Next up on your “MUST-SEE MOVIES” list better be EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.
I just saw it on a floor-to-ceiling IMAX screen in a SOLD-OUT theater and holy moly, what vibes!!
I loved his 1968 Comeback Special. (You know the one: he slinks around in black leather, holding everyone in the palm of his hand.)
EPiC covers 1969-1977 (his Vegas run that featured a whopping 1,100 performances), but the film is dominated by Year One when he’s still fit as a fiddle—the stage equivalent of Evel Knievel, both bedazzled in their respective white jumpsuits (but the former with leather tassels a-danglin' down).
Anywho, Presley’s pretty smitten with himself throughout (which rankled me from time to time), but when he launches into “Suspicious Minds” near the very end (teases his back-up singers, stretches his hammies in a low-down karate pose, then BAM-BAM-BAMS his way through that crescendoed Animal kick-drum with the soaring brass band behind him), well, let’s just say that 300 former strangers in IMAX collectively leapt outta their seats and applauded the screen as if Elvis had just entered the building.
Hard to believe that show was 57 years ago. Sheesh. I was not even born yet, and I'm a fossil!
Seeing him up there doing his thang on the big screen really transports a crowd, ya know?
People left that theater laughing with one another, some crying hysterical tears, and globs of superfans (wearing Elvis t-shirts) asking one another for photos whilst they stood before a lifesize cardboard cutout of the King in the cinema lobby.
Crazy, right? But fun as all get-out, I gotta say.
EPiC goes nationwide THURSDAY NIGHT, so snag those tickets, pre-slather some ICYHOT on yo' hammies, and slip into your favorite well-worn Skecher orthos—’cause I wouldn’t wantcha pulling a muscle when you get similarly CAUGHT IN A TRAP.
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