Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis album was released 50 years ago on 8 July 1974 by RCA Victor. The recording was captured at a Mid-South Coliseum concert in Memphis, Tennessee 14 weeks earlier on the 20th of March.

The Memphis ‘concert’ included two shows each on the 16^th and 17^th with the actual recording occurring during the fifth show on the 20^th. The five sold-out shows were estimated to have sold more than 60,000 tickets with some seating going for as much as $10.

In addition to the Memphis shows a ‘rehearsal’ concert was held in Richmond, Virgina on 18^th of March in which the album Forty-Eight Hours to Memphis was recorded. The set lists for the Richmond and Memphis recordings were nearly identical.

Although the concert and subsequent album release were not in the same league as Elvis’ 68 Comeback Special, the Memphis album contained a truer representation of his career and his genre crossing-over appeal.

The album was certified gold, reaching number 2 on Billboard’s Country chart, number 40 on Billboard 200 and garnered another Grammy for Elvis for his rendition of the gospel song “How Great Thou Art”.

The original 1974 album left out the concert songs “Suspicious Minds” and “Polk Salad Annie” but were re-inserted back into the FTD Records 2004 re-issue of Live on Stage in Memphis. Sony’s 2014 40-year re-issue of the album includes the FTD Records 2004 re-issue on disc one plus also including the ‘rehearsal’ concert preformed at the Richmond (Viginia) Coliseum two days before the Memphis concert.

Source:  Sony Legacy Release by Troy Yeary, The Mystery Train Blog and Elvis Australia. Graphic:  Elvis at the Richmond Coliseum, 18 March 1974, Copyright FTD Records.