In 2023 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1st worldwide satellite concert by ONE man.
Some interesting tidbits surrounding this historical broadcast:
- There
were other satellite concerts before and after Elvis.
- The
satellite transmitting the concert signal belonged to NBC and
was very costly to hire.
- The stage was
made in L.A. and shipped to Hawaii.
- When Nani Lee, the wife of Kui Lee, heard of Elvis' concert for her
charity foundation, she went straight to the doctor for tranquilizers.
- No money is to be charged for a TV audience, so donations were asked for
each ticket.
- Aloha From
Hawaii via Satellite was the most expensive TV concert of its time at $2,5 million.
- The
rehearsal concert would be recorded at 20h30 on January 12, 1973 but by 19h00 6,000 fans had already stormed the venue and crammed
into the available 5,300 seats.
- Elvis
wanted a suit that said America. Ideas included the outline
of a map or the star-spangled banner, but eventually the decision went to the national bird.
- The live
broadcast had to be shy of 1 hour, after which the satellite
feed would be cut off, so Elvis organised for Joe Esposito to be at the side of
the stage with a flashlight to indicate when 10 minutes were left.
- The sound equipment
of NBC and RCA combined overloaded the power. Two hours before the rehearsal
concert the lights flickered on and off and the sound engineers went to borrow
extra equipment from the Navy. A few minutes before the start of the show,
there was a hum in the sound system, caused by the stage lights, and lead
plates were obtained, again from the Navy, to counteract this.
There are many more fun facts, especially the 1.5 billion people having watched the broadcast, amongst others South Africa. (NOT!) At this point in time? Sure! The Parker marketing machine did the trick, though, and it's all now part of Elvis lore.
