Opening in darkness, to a moody version of Fever, so starts Chris Conner’s self-proclaimed “World Famous Elvis Show”.
The first act takes as its inspiration Elvis’ 1968 comeback special and a black leather jumpsuit-clad Connor tears through a medley of (arguably) Elvis’ greatest moments including Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes and Jailhouse Rock. The sheer velocity with which these iconic tunes are delivered doesn’t do them the justice they deserve. That’s not to say that Connor’s vocals are not up to par, but the crowd are clearly up for a celebration and they are deprived of the chance to party along to the hits.
The first act continues with some of the more middle of the road tunes from the ’68 show with some banter interspersed between the tunes. There’s also a country-tinged “sit-down” section that while competently delivered, does slow the mood unnecessarily. The act comes to a more satisfying conclusion with some bigger hitters: Girl of My Best Friend, In The Ghetto, A Little Less Conversation and If I Can Dream.
Act Two is very much the Vegas white jumpsuit era. We are treated to See See Rider, Burning Love, Proud Mary and a slow Hound Dog that seems to serve only for Connor to grind his hips. There are a few songs where we see Connor do Elvis do Neil Diamond (Sweet Caroline), The Righteous Brothers (You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling) and Del Shannon (Runaway). Included of course, are I Just Can’t Help Believing, American Trilogy, The Wonder of You and Always On My Mind. There are a few other questionable selections too. Connor delivers a rousing Suspicious Minds near the end, which would have been a fitting finale, having as it did the audience on its feet, but then dampens the mood by failing to exploit the crowd’s enthusiasm.
Connor is backed by a tight nine piece band and three, fine-sounding backing vocalists. There is a bit of banter between numbers but there is a complete disconnect between performer and audience. He looks at times as if he’d rather be anywhere else but here, and rushes through the show as if he has a bus to catch. I don’t know if he is personifying The King so much that he thinks he has the fame and gravitas of the real thing. He also (oddly) spends most of the show delivering it stage right while completely ignoring the left side of this large auditorium, While he largely nails the vocals he has a coldness that makes him hard to warm to. The odd song choices and their placing in the show, also puts a barrier between the performer and the audience’s enjoyment. There really isn’t any excuse with the wealth of material available.