Red Elvises on Tour
September 1, 2000
By Willie

On Friday September 1st the Red Elvises played a double header in northern Illinois. They arrived in Rockford about 6pm and unloaded their van and set-up. After a sound check they changed for the show and started about 7:15.

They opened with El Nino to a sparse crowd. As their set continued the crowd grew because they were opening for REO Speedwagon. They played two new songs, "Space Cowboys" and "Who's your Daddy". Other songs included "Red Lips Red Eyes Red Stockings", "Wonderful Night", "Rocketman", "I Wanna See You Bellydance", "Sad Cowboy Song", "Everybody Disco", "Girls Gonna Boogie Tonight", "Lovepipe", "Three Alley Cats", "Boogie on the Beach", "Harriet" and they came back for an encore with "Closet Disco Dancer".

After their set they had to tear down and load up the van again for a speed run to Berwyn for the second show of the night at Fitzgeralds. Personally I used this as an opportunity to listen to "Russian Bellydance" again. A quick set-up and a short sound check later they were into a new 1½ hour set.

Fitzgeralds was packed with Red Elvises fans. A few hundred of the faithful were there for a rocking good time including the guy who dropped his pants at the Abbey Pub in July. Our favorite band played almost the same set only to a very enthusiastic crowd. During "Sad Cowboy Song" Avi removed his shirt and Zhenya tossed it into the crowd.

After about a 15-second break they closed again with "Closet Disco Dancer". As is usual they spent whatever time was necessary to sign autographs for all the fans present. When I left them at 2am they were on their way to a short nights sleep and a return to SoCal for a new show on Saturday.