One Night of Elvis
with Lee Memphis King
Reviewed by Joanne Watson
I am a massive Elvis fan! I absolutely adore him and his music, but as he is no longer with us, I have to get my Elvis fix by watching impersonators. I have seen many Elvis impersonators over the years – some outstanding ones, some absolutely diabolical ones. But generally I tend to find that most impersonators just can’t do justice to ‘The King’. So I went to see Lee Memphis King do his ‘One Night of Elvis’ gig, wondering where he would fit in my scale of Elvis’.
The tour was just over half way through when I saw him at the New Alexander Theatre in Birmingham and I wondered whether that would make a difference to the quality of the show – with neither the excitement of opening night or elation of the final night.
The show is mostly Lee singing the songs of Elvis, with some talking in between, giving facts about and history about Elvis, interjected with jokes by Lee. The show opens with the early, gold jacket wearing, 1950′s rock and roll years, then progresses on to the black leather ’68 Comeback Special’ period, and finishes with infamous, white jumpsuit wearing, ‘Vegas Years’.
The stage was set with the instruments at the ready with a screen behind showing the show title. Then the lights went down, the band came on and started to play, and were absolutely outstanding!! There were two guitar players, a bass guitarist, a key board player, a drummer, a brass trio and a double bass player. They started off playing the opening to Heartbreak Hotel, and ‘Elvis’ came on to the stage! He followed this by singing ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and Lee Memphis King showed us that he certainly had all the signature moves of Elvis! Hips were wriggled and being thrust, and I found I couldn’t take my eyes off them….!
With eyes closed, Lee sounded very much like Elvis, and in terms of his voice, he is definitely one of the better Elvis impersonators out there. I did learn a few facts about Elvis I didn’t know before – I hadn’t realised he was an electrician before he was ‘discovered’ for example.
A few more songs in to the show, two backing vocalists came on, and like the band, they were also amazing. Perfectly in sync with each other and sang beautifully.
There were many wonderful moments too! Highlights included ‘Memories’, ‘In the Ghetto’, ‘The Wonder of You’, ‘Burning love’ and ‘American Trilogy’. There is no doubt that Lee Memphis King can sing, and sounds very much like the Elvis we all know and love.
One Night of Elvis is currently on its UK tour, for more details or to book tickets click here.