The Canuck In Augusta,ME- May 24th 1977
by The Crazy Canuck
All fans from Maine could easily understand that Canadian Elvis fans from Quebec wouldn't miss the opportunity to follow a part of the late May 1977 tour in New England, so after hearing the news that Elvis would appear in the States neighbors to Canada, we got prepared for that trip and headed South.
Our first destination was Providence, Rhode Island, as our first show was held there on May 23rd, 1977. In the early hours of May 24th we left Providence for Augusta. When we arrived there, we went right up to the Augusta Civic Center as we had to find tickets for the evening performance. Naturally the Civic Center had no tickets to offer, but we managed to buy our tickets from a roadie working on the Elvis Presley Show, in fact we knew we could count on that guy as he supplied us with tickets during the April 1977 tour in the Mid West. Perhaps many fans don't know this, but these persons had always tickets for sale and usually these were excellent seats, this time wasn't different and we ended up in the 12th row.
After having purchased our tickets, we left the Civic Center and decided to go back there at 6:00 p.m., as who knows? perhaps we would have the opportunity to see Elvis arriving at the Civic Center. We got there around 6:00 p.m. and we talked with fans from other States and others from Canada. Around 8:00 p.m. we decided that we wouldn't attend the opening part of the show, which featured the Sweet Inspirations, J.D.Sumner & The Stamps Quartet and Jackie Kahane. We decided to stay outside the Center as we knew that Elvis might be arriving just some fifteen minutes before he gets on stage. We were quite familiar with the aforementioned performances so we would rather miss that part and have a glimpse of Elvis while arriving at the building. Indeed as the show began inside, there weren't too many people left from what I remember. We noticed a large bus outside the Civic Center that was parked near an entrance on the side, and we thought it was simply a bus used by fans from other States, so we didn't pay much attention of the bus.
There were six of us in our group, and somewhere around 9:45 p.m., four of us (including myself) decided to go inside and find our seats, but two decided to stay outside until the last minute. In fact these two made the right decision as some five minutes later after we left, Elvis got off that bus and went inside the Civic Center. My two friends weren't very close to the bus at that time, but close enough for shouting " Hi, Elvis ! ", Elvis didn't speak at that time but waved to them as he heard them. Elvis had a black coat over his Sundial jumpsuit and was wearing glasses.
The show began with " 2001 theme " and as usual the crowd went wild! Elvis opened with " C.C. Rider ", then followed with " I Got A Woman / Amen ". Next during " Love Me " someone gave him a red lobster (not a real one!!!), he seemed to appreciate the gift and kept it in his left hand for a while, then during " If You Love Me, Let Me Know ", Elvis brought his producer and friend Felton Jarvis on the stage while singing and held him by the shoulders during a part of the song. We could see that Felton was really embarrassed by the whole thing, in fact Felton's face looked a bit like that red lobster Elvis received a few minutes ago. You could see though that Elvis was really enjoying himself when he was singing " ....the arms that open wide to hold you closer, the hands that run their fingers through your hair, the smile that says hello, it's good to see you, any time I turn around to find you there...". Elvis performed " You Gave Me A Mountain ", "Jailhouse Rock ", " O Sole Mio (featuring Sherill Neilsen) / It's Now Or Never ", " Little Sister ", " Teddy Bear / Don't Be Cruel ", " My Way " and "Heartbreak Hotel", so needless to say that Elvis was pleasing everyone in the Civic Center, and the crowd let him know during the whole time he was on stage.
After the long introduction of the band, Elvis went an excellent rendition of " Hurt ", quickly followed by " Hound Dog " and the very familiar closing song " Can't Help Falling In Love ". Too soon, we heard loud and clear, the famous words " Ladies And Gentleman, Elvis has left the building ".