giving the air a pummeling during his May 5, 1975 concert in Jackson, MS. McComb, MS, had recently been hit by a damaging tornado and Elvis -- whose hometown of Tupelo, MS, was hit by tornadoes when he was a baby -- donated all proceeds of the concert to a tornado relief fund.

Holding the square horse stance for a moment to get the crowd nuts on the first stop of his excellent May-June, 1975 tour -- May 30, in Huntsville, AL. Elvis had lost some weight since his last tour and was in fine spirits for this summer jaunt through the South. Photo by Keith Alverson.

Gathering the chi for the knockout punch during the same concert (photo probably also by Keith Alverson).

Pulling his usual split somewhere in the South during his hot tour of May-June, 1975. The tour ended in Memphis, where Elvis gave another great show to the hometown audience (his concerts there in March, 1974 were the first since he did two charity shows in Memphis in February, 1961).

Elvis horses around (please excuse the attempt at a pun) during the evening show of May 31, 1975, in Huntsville, AL.

Elvis gets punchy (again, please excuse...) later in the same show.

A split from the May-June tour, probably from the same May 31 show. In 1975, 40-years-old was hardly considered as youthful an age as it now is, so some of Elvis' on-stage antics redefined for many people just how vigorous a "middle-aged" man could be. Unfortunately, it wasn't to last much longer...

Starting the descent to a low horse stance during the June 1, 1975 evening concert in Huntsville, AL.

About to strike out at the same show.

Elvis drops quickly down during "See See Rider" or "I Got A Woman" from the June 4, 1975 concert in Houston, TX.

Elvis gets down with the guitar during the evening show of June 8, 1975 in Jackson, MS.

Elvis moving with his guitar on the next summer tour, during the July 12, 1975 evening show in Charleston, WV.

A view from the afternoon show in Uniondale, NY on July 19, 1975, as Elvis ends "See See Rider" or "I Got A Woman" with a martial flourish.

Another shot from the same afternoon concert. Photo by Bob Heis.

The "Amen" airplane bit put on to great effect during the first of two excellent shows that Elvis gave at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, NY) on July 19, 1975. Elvis is in his "Blue Aztec" jumpsuit -- many of the jumpsuits he wore at this time had a Native-American theme, as did many of the clothes he'd worn off-stage since the late '60s (Elvis, like a lot of other Southerners, including Chuck Norris, was part Cherokee).

Elvis doing his martial-arts thing on stage at the July 19, 1975 evening show in Uniondale, NY. Even the "underground" press of cynical New York praised his performances that day at the Nassau Coliseum. Photo by Bob Heis.

Elvis puts on a karate demo at his July 21, 1975 concert in Greensboro, NC. His concerts of the July tour included some of the best of what was really a very good year for Elvis on stage -- he was heavier but far more consistent than during 1974's ups and downs and put on some of the highest-energy concerts he'd done since 1972.

Elvis snaps a kick out -- maybe during "Polk Salad Annie" -- during an Asheville, NC concert (July 22, 1975). Elvis was carrying quite a bit of extra weight on this tour but gave energetic shows with interesting set lists, including some of the best shows he'd done in quite a while. Photograph by Sean Shaver.

Elvis (probably in Asheville, NC, on July 23, 1975) takes wing on the July, 1975 tour. He was probably somewhere in the rhythmic wilds of "Polk Salad Annie," which he attacked like a dangerous opponent perhaps even moreso during 1975 than before.

Elvis drops his horse stance as bass singer JD Sumner -- lowest bass in the world -- drops his voice to sound like a crash-landing aircraft. July 24, 1975, in Asheville, NC -- the last of three superlative concerts in this small mountain city (a beautiful place...go visit it if you have the chance) and the end of his July tour.

Elvis punches low during his July 24, 1975, Asheville concert.

Elvis, in his Gypsy suit (probably from one of his North Carolina concerts), in a horse stance during the July, 1975 tour.

About to let the chi loose at the dinner show of December 13, 1975 in Las Vegas. Photo by Judy Palmer.

Karate poses from Elvis December 13, 1975 dinner show at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Elvis pulls a split during the same show.

Elvis looks like he's getting into a bit of tai chi "push-hands" during the Las Vegas midnight show of December 13, 1975. Photo by Judy Palmer.

Still pulling the stretchy-split in Las Vegas on December 14, 1975 (his second to last show of the successful and well-performed season). Photo by Chris Trant.

Elvis horsing around as he starts his final 1975 Vegas show, an extra-long extravaganza that highlighted a lot of rarely-performed songs (as had the previous couple of days' worth of performances) and showcased his vocal ability with a wide spectrum of musical genres (not that it's constructive to talk about genres in the context of ever-genre-bending Elvis).

From the historic New Year's Eve show in Pontiac, MI. Elvis fought the odds (freezing cold inside the stadium, a riser that separated him from his band -- Elvis hated being a "solo" act and losing contact with his rhythm section -- and other problems) to deliver some powerful moments. He also set a record by playing to 62000 people (he grossed something like $80000, too), which was for a long time the largest audience for an enclosed stadium. He also made news when he split his pants during an energetic part of the show (something that he'd had problems with doing since the '50s) and had to change suits. This is the suit he changed into. This show was a rare one-off performance, with no associated tour -- it's said that Elvis (who'd bought something like five jets during 1975, including the Lisa Marie) was basically forced to do the show to rescue him from financial distress -- he made an awful lot of money, but he never invested it and he spent it and gave it away like few others before or since. Elvis' every gesture seemed suffused with the legacy of Shaolin -- even the way he pointed into the crowd had a martial air about it. This hand formation could hurt if it was against your throat...

Elvis with Denver policemen in January, 1976. Elvis met a group of Denver policemen when he played that city in November, 1970 and kept in contact with them over the years, inviting them to his Vegas gigs and so on. Elvis had always wanted to be a policemen and a fascination with law enforcement remained obvious throughout his adult life (I use the word 'adult' fairly loosely!). After Elvis left Colorado, having spent the time around his 41st birthday at Vail and awarding local policemen and others many Cadillacs, he brought a couple of his police friends -- Jerry Kennedy and Ron Pietrafeso -- back to Memphis and they ended up taking part in the famous incident in which Elvis flew the Lisa Marie to Denver for the special, massive $50 peanut-butter, jelly, and bacon 'Fool's Gold' loaf-sized sandwiches that he liked so much from the Colorado Gold Mine Company, a Denver-area restaurant. The next day, February 3, Elvis began recording his second-to-last studio album in the 'Jungle Room' den of Graceland. Elvis' Denver police friends took a collective breath and approached Elvis about seeking help for his prescription-drug abuse, by now obvious to them, but Elvis was not open to such help. Unfortunately.

About to unleash a nice kick-punch combination, Elvis ends "Polk Salad Annie" during his first tour of 1976. This photo was probably taken at the March 17, 1976 Johnson City, TN concert, that opened the tour. These concerts were excellent, including stellar versions of a new song called "Hurt" that Elvis had recorded the previous month in Graceland's Jungle Room.

The Tiger Man and his tiger claws, on the first tour date of 1976 (March 17, 1976, in Johnson City, TN).

Elvis doing his "airplane" horse pose, probably from the fairly energetic March, 1976 tour.

From the March 19, 1976 Johnson City, TN show. This sleeved-vest suit (debuted on his opening night in Las Vegas the previous December) was not very flattering or attractive, in my opinion, but was apparently more comfortable than the normal jumpsuits he wore because it was cooler. Elvis proved on this tour that even he has bad hair days, too -- after the first date on the tour he had his hair cut and ended up with a fringe that just didn't suit him. Again, it probably felt a bit cooler with all the extra hair gone... Photograph probably by Sean Shaver.

Getting another good stretch going during an energetic "Polk Salad Annie," live in Johnson City, TN, on March 19, 1976.

On stage in March, 1976. This shot's from either the March 17 Johnson City, TN show or the March 20 Cincinnati (afternoon) show -- probably the latter, because Elvis was wearing his rather drastic haircut by then.

Elvis does a little kung-fu fighting as he lowers to a split during the evening show of March 20, 1976, in Charlotte, NC.

Lashing out with a kick during the afternoon show of March 21, 1976, in Cincinnatti, OH. The concerts from these tours featured strong performances from Elvis and the debut of his latest recording, "Hurt" -- a powerful, tortured "big-voice" ballad that respected rock critic and Elvis-analyzer Greil Marcus correctly characterized as "apocalyptic." Although carrying a fair bit of extra weight, Elvis really got into these performances and knocked out particularly energetic versions of songs like "Polk Salad Annie" and "Burning Love." Unfortunately, some of Elvis' moves at this Cincinnatti show once again proved too much for the seams of his jumpsuit and he ended up having to discard his ripped jumpsuit in favor of another one partway through the show.

Elvis, who split his jumpsuit's seat while doing the leg stretch during "Polk Salad Annie" earlier in the day, gives it another try during the evening show of March 21, 1976, in Cincinnatti, OH.

Elvis in St Louis, MO, on March 22, 1976. Even at times when his physical condition was compromised, Elvis delivered some exciting shows and martial arts moves and these demonstrations of his flexibility remained an integral part of his stage style. Photograph possibly by Sean Shaver.

Elvis in the Spring or Summer of 1976 (my guess is that it's from a March 20 show in Charlotte, NC, because Elvis looks trimmer than he did for most of the next few months), splitting during "Polk Salad Annie," which had become an even more hard-driving concert song over the preceding couple of years. Elvis got about as heavy as he ever did during the middle of 1976, when his health problems began to really manifest (he'd always had a quirky diet, which didn't help, but his latter weight gain was a result of sickness and the downers his unethical doctors legally pumped him full of -- much of his "weight" in the last couple of years was water retention, and his hands and fingers were visibly swollen on his last tours). During the Fall of 1976, Elvis lost a lot of weight and put on some of the best shows of the year -- some would claim of his life -- and he stayed in outwardly relatively decent shape until April of 1977, four months before his death.

Punching out the opening song or two in Spokane, WA, on April 27, 1976. One notable thing about this concert was that he wore something other than the two white "bicentennial" or "prehistoric bird" suits (as above and below) that he wore for almost all of his concerts between April and September of 1976.

From the San Diego Union (4/26/76): "Evaluating Elvis Presley as a performer today is like trying to evaluate the Mississippi as a river. It's muddy, polluted and much abused, but still a helluva river. Elvis has grown a second chin, his dark hair gleams unnaturally, his joints have stiffened slightly, but when he winds into a song, look out...the 41-year-old frmer King of Rock 'n' Roll threw himself into several songs with enthralling results. That famous left leg moved of its own accord to the rhythm, his right arm exhorted the band and backup singers to ever-greater efforts and his own inimitably throaty voice thundered powerfully...Heralded by the majestic "Theme from 2001," he arrived onstage wrapped in two decades of legend and adulation. He cheerfully expected the women in the place to go ga-ga, and they obliged, setting off the first of several flash-bulb lightning storms and stampeding toward the stage. How well he sang seemed of secondary importance. All that really mattered was that ELVIS!! was in the room. He accepted their love, plus their flowers, leis, and beaded necklaces, with the graceful air of a monarch accepting tribute from the peasants. It wasn't so much a performance by an entertainer as an appearance by a sovereign. As a sovereign might toss out coins, Elvis handed out scarves. A multitude of scarves."

From the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner (4/27/76): "...involuntarily, Elvis made It All Happen again. His voice is as subtle and supple as a mellotron, and his gospel numbers were glowingly rendered...He enjoys the stage, as his smiles and bows indicated, and could definitely have even more fun with alive and kicking vocal plays. Elvis looks in fine shape to shake and shimmy, yet he kept the boogaloo to bare essentials...Only Elvis Presley could get away with singing "America, the Beautiful" without the tacky insincerity usually attached to this bicentennial standby. In fact, he made it sound quite the refreshing anthem...Elvis posed adorably, still with that baby face and dimples, bopping to "Polk Salad Annie," and still able to command direct attention." From Variety (5/5/76): "The Long Beach showing, the first local appearance in some time, sees Elvis Presley a little more uncaring, surprisingly unambitious and carrying the same abundance of weight that has been plaguing him and his image for too long. But like all legends, he can be carried through, if by nothing else, by the legend istelf, and his followers are perfectly willing to go along with his good times and his bad times, remembering the former and trying hard to ignore the latter. Thus, Presley's appearance in Long Beach on a quiet Sunday turned the city upside down. Concerts were sellouts. Presley doesn't have to just rely on the legend, however. He's in fine voice, and can belt out a torchy ballad as well as anyone. The problem is his clinging to something he no longer is. Those pelvic rocks are now almost a self-parody. The most serious offense is attitude. Program almost hasn't budged in years."

Palm strikes from Elvis' show of May 29, 1976, in Oklahoma City, OK.

From The Washington Post (6/28/76): "An Elvis Presley concert is not so much a musical event as it is a rite of worship, where thousands of adoring fans come to shriek their homage to a portly, middle-aged man who is called "The King", a title he once deserved. The music -- what there is of it -- is almost incidental, just a small part of a larger show that consists mostly of a series of postures: Elvis joking, Elvis throwing scarves to the audience after seductively wrapping them around his neck, Elvis gyrating in a self-parody of his earlier days...The saddest part of all this is that Presley's voice is as good as ever. It is still rich and full, still has that deeply sonorous sexiness that made high school girls swoon two decades ago...There is little doubt that Presley is giving his public what it wants. He may be on the dark side of 40 and overweight, but he is a bona fide sex symbol and those who come to his concerts come as much to see him as to hear him."

I have no idea what Elvis was trying to do here, other than that it looks very violent. Actually, he's probably doing the "airplane" ending to "I Got A Woman," where he drops to a low horse stance while holding his arms out like an airplane, and just got a bit carried away. This was the July 27, 1976 show in Syracuse, NY.

Getting down in Syracuse, NY (July 27, 1976). Elvis seemed to have made it his personal mission to hit every city in the US during the Bicentennial Year and played a lot of smaller and mid-sized cities he'd never played before as well as the larger ones. Photo by Tom Loomis.

Elvis throwing a kick -- probably ending "Polk Salad Annie" -- at some concert during the summer of 1976.

Elvis getting in to his limo for transport to the venue in August, 1976, with Ed Parker directly behind him.

Elvis often prefaced this stretch with a "God help me" or a heavenward look, complete with hands in praying position. These jumpsuits typically weighed something like 20 pounds or more (the capes were up to about the 40-pound mark on top of that, and then there were the heavy leather belts), so every performance was a real workout for Elvis. This shot probably comes from the October, 1976 tour -- Elvis apparently didn't like the Flame jumpsuit that much and only wore it a few times in late '76. For some reason, Elvis lost a lot of weight before the October tour, and a few days after the tour he recorded some great tracks, including "Way Down," at his last recording session (albeit at Graceland).

From the Chicago Tribune (10/15/76): "It was an evening of rock -- and ritual...Finally, the house lights dimmed, the squeals of expectation turned almost tangible, and there he was, looking -- well, pretty good, given all the gossip about his avoirdupois...As for his stage stance, it ran to karate chops, with which Elvis punctuated the ending of much of his music, with a little thigh-quaking tossed in. But not much. The hip movements which created such furor years ago, seem tame and respectable now, but they still get the predicted response -- pandemonium. But polite pandemonium...And to think that once sociologists dismissed him as a "passing fad." That was 20 years ago. "Funny," as Elvis sang Thursday night, "How Time Slips Away." And funny how some legends manage not only to linger on, but loom large."

Elvis down and up as he does his "airplane" bit at the October 24, 1976 concert in Evansville, IN. Photographs by Bob Heis.

Starting his leg stretch at the October 24 Evansville concert. Photograph by Bob Heis.

On stage at the same show, showing that he can still get down. By 1976, Elvis was no longer doing "Suspicious Minds" live and had transferred his double- and single-leg "splits" to a fired-up development of live favorite "Polk Salad Annie." Photograph by Bob Heis.

Elvis wound up in one of his power ballads during the October 26, 1976 concert in Kalamazoo, MI. Photograph by Bob Heis.

Elvis moving at the microphone toward the end of "I Got A Woman," probably from the December 11, 1976 dinner show in Vegas. Nine days earlier Elvis began what would be his last Vegas season, that ended on December 12. Many of the shows elicited excellent performances from Elvis, though a sprained ankle sustained a couple of days after this show affected his performance for two or three shows. Although the stories about this engagement differ from the various who have written about Elvis, it is highly probable that Elvis wanted out of Las Vegas badly and that even the scaled-back schedules that he had enjoyed since early 1974 (first dropping to 15-day engagements of two shows each night and then, in the previous December, switching to one show per weeknight with two on weekends) were a mental grind that he could have done without. Elvis conquered Las Vegas with his first 1969 engagement there, but by 1976 he was apparently thoroughly sick of it and tired of the toll that it exacted on his body and psyche.

Martial arts so suffused Elvis' performning style in the '70s that even this gesture is recognizable as a nerve-attacking tiger, dragon, or eagle claw. Intentional or not, such small components of his physical show added up to an unparalleled whole. This photo from Wichita, KS on December 27, 1976, comes from the first show of a mini-tour that culminated in a historic New Year's Eve concert. Photo by Nancy Cunningham.

Striking a pose on the first concert of a sensational mini-tour on December 27, 1976 (Wichita, KS). Elvis had whipped himself back into great shape for this tour and was more enthusiastic than he'd been for a year or more -- the December, 1976 shows were as high-energy as some from the early 70s, when he was in peak physical condition. From the October tour on, Elvis even managed to fit back into jumpsuits he'd worn in the Spring of 1974 (including this Rainbow suit) and some actually appeared a little too big on him. The tour ended with a New Year's Eve show in Pittsburgh, PA, that many fans (and at least one of Elvis' band members) count as the best or one of the best of the 70s. Looking at Elvis on this tour, when he had a twinkle in his eye and a snap in his movements that had been missing for much of 1976, it's hard to believe that he would be dead almost eight months later (or even that he would fall into terrible physical shape within even fewer months). Photograph by Sean Shaver.

Boogie-ing in Birmingham, AL, on December 29, 1976. You can listen to the entire show, in Real Audio, right here. As was true for the other tour dates, this show had Elvis in exceptionally high spirits, almost overwhelming energy, and excellent voice. Photo by George Hill.

Arriving in Pittsburgh for his New Years Eve show, with Ed Parker "takin' care of business." Ed Parker toured with Elvis quite frequently, especially during Elvis' last two years, as an unpaid bodyguard and companion.

Elvis pulls out the animal style during "Polk Salad Annie," from the legendary Pittsburg New Year's show.

Another shot from the deservedly-vaunted 1976 New Year's Eve show in Pittsburgh. Elvis put on an extra-long show and ended it with a drawn-out flourish of martial arts moves (possibly where this photo was drawn from) right before he walked off the stage and into 1977.

Elvis in Orlando, FL, with Ed Parker in the background. February 15, 1977.

Elvis gets physical during his February 16, 1977 show in Montgomery, AL. One of the highlights of this concert was a little less physical but perhaps even more powerful -- Elvis sat down at the piano and played and sang a magnificent gospel song, "Where No One Stands Alone," that he'd done in the studio in 1966 but had never performed live. His performance brought the stadium's boisterous crowd to hushed silence and Elvis must have realized the autobiographical (and perhaps even prophetic) significance of some of the lyrics: "like a king I may live in a palace so tall, with great riches to call my own. But I don't know a thing in this whole wide world that's worse than being alone..." Photo by George Hill.

Elvis goes partway to the crane stance in Savannah, GA, on February 17, 1977, while singing his opening song -- the tried and true "See See Rider."

Elvis pulls a cool stance during his February 19, 1977 concert in Johnson City, TN.

Elvis rocking out at the February 20, 1977 concert in Charlotte, NC. At this show, Elvis attempted a version of his latest record, "Moody Blue," but it fell apart in an unrehearsed mess and he moved on to something else. The next night, he nailed "Moody Blue" (these were the only two times he ever did it live). The February, 1977 shows were very good to excellent, with interesting repertoire choices, but Elvis soon became bogged down again in predictable set lists (though, of course, most live performers don't vary their repertoire -- some very good ones don't at all) and, worse, his physical deterioration and lack of energy saw him put on fewer and more taxing displays of his formerly hyperactive stage style as the end neared. The martial arts basis that defined much of his '70s stage style was barely apparent in many 1977 concerts, particularly during the last three tours, though Elvis' energy level and ease of movement varied markedly from night to night by that stage.

Elvis in a shot from the same show that catches him going with the crane motif -- somewhere in the middle of his exertions he seems to have struck a pose reminiscent of tai chi (that, as far as I know, he never formally studied).

Elvis in Detroit, MI, on April 22, 1977. He was in pretty poor condition for the tour, but still gave his all.

Leaving the stage on his last tour (probably the June 21 show in Rapid City, SD, that was filmed for the "Elvis in Concert" CBS-TV special). He's pointing toward the exit he will use, to give his bodyguards warning of which direction he's about to take off in.

Although sick, tired, and basically burned out, Elvis could still deliver on sta