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The Beatles filled Shea in 1956. Could Elvis have filled Yankee Stadium in 1957

I

ixnay

I say 1957 instead of 1956 because that was the year the King consolidated his popularity (much as the Beatles consolidated their popularity in 1965). But I digress.

Albert Goldman, in Elvis, indicted the Colonel for not attempting to book Elvis into arenas and stadiums in Elvis's pre-army days.

Could Elvis have filled, say, Yankee Stadium (or at least Ebbets Field, still home to the Dodgers [when they weren't playing in Jersey City]) in 1957?

ixnay
 
Based solely on the observed behavior of my female cousin, her girlfriends and my female classmates in junior high school at that time - yes. Whether their parents would have allowed their daughters to attend the event is another story.
 
A correction is warranted: The Beatles filled Shea Stadium in 1965 & 1966.

Stadium & big arena shows hadn't really been thought of until The Beatles did their first U.S. tour in the summer of 1964. You can credit the Fab Four for virtually inventing "stadium rock".

The question about Elvis can probably be answered by his drawing power in Las Vegas. It was second only to Frank Sinatra.

He probably could have filled up some stadiums, but we'll never really know for sure. Colonel Parker was not the brightest light bulb in the batch.

Not only did the Colonel not fully capitalize on Elvis' early popularity, he practically made the King invisible after his army days. No tours. No TV until the 1968 comeback special. A few bad movies.

Both before & after the army, Elvis was in demand in Europe. Thanks to the Colonel, he never toured the Continent. Why? Was it because Col. Parker reportedly was an illegal alien in the U.S.? More golden opportunity lost.

One story that has circulated in a book or two is that Elvis was allegedly offered an out by the U.S. Army. They purportedly realized that Elvis on a soldier's salary would be less tax dollars being paid than rock star Elvis. Supposedly, Col. Parker decided not to accept that offer.

As incredibly successful as Elvis was, he still didn't come close to reaching his full potential. It boggles the mind.
 
Rico, You missed one other item on the Colonel's mishandling of Elvis....

The shift from early RnR to sappy ballads in the early 60's.

While a couple of these did get airplay on T-40 radio it put Elvis in a different class than the majority of other recording artists of the day. And, of course, even that disappeared completely with the British Invasion.

About the only thing Elvis had going for him then were those crappy movies.
 
Landtuna, point very well taken. Some of those ballads are all-time cringe classics.


Listening to Elvis do maudlin ballads would be the equivalent of watching Willie Mays or Hank Aaron bunt.
 
RicoGregg said:
Landtuna, point very well taken. Some of those ballads are all-time cringe classics.


Listening to Elvis do maudlin ballads would be the equivalent of watching Willie Mays or Hank Aaron bunt.
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Elvis could fill the ocean...I am amazed at any contention that Elvis Ballads were Sappy or Cringe classics ...My god, some of his ballads are the most requested and programmed by the music business and commercial radio. The problem is to many personal opinions are treated as gospel on this site, with total disregard for the statistical History of that subject..."Can't Help Falling In love with you" or "Love Me Tender" are probably two of the biggest Valentine hits Hits ..."Blue Christmas" for the Holidays and so on...
 
I sure hope that Willie and Hank can move those runners over to second. :-\
 
hornet61 said:
"Can't Help Falling In love with you" or "Love Me Tender" are probably two of the biggest Valentine hits Hits ..."Blue Christmas" for the Holidays and so on...
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"Can't Help Falling In Love" and "Love Me Tender" were both 50's songs (pre-sappy) and "Blue Christmas" is seasonal.
 
Here's a bit of rock'n roll history to continue this discussion. Yes, The Beatles at Shea Stadium is considered the birth of stadium rock - but it was NOT the first stadium rock concert. Who had the honor? The King of Rock'n Roll himself - Elivs. He actually played about five or six stadiums before going into the army. The years were 1956 and 1957 the height of his popularity - just like The Beatles in 1965. First Elvis stadium show was at the Cotton Bowl in Texas in October 1956. Last was in Honolulu in '57. Could he have sold out Yankee Stadium? No. He only sold approx 26,000 tickets for The Cotton Bowl - less than HALF of what The Beatles sold at Shea Stadium only nine years later. I write this with all due respect - not to knock Elvis because I'm a BIG fan. It's just a fact...
Keep Rockin'! :)
 
hornet61 said:
Elvis could fill the ocean...I am amazed at any contention that Elvis Ballads were Sappy or Cringe classics ...My god, some of his ballads are the most requested and programmed by the music business and commercial radio. The problem is to many personal opinions are treated as gospel on this site, with total disregard for the statistical History of that subject..."Can't Help Falling In love with you" or "Love Me Tender" are probably two of the biggest Valentine hits Hits ..."Blue Christmas" for the Holidays and so on...
Click to expand...
Agreed. But I think the problem was that he eventually got to where he recorded nothing BUT ballads there for a while, thus getting himself the reputation as a "crooner." Yeah, you can blame the "colonel" for that! ::)

The other problem was that he apparently "forgot" how to "rock" there for a while. And that the "colonel" wanted Elvis to share songwriting billing with the actual songwriter(s), thus getting himself (Elvis) a share of the songwriting royalties, of which the "colonel" then took half, as per their "agreement." Because of these hassles, it got hard for songwriters to pitch their songs to the King, and because of the colonel's interference, many of them gave up trying, which resulted in Elvis getting "lesser" songs. Having Elvis record a song would make a songwriter a ton of $$$$, but with the colonel stealing a part of the profits, the songwriters decided that it wasn't worth the hassle. They couldn't even get songs to him because the colonel was so controlling.
 
Author Dave said:
Could he have sold out Yankee Stadium? No. He only sold approx 26,000 tickets for The Cotton Bowl - less than HALF of what The Beatles sold at Shea Stadium only nine years later.
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In 1958 the capacity of the old Yankee Stadium was approximately 67,000. The population of the five boroughs of NYC was something around 8 million and add several million more for the tri-state area outside NYC proper.

According to your numbers The Beatles sold approximately 52,000 tickets to Shea Stadium in '65.

Assuming Elvis was at least as popular as The Beatles he would have come close to filling Yankee Stadium in '57 but I'm guessing, having lived through both eras, Elvis would have been the larger draw. By the mid 60's many parents would not let their kids attend gigantic outdoor concerts because of the misbehaving and drugs. Not much, if any, of that existed in '57.
 
Thanks for the thread contributions, folks. Sorry for not getting back but my phone line (I don't have an internet-dedicated line) was dead from late afternoon yesterday to late afternoon today.

ixnay
 
Elvis probably could have filled any major stadium even in 1974! :eek: His fans were so die-hard that they would buy tickets to see his shows no matter what!

U2 is coming to Nashville next summer, and they filled up Vanderbilt University's Dudley Stadium (seats in the 40,000s) almost immediately! They could have filled up LP Field (home of the Tennessee Titans, seating in the upper 60,000s), but there was concern that the field would not have recovered in time for the opening game of the football season! :'( I'm not a U2 fan, but it is a shame that somewhere in the neighborhood of 29,000 fans won't be able to see them live because of the change in venue! :'( Not to mention that one of the selling points for building LP Field in the first place was that it would also be able to host events like this in addition to just football! :mad:
 
When Elvis died in 1977, one of the San Francisco TV stations sent a news crew to an area concert to get reaction from rock fans. Just about all the people questioned were late teens to early 20-ish. Their reaction ranged from blase to indifference. Elvis belonged to their parents, and this was a new generation that didn't even belong to the Beatles.

What definitely would have filled the biggest stadiums in the world would have been a double-bill of both Elvis and the Beatles. Why couldn't it have happened? They knew and liked each other. They had an impromptu jam session together at Elvis' Bel Air mansion. Could you imagine the ticket demand, or even the prices?

No telling what could have been. On the other hand, there was always the Colonel..... :-\
 
RicoGregg said:
What definitely would have filled the biggest stadiums in the world would have been a double-bill of both Elvis and the Beatles. Why couldn't it have happened? They knew and liked each other. They had an impromptu jam session together at Elvis' Bel Air mansion. Could you imagine the ticket demand, or even the prices?
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Another issue is that they were never touring at the same time. Elvis had temporarily quit touring a few years before the Beatles landed, and they had quit touring by the time of his "comeback" special. What would they have performed together? Elvis had already covered Beatles songs, like "Hey Jude," "Yesterday," "Something," and "Get Back," and Elvis AND the Beatles routinely covered '50s songs from the likes of Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, and the Beatles covered Elvis' songs, like "That's All Right, Mama," so they definitely had plenty of material to work with.

I couldn't see it happening while the Beatles were together, but various solo Beatles could have (and should have!) joined him on stage in the '70s! "Imagine" a surprise appearance by Lennon at an Elvis show! :eek:
 
Given what ticket prices would've been in '57, if I were a betting man, I'd be pretty comfortable putting my money on Elvis being able to fill Yankee Stadium....even at 67,000 capacity.
 
Author Dave said:
Here's a bit of rock'n roll history to continue this discussion. Yes, The Beatles at Shea Stadium is considered the birth of stadium rock - but it was NOT the first stadium rock concert.
Click to expand...

The Beatles may have rocked Noo Yawk but they couldn't fill Candlestick Park to even half capacity in 1968. Four short years after they twinged every pre and tween girl in Noo Yawk they competed with the Rolling Stones in concerts in Candlestick. The Beatles lost....badly. A year later they broke up.
 
landtuna said:
Author Dave said:
Here's a bit of rock'n roll history to continue this discussion. Yes, The Beatles at Shea Stadium is considered the birth of stadium rock - but it was NOT the first stadium rock concert.
Click to expand...
The Beatles may have rocked Noo Yawk but they couldn't fill Candlestick Park to even half capacity in 1968. Four short years after they twinged every pre and tween girl in Noo Yawk they competed with the Rolling Stones in concerts in Candlestick. The Beatles lost....badly. A year later they broke up.
Click to expand...
They weren't still doing concerts by 1968. Their last show (at Candlestick) was in 1966.
 
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