A Tribute to Elvis: Rapid City ‘77 will be playing its only final Melbourne Concert at the iconic venue, The Dallas Brooks Centre in the centre of Melbourne’s CBD, before its demolition after years of supporting a wide range of facilitiws for concerts, converntions and exhibtions.
As an added bonus, the centre will be turned into a temporary museum full of Elvis memorabilia for the night.
The show recreates Elvis’ last performances before his death following the Rapid City 1977 tour. It boasts a haunting level of reality, depicting his decline in health and stability, where The King would mumble and halt the band complpaing about them being out of time, his head in the clouds. One might ask why you’d want to see someone at their lowest point, let alone the titanic Hound Dog, but the shows creator Tony Macri and it Bluestones Productions associate producer Andrew Barker counter that it isn’t supposed to be a casino impersonation, but a reminiscence.
Tony Franks is the man behind the hips, and is of a quality that the producers of the show had been looking for for six months. He’s a local musician and has been playing, singing and drumming for years, boasting a strong confidence. On top of Marks, there’s also the sixteen piece orchestra, ten backing vocalists, as well as the cast who’ve all been transformed to perfectly replicate the footage of the 77’ tour, LAPD and rushing Fans included.
"The show is a chance to see Elvis' as you've never seen him before and pay tribute to one of the most Iconic music venues in Australia as they close their doors," said Producers Associate Denis Shkuratov.
- Henry Gye
