EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert (2026)

I think one of the most destructive misconceptions about Elvis Presley is to never consider him to have been self-aware.  By this point, nearly 50 years after his death, his iconic status – the chops, the white suits, the gyrating, the catchphrases (“Thynk-yah-vurry-much”) – tends to overwhelm the reality of who The King of Rock and Roll was, what he brought to popular culture, not to mention the social landscape and, as the movie EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert clearly shows, what a powerful force of nature he was on the stage. 

Elvis understood who he was, what his music was about and what it meant to him to keep entertaining.  He also understood what it was to separate the image from the man.  In the film, a journalist asks him “Are you satisfied with the image you’ve established?”  Elvis thinks for a second and says “The image is one thing and a human being is another.”  The journalist probes deeper: “How close does the image come to the man?”  Not wanting to reveal too much, Elvis simply cuts him off with, “It’s hard to live up to an image” and puts up a hand to end the discussion.

What was on Elvis’ mind, how he saw himself and his career comes about in the very few interviews and press conferences that he would allow.  We never got too close to the man and anyone who has seen an Elvis documentary, whether it be the 1981 pic This is Elvis or the great 2018 two-part HBO Max documentary Elvis: The Searcher then you know that whatever was on his mind was cobbled together from an overview of his life, interviews with those who knew him best, and artists who have been vastly influenced by him.

Elvis’ fame came about at a moment of post-war racial and social tension and did the unthinkable, introducing black rhythm and blues to a generation of white kids who were growing tired to Frank Sinatra.  Elvis was something new, gyrating his hips in a way that was considered so pornographic that variety show king Ed Sullivan demanded that he be filmed from the waist up – if you were on the wavelength, the framing obscured nothing.  Parents and politicians protested viciously, and perhaps they had a reason.  Elvis was part of a new brand of male sexuality in the 1950s, a raw bad boy energy found in the likes of his contemporaries James Dean and Marlon Brando.  The girls loved him, the parents reviled him.

But it came to a close as the 60s dawned as Elvis departed for a two-year hitch in the Army, and when he came back the landscape of popular music had moved past him.  The British Invasion happened, and the screams that met Elvis in his pre-Army days were now being lobbed at The Beatles and later the Rolling Stones.  His post-Army career now included a Hollywood contract that all but eradicated his previous image, prepping him and packaging him into a series of superfluous musical comedies.

Baz Luhrman’s film catches Elvis getting back on track, after Hollywood and as the 1970s dawned, his appearance on the invaluable 1968 Comeback Special proved that he could still raise rock and roll Hell and still wield his most powerful instrument. 

What came about after his untimely death in 1977, the breeding of a dismissal of Elvis as a disposable bit of iconography, is something Luhrmann attempts to correct.  I didn’t much care for his 2022 biopic with Austin Butler – too much cinematic flash overwhelming a potentially great story – but I think EPiC proves that there is no substitute for the real thing.  This film is largely mounted on two excellent concert films – Elvis: That’s the Way It is (1970) and Elvis on Tour (1972) – both of which feature Elvis behind the scenes and on the stage.  Personally, I think the latter is better perhaps due to the fact that one of the editors was a 29-year-old Martin Scorsese.

What you get here is a picture of Elvis’ style on stage, his connection with this audience, his eagerness to please and, much to our amazement, the full library of songs from other artists that he is able to make his own, everything from The Everly Brothers “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” to The Beatles “Get Back”.  Backstage, we get glimpses of his connect with the band, this willingness to let it be a collaborative effort and, in some rather strange fortelling moments, his plans for the future.  He talks about settling down and raising a family and his desire to tour outside of the United States – something that Colonel Parker would allow because he was afraid that his own citizenship status (he was a native of The Netherlands) would prevent him from returning.

The movie is free of current commentary from historians and musicians and those who knew him.  Luhrmann’s purpose is to put you in the room with Elvis, to give you an idea of what is was like to be in rehearsals with him, and of course, on the stage.  He hopes to bridge the gap, to allow us to experience that Elvis that we never knew.  You have to look beyond the words, and yes, you can see in Elvis’ eyes that he is tired, that he needs a break, but you can also see the desire of a man who feels that he has to keep going.  Some of that inevitably came from the urging of The Colonel, but Luhrmann’s film doesn’t lean on that.  It’s there.  But the movie doesn’t color-code it.

But what comes to the stage work is how big and how grand the show’s would become in spite of purist’s objections.  The music got louder, the performances got grander and the stage theatrics became, well, more like Vegas.  The restoration of his concert footage is astonishing, giving us to sense of being there, the sound is crisp, the picture is crystal clear and the experience is quite astonishing.  We get to see Elvis at the moment when most figure that he sold out, that his career was over.  Not a bit true.  He was at the top of his form, glitter and all.