Elvis ‘Really Blew It’ When He Told His Audience to Ignore the Police’s Safety Concerns
When Elvis Presley returned to live performances after a lengthy break, his audiences reacted as though he’d never left. Eager crowds danced to his songs and fought each other for the scarves he threw from the stage. Elvis’ bodyguards and venue security had to work hard to keep the crowd under control. It came as a shock to them, then, when Elvis told his audience to ignore safety instructions.
Elvis told his audience to ignore police instructions
Crowds at Elvis’ shows often reached a state of hysteria, which Elvis liked. He wanted his audiences to prove their dedication to him. His bodyguards did not like the frenzied reactions, though.
“I swear, I don’t know how someone hasn’t been killed at some of these shows,” bodyguard Red West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “There have been a lot of people hurt but it’s a miracle somebody hasn’t been killed.”
They relied on a police presence to keep the crowds under control. At one show, though, Elvis reportedly told his audience to disregard their safety instructions.
“In Springfield, Massachusetts, when the cops started telling everyone to sit down, Elvis really blew it,” bodyguard Dave Hebler said. “He said, ‘Don’t take any notice of the cops. We’re here to have fun. If you want to scream and jump around that’s what we’re here for.’ Well, I come from up that way and I knew that was the wrong thing to say because in this convention center, which held about eighteen thousand people, about one thousand of them just charged the stage.”
According to Hebler, the crowd took Elvis’ instructions to heart and began battling for a chance to grab one of his scarves.
“Man, the cops didn’t have a chance,” he said. “Once again I saw a broad do something awful to these two cops, kicked them in the groin. There are cops falling like flies. I’ll never know how we got out of there alive.”
He typically was reverent of law enforcement
This was very likely one of the only times Elvis pushed back against police instructions. Typically, he tried his best to ingratiate himself with law enforcement. He befriended police officers in the various cities where he toured. In another life, law enforcement may have been a career path for him. As it was, he tried to get police badges whenever he could.
“I guess he has troopers’, sheriffs’, and police badges from half the states in the Union,” bodyguard Sonny West said. “If a local police organization offers him an honorary badge, he loses interest. If he can’t get the real thing, he doesn’t want it at all, and he ignores anyone who offers him anything less than the real thing.”
Elvis’ audiences often behaved recklessly at his concerts
According to Elvis’ bodyguards, his audience’s behavior at the concert in Springfield was far from abnormal. Elvis seemed to put them in a trance when he got onstage.
“People in these crowds aren’t people anymore. They become absolute animals,” Sonny West said. “They are ordinary honest men and housewives and stuff and yet when they get in that crowd when Elvis is up there, they become wild, wild animals.”
In the earliest stages of his career, Elvis discovered he was capable of having this effect on people. He sought out the same reaction for the entirety of his career.
