Movie Review: EPiC-Elvis Presley in Concert, Directed by Baz Luhrmann (2025)

While director Baz Luhrmann was researching his 2022 biopic about Elvis Presley, titled simply Elvis, he discovered numerous rolls of film that were shot for the 1970 documentary Elvis: That’s the Way It Is, but hadn’t been seen for decades. That footage forms the basis for Luhrmann’s concert film/documentary EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2025 and was just released nationwide.  

Elvis Presley in Concert is an amazing look at one of the most transformative musicians of the 20th century. The film is narrated by Elvis himself, and it’s refreshing to hear Elvis’s own thoughts and feelings about his career. We watch Elvis and his band rehearsing for his third residency in Las Vegas during the summer of 1970, and it’s so fun to watch Elvis having so much fun. In 1970, Elvis Presley might have been at the peak of his powers. His voice was rich, warm, and inviting. He looked great, still showing the slim and trim physique fans would remember from the 1968 Comeback special. Elvis was relaxed, funny, and confident. He was also changing up his setlists more. In the summer of 1969, during his return to live performing in Las Vegas, Elvis’ setlists leaned heavily on his 1950’s hits. That’s no complaint, as his 1969 shows were amazing and energizing. But during 1970, as Elvis was growing in confidence, he was adding more musical variety to his concerts. Elvis was dressing mostly in white jumpsuits on stage, as he had discovered that white made him stand out more on the Las Vegas stage. (Side note: I want Graceland to start making versions of the beautifully colored shirts Elvis was wearing to rehearsals in 1970.) Elvis loved performing live, and you can see from Elvis Presley in Concert that he was putting everything he had into his performances. If I had a time machine to see Elvis at any point during his career, I might very well set the controls to 1970.  

Elvis Presley in Concert shows us how Elvis was influenced by so many different genres of music, and how his concerts were a mixture of blues, gospel, country, pop and rock and roll. I find it really fascinating that Elvis opened most of his concerts during the 1970’s with an old blues song, “See See Rider” (sometimes spelled “C.C. Rider”) popularized by Ma Rainey in a 1924 recording. Elvis could have opened his concerts with one of his many hit singles, but instead he chose an old blues song that he had never even recorded a studio version of. A highlight of the movie is Elvis’ passionate version of the gospel song “How Great Thou Art,” which we see and hear him sing in 1972, in footage that was filmed for the concert movie Elvis on Tour. It’s a spine-tingling moment to hear him belt out “How Great Thou Art.” Elvis still looked great in 1972, and we see him in an array of colorful jumpsuits: powder blue, royal blue, and red. It’s easy to make fun of Elvis’ jumpsuits—they’ve become a staple of every Elvis impersonator, and it’s easy to see them as 1970’s excess that Liberace would surely have approved of. But being at Graceland in the summer of 2023 and seeing Elvis’ jumpsuits up close was very cool, and I’ve come to appreciate how they were all singular works of art. Those jumpsuits aren’t just what anyone would wear—they’re what a star would wear, and it’s fitting that an artist as iconic as Elvis had such a distinctive stage wardrobe.  

It’s amazing to see Elvis’ effect on his fans. Elvis was surprisingly available to his fans during concerts. During his 1970 Las Vegas engagement, he would walk through the audience from one end to the other, bestowing kisses and handshakes as he went. As the 1970’s went on, it became an Elvis trademark to throw scarves to his fans during his concerts. It might sound like hyperbole to say that Elvis’ fans were having a religious experience seeing him in person, but it’s hard to think of another word or term that fits. Viewers of Elvis Presley in Concert can see for themselves the devotion that Elvis inspired in his fans. Seeing photos and videos of Elvis with his fans, and reading their stories of meeting him, I’m struck by Elvis’ kindness towards his fans, and I think that speaks highly of the man he was.  

Luhrmann shows us an excerpt of Elvis at his 1972 press conference in New York City, just before he played Madison Square Garden, where he’s asked a question about Vietnam war protestors. Elvis responds, “I’d just as soon keep my own personal views about that to myself; I’m just an entertainer.” Then Luhrmann shows us Elvis in 1970 reciting a stanza from a song written by Hank Williams, “Men with Broken Hearts.” It ends with the couplet: “For the God that made you made them too/these men with broken hearts.” Elvis adds, "I'd like to sing a song along the same lines,” and then launches into a spirited rendition of Joe South’s song “Walk a Mile in My Shoes,” a plea for empathy and understanding. Luhrmann was thinking the same thing I was—it doesn’t matter that Elvis didn’t say anything about Vietnam war protestors, the real message that Elvis was giving us was in his music. Songs like “If I Can Dream,” “In the Ghetto,” and “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” show Presley’s social concerns, even if he didn’t get on a soapbox and lecture his audience.  

Two of the highlights of the movie are “Polk Salad Annie” and “Suspicious Minds,” which both become high energy extended workouts, and examples of Elvis’ powerful charisma and sex appeal.  

Watching Elvis Presley in Concert, we see Elvis getting immersed in the music, and that’s my favorite Elvis to see. Total commitment was the trademark of all of his great performances, from “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” on his TV debut in 1956, to his beautiful and moving rendition of “Unchained Melody,” taped at his final concerts just two months before his untimely passing on August 16, 1977.  

It’s a thrill to see Elvis Presley and his music back in the mainstream of pop culture, 70 years after his national breakthrough and almost 50 years after his death. If you’re an Elvis fan, go see Elvis Presley in Concert, you’ll be reminded all over again why he was so wonderful. 

The Best Books I Read in 2023

A collage of the Best Books I Read in 2023.

I fell slightly short of my Goodreads goal of reading 25 books in 2023, coming in at 24 books for the year. True to my trend of reading random old books, I didn’t read many books that were actually published in 2023. Which means my list isn’t the best books of 2023, but rather the best books that I read in 2023. If you want to read my full reviews of these books, just click on the title, and that will take you to my original review of the book.  

The Roof Over Our Heads, by Nicole Kronzer, 2023. Nicole Kronzer’s young adult novel The Roof Over Our Heads is a wonderful love letter to theater, families, and belonging. The main character of the novel is Finn Turner, a 17-year-old who lives with his two mothers and two brothers in a Victorian mansion owned by a theater company. But the theater has a new artistic director who isn’t convinced that the expense of the mansion is worth it to the theater’s bottom line. Finn’s mothers get the idea to perform an interactive play in the house—while the cast lives in the mansion as though it’s 1891. The house that the action takes place in is called the Jorgensen house, and it’s based on the James J. Hill House. I used to be a tour guide at the Hill House, so I was thrilled to read a novel where I know the setting so well. The Roof Over Our Heads is a delightful novel full of vivid characters. 

Being Elvis: A Lonely Life, by Ray Connolly, 2016. This book is a fantastic examination of the personality of Elvis Presley. Ray Connolly has clearly done his homework, as he compresses Elvis’ life story into 320 pages. Elvis was something of an enigma: a huge star who remained at times oddly passive about his own career. Being Elvis is a sympathetic portrait of a gifted artist who was adored by millions of people around the world, and yet his life was a lonely one indeed.  

If At First, by Keith Hernandez and Mike Bryan, 1986, updated 1987. Keith Hernandez won 11 Gold Gloves at first base, won a batting title, was co-MVP in 1979, and led the 1982 Cardinals and 1986 Mets to the World Championship. He also had one of the greatest mustaches ever. If At First is Hernandez’s daily diary of the 1985 season, in which the Mets won 98 games, but just missed out on the postseason. Hernandez is smart and self-reflective, and a gifted writer. Before game time, Keith could be found working on The New York Times crossword puzzle. His hobby was reading books about the Civil War—this immediately impressed me when I was a kid and read this on the back of one of Hernandez’s baseball cards. If At First is an excellent look at a different era of baseball: When Hernandez’s left ankle is in pain after seven games on artificial turf, his solution is: “Tape it up, gulp three aspirin, and keep on truckin’.” When Keith grounds into a double play with the bases loaded to end a game, he faces the reporters: “Sitting on my stool, fresh beer in one hand, cigarette in the other, waiting.” The 80’s were a different time, kids. 

Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of The Great Gatsby, by Sarah Churchwell, 2013. Churchwell examines Fitzgerald’s classic novel in detail, and she takes us through Fitzgerald’s time in Great Neck, Long Island, which inspired the setting of The Great Gatsby. By relentlessly combing through primary sources, Churchwell shows us how then-current events may have influenced the gestation of Gatsby. Churchwell combines expert scholarship with great writing to create a fascinating look at Fitzgerald’s masterpiece. Every Fitzgerald fan needs to read Careless People.  

Conversations with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Judith S. Baughman, 2004. This volume collects 37 interviews with Fitzgerald that were published during his lifetime. It’s astonishing that none of the interviews in the book mention The Great Gatsby in any detail, an indication of how the book was neglected by the public at the time it was published in 1925. The interviews show more of Fitzgerald’s political side, which didn’t often make it into his fiction. One of the most interesting interviews in this book is from 1927. The interview was titled “Fitzgerald, Spenglerian,” a reference to the German philosopher Oswald Spengler, whose book Decline of the West Fitzgerald was reading at the time. Fitzgerald sounds like a prophet: 

“Mussolini, the last slap in the face of liberalism, is an omen for America...The idea that we’re the greatest people in the world because we have the most money in the world is ridiculous. Wait until this wave of prosperity is over! Wait ten or fifteen years! Wait until the next war on the Pacific, or against some European combination!” 

Together, these interviews offer a glimpse into what a fascinating and intelligent man F. Scott Fitzgerald was.  

The Late George Apley, by John P. Marquand, 1937. The Late George Apley is an exquisite work of satire. The framing device of the novel is that George Apley’s son has asked the narrator to write a biography of his father, a leading citizen of Boston. Marquand threads the needle perfectly, as his narrator/author takes us through the events of George Apley’s life, much of it reconstructed through primary sources such as letters. Marquand pulls off a tricky feat in this novel—he is able to make you laugh at George Apley and also have sympathy for him. The Late George Apley launched Marquand as a serious novelist, and for the rest of his life his novels garnered critical acclaim as well as high sales.