Elvis was only 21 years old when he made his first appearance in Michigan. It was at the Fox Theater in Detroit on Friday, May 25, 1956.
It was only a few months earlier in January that he had made his first recording session at RCA Records, which included Heartbreak Hotel. It didn’t take long for that song to reach #1, adding to the teenage “Elvismania” that would be evident once Elvis took the stage at the Fox.
Before the announcer even made the introduction “Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis Presley”, the teenyboppers were already screaming so loud, no one could hear anything else. His stage appearance impressed one teenage girl who later stated, “I'll never forget how he dressed, the way he held the microphone, moved around on the stage. Elvis stood legs apart to swivel, then crouched down to touch outstretched hands. He was different, original and, damn, he was cool."
Although the Detroit kids were thrilled to see their teen idol, the adult newspaper reporters were not as welcoming. One newspaper reported, "He rarely gets a haircut, does a kind of hillbilly derivative.....Only way to keep calm about all this is to try to remember how silly you were in your high school days”.
Another Detroit paper article described Elvis as an ex-trucker who ‘shimmied and sniffed’. “The guitar seldom got twanged, because Elvis was too busy flexing his knees and swinging his thighs like a soubrette in the palmy days of burlesque.”
Elvis put on three shows that day, at 4pm, 7pm, and 9:45pm. The cost per ticket? $1.50. Can you imagine what that would be with today’s inflation? Probably over a thousand to see the original King of Rock ‘n Roll.
“I touched his shoes and screamed my heart out while he sang in front of me!”
There will continue to be teen idols, but there will never be another like Elvis.
Read More: The First Time Elvis Presley Performed in Michigan | https://witl.com/ixp/691/p/elvis-presle ... m=referral