Elvis Presley Tour

The Elvis Presley Tribute Tour is for fans who want to pay there respects to the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend. Elvis Presley brought Rock ‘n’ Roll to us in the 1950′s. Before him black musicians were championing this radical new form of music, but without much success. Elvis Presley notoriously brought sex on stage, with his pelvic gyrations and dance steps that hypnotised audiences around the world. Elvis Presley brought showmanship to centre stage. June 5, 1956 was the first time that Elvis Presley really scandalized the public at The Milton Berle Show, with suggestive hip movements while performing his second RCA single ‘Hound Dog’. Amazingly, Elvis sold more records in death than he did when he was alive.

Presley’s rise to national fame in 1956 transformed the field of popular music and had a huge effect on the broader landscape of pop culture. As the catalyst for the cultural revolution that was Rock ‘n’ Roll, he was central not only to defining it as a musical genre but in making it a cornerstone of youth culture and rebellious attitude. With its racially mixed origins repeatedly affirmed by Presley, Rock ‘n’ Roll’s occupation of a central position in mainstream American culture facilitated a new acceptance and appreciation of black culture. In this regard, Little Richard said of Presley, “He was an integrator. Elvis Presley was a blessing. They wouldn’t let black music through. He opened the door for black music.” Al Green agreed: “He broke the ice for all of us.” Presley also heralded the vastly expanded reach of celebrity in the era of mass communication: at the age of 21, within a year of his first appearance on American network television, he was one of the most famous people in the world.

Presley’s name, image, and voice are instantly recognizable around the globe. He has inspired a legion of impersonators. In polls and surveys, he is recognized as one of the most important popular music artists and influential Americans. “Elvis Presley is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century”, said composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. “He introduced the beat to everything and he changed everything – music, language, clothes. It’s a whole new social revolution – the sixties came from it.” Bob Dylan described the sensation of first hearing Presley as “like busting out of jail”.

A New York Times editorial on the 25th anniversary of Presley’s death observed, “all the talentless impersonators and appalling black velvet paintings on display can make him seem little more than a perverse and distant memory. But before Elvis was camp, he was its opposite: a genuine cultural force. Elvis’s breakthroughs are underappreciated because in this Rock’n’ Roll age, his hard-rocking music and sultry style have triumphed so completely.” Not only Presley’s achievements, but his failings as well, are seen by some cultural observers as adding to the power of his legacy, as in this description by Greil Marcus: Elvis Presley is a supreme figure in American life, one whose presence, no matter how banal or predictable, brooks no real comparisons. The cultural range of his music has expanded to the point where it includes not only the hits of the day, but also patriotic recitals, pure country gospel, and really dirty blues. Elvis Presley has emerged as a great artist, a great rocker, a great purveyor of schlock, a great heart throb, a great bore, a great symbol of potency, a great ham, a great nice person, and, yes, a great American.
If you’re keen to be a part of the 35th Anniversary Elvis Tribute Tour, register your interest online as seats are limited!