Lisa Presley Impresses Hometown Crowd
Source: The Commercial Appeal
August 3, 2003
Elvis' Family History › Gladys and Vernon › Elvis › Lisa Marie › Riley Keogh › Benjamin Keogh ›She got an encore.
Not bad for an opener, especially one named Lisa Marie Presley.
Sure, roots rock great Chris Isaak was the headliner Friday at the Memphis Botanic Garden's Live at the Garden summer concert series.
But the 6,500-attendance sell-out had as much to do with locals coming to see Elvis Presley's offspring return to Memphis a bona fide musical star.
Too bad traffic was so congested getting into the park that some no doubt missed the singer's opening slot. Those who got there in time were treated to a fine debut.
Almost a decade ago, Presley and Isaak could be spotted at the same concert. It was 1994's 'Elvis Aaron Presley: The Tribute' at The Pyramid. Daughter Presley was there watching with then-husband Michael Jackson, while Isaak, who sang Blue Moon, was one of many guests on stage paying homage to the King of Rock and Roll.
Fast forward. Now Presley is performing with Isaak on a series of tour dates to claim her stake in the recording arena with the gold-selling album 'To Whom It May Concern'.
And what better city to see such a show than Presley's childhood hometown?
Classical diva Kallen Esperian, for one, was impressed.
'This is fantastic', she said. 'For me, it's very sentimental. Her father would have been very proud'.
Proud too was a beaming Priscilla Presley.
Said the delighted mom afterward, 'I've been waiting years for this, especially in Memphis and to see so many Memphians come out'.
Dressed very L.A., in a glam/slacker/biker fashion pastiche, Presley came out sexy yet tough, with a borrowed sneer from pop and a voice that was stronger live than on record.
Backed by a professional modern rock sextet, Presley still seems awkward in front of a microphone. Some self-deprecating humor aside ('This is the second gig I've played while people are eating and drinking - I feel like I'm distracting you'), Presley seems to need a few more outings before she'll fully warm up to being on stage.
Yet her short set had a number of highlights, including the hit single Lights Out, which she dedicated to poststorm Memphis, and a self-penned encore that she did partly in honor of Sun records founder and Elvis producer Sam Phillips, who died this week.
'I play this tonight for him, Jeff Buckley and June Carter Cash', she said of the three late musical giants.
Dedicating his entire show to Phillips was Sun worshiper Isaak, who noted, 'We'd all be pumping gasoline were it not for Sam Phillips'.
Clearly stoked to be in the Bluff City, Isaak, with his falsetto voice, not only begged comparisons to that of onetime Sun artist Roy Orbison, he often matched it.
With his seasoned band following his every turn, Isaak played a joyous, exuberant concert that rivaled any. His anecdotes and asides made it easy to see why he has his own television series - a soap-opera-like tale centered on infidelity and 'knocking off expensive velvet Elvis paintings', all inside a trailer.
His music stole the show, however. Isaak hasn't really improved on his rockabilly-indebted formula since emerging in the mid-80s, and he doesn't have to.
From the classic hit Wicked Game, used so effectively in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart, to the new single Let Me Down Easy, Isaak has crafted a career as timeless as the city in which he was playing.
- Bill Ellis: 529-2517
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Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD Video with Sound.
