On July 5, 1976, almost 12,000 people packed the Mid-South Coliseum to see Elvis Presley come home.
Nobody knew they were watching his final Memphis concert.
The timing carried an almost unbelievable historical symmetry. Exactly 22 years earlier, on July 5, 1954, Elvis had recorded “That’s All Right” at Sam Phillips’ studio on Union Avenue—the recording that launched one of the most remarkable careers in American music.
Now he was back in Memphis.
The concert came at the end of a tour that had taken Elvis through cities including Greensboro, Shreveport, Baton Rouge, Fort Worth and Tulsa. His final stop was home.
The crowd received a long show. Elvis performed familiar songs including “Jailhouse Rock,” “Hound Dog,” “Love Me,” “How Great Thou Art” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”
And he returned to where everything started.
Before performing “That’s All Right,” Elvis joked about people who thought he shouldn’t sing the old song anymore.
Then he sang it anyway.
For Memphis fans, it was simply another Elvis homecoming. He had performed at the Coliseum before and there was every reason to believe he would do so again.
He never did.
Elvis Presley died at Graceland on August 16, 1977, just over thirteen months later.
That knowledge changes the way we look back at the photographs and recordings from that July night. What seemed like another stop on another tour became something historic only afterward.
On July 5, 1976, Memphis wasn’t saying goodbye to Elvis.
Memphis thought it was simply welcoming him home.