By: Red Cat / Dr John Carpenter
Source: FECC
January 1, 2026
Elvis Articles, Elvis Biography, Elvis News
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The announced concert was much to the liking of rhythm-hungry post-war youth: Bill Haley, the man with the pointed lock of hair on his forehead, creator of rock 'n' roll, and chart-topper ('See you later Alligator', 'Rock around the Clock') was coming to Mannheim!
\Bill Haley and his 'Kometen' saxophonist Rudy Pompilli heat up the Mannheim audience.
Their presence in itself was a sensation on a German stage. But dance band king Kurt Edelhagen and his orchestra, who opened the show, was considered a real superstar act at the time as well. Finally, the hard-hitting Bill Ramsey, with his grating voice, was also part of the party, although still at the beginning of his career and would not really take off until the 1960s. With this top-class line-up, Heinz Hoffmeister's Mannheim concert agency had once again hit the bull's eye, and these acts alone would have been enough to make the evening of October 24, 1958 something special. But the real highlight came when the curtain fell and the hall had long since been emptied -- because the official program had its very own 'encore' backstage.
There, none other than Elvis Presley, the handsome shooting star from Tupelo, Mississippi (only 23 years old but already a recording millionaire) watched his friend Bill's concert, moving his hips to the music, which of course the almost 1,100 young spectators in the Universum Theater in N 7 could not have guessed. The U.S. boy had long re-written music history, and given the world songs like 'Heartbreak Hotel', 'Hound Dog', 'Blue Suede Shoes' and 'Love me Tender', all number one hits in the USA. Elvis' sudden visit to Mannheim -- as his biographers have worked out -- coincided with a special phase of his life, marked by major upheavals and many new impressions: Presley had only arrived in Germany three weeks earlier (on October 1st) to move to the U.S. army base in Friedberg to do his military service.
Shake hands of legends: If Bill Haley and Elvis Presley.
The handful of chosen ones who were still in the cinema after the official part could have experienced a magical and - this qualification may be given here –- also historical moment: Elvis with guitar and piano performing songs from his repertoire accompanied by Haley's Comets. The jam session is notable not the least because it was a way for Elvis to circumvent his management's ban on performing while he was in the Army. But his improvisation is also a treasure because he never managed to tour Europe and Great Britain, instead limiting his appearances to just the USA (including the legendary Hawaii show in 1973) and Canada. So far, within Elvis research, there has only ever been rumours of spontaneous jam sessions overseas.
But the appearance in Mannheim was completely different. It's clearly documented, and there was even film made – thanks to busy photographer Günther Thomas (1921-2015), who had a 'nose' for such events -– that is kept in the MARCHIVUM (Mannheim City Archives) today. In any case, the same applies here: 'Monnem Vorder' is, after all -- that much is certain -- the first recorded appearance in front of an (albeit small) audience that Presley gave outside of the States.
Casual: Elvis accompanies himself on the piano.
At first there were only a dozen listeners who witnessed the event, but then many came back, drawn by the sounds, and surrounded the star, who had now been recognized. They had their picture taken with him and got autographs. Finally the King disappeared as quickly as he had come. The next day, news of Presley's visit to Mannheim made the rounds and many complained that they missed the chance to meet their idol.
During the concert, which had been moved from the Musensaal to the Universum, things were very civilized -- which the organizers and the police had not necessarily expected. The Hoffmeister concert agency had also taken out property insurance for DM 30,000 because several hall rental companies had feared that the seating might need to be replaced after the concert.
However, these fears did not materialize and the police, who had prepared thoroughly in anticipation of riots, were spared any need to intervene. After the memorable Mannheim gig, however, there were rowdy hooligans at several performances by the 'Kometen', which damaged Haley's reputation for the long term. The performance in the Berlin Sportpalast (October 25, 1958) in particular went completely out of control, and culminated in a veritable hall battle that required robust action by the mounted police, and resulted in the concert being stopped. At the time, Berlin's governing mayor, Willy Brandt, spoke of a 'disgraceful outgrowth of young people's urge to be active'.
Ultimately, these negative experiences and a public increasingly irritated against pomade and petticoat were the reason that a planned Presley tour in Germany fell flat, because many concert organizers feared similar excesses if the rock symbol ('Elvis the Pelvis') would appear on German stages. The jam session with the 'King' remained his only guest performance in Mannheim -- and only a lucky few were granted a small moment of the brilliance of this star, which Leonard Bernstein was later to describe as 'the greatest cultural force of the 20th century'.
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