Elvis Saw It as a Good Thing That He Started a Violent ‘Civil War’ Amongst 1 Audience: ‘It Was Lucky We All Didn’t Get Killed’
Even in the earliest stages of his career, Elvis Presley held a great deal of power over his audience. He won them over with his voice, dancing, and charming personality. During one show, though, it seemed Elvis had lost control over the crowd. A massive fight broke out, and his bodyguard believed they narrowly escaped with their lives. Elvis took this as a good sign.
A fight broke out in the audience at an Elvis show
In Elvis’ early days as a musician, fights frequently broke out in the audience. His bodyguard, Red West, recalled one particularly nasty brawl.
“They were fun times, but they were wild times also,” West said in the book Elvis: What Happened? by Steve Dunleavy. “Man, one night at a club called the Rio Palmisle — it was a place I think somewhere outside Lubbock, Texas — there wasn’t a fight, there was a war. In Texas they do things in a big way, let me tell you. That night, it was lucky we all didn’t get killed.”
The fight began between two people but soon, roughly 100 people were involved.
“Elvis was up there doing his act on stage and the way I remember it, some guy from the audience shouts an insult,” West said. “Well, some other guy, a drunk, tells the other guy to shut up. Well, bang, it’s on. They have a thing with each other. And then all hell breaks loose. Suddenly the whole place starts taking sides.”
As the men in the audience brawled, the women began “swarming” the stage in an effort to get close to Elvis.
“The fight is coming up to the stage and Elvis is still singing away with these chicks around his neck,” West said. “One guy puts his foot right through one of Elvis’s guitars, and it’s getting bad. Some of the guys are dragging the women off the stage. There are punches and bottles flying all over.”
Elvis took it as a good sign that his audience began fighting
West shouted to Elvis to say they should get out of there, but Elvis ignored him. He was busy signing autographs.
“Elvis wasn’t taking any notice of me,” West said. “He’s now starting to sign autographs, and I figure any moment someone is going to get to him. He was encircled by gals. I grab through the circle of women and grab hold of him. When we get out in the open, the fight has now spilled out there. Man, it was one full acre of guys fighting, guys getting their heads splattered with beer bottles. Blood everywhere.”
Finally, West managed to get him into the car. The experience electrified Elvis. He believed the fact that the audience began brawling was a good sign for his career.
“I got Elvis to the car and I took off like a bomb,” West said. “As we sped away, Elvis was laughing like a madman. He had never turned a crowd on like that before, and he loved it. He was laughing, and then I started to laugh, too. There was a civil war back there.”
Red West would have done anything to protect the singer
West’s dedication to protecting Elvis stemmed from a promise he made to Elvis’ mother, Gladys Presley.
“Even to this day, man, I have never forgotten the face of Mrs. Presley sitting there and saying to me ‘Red, you look after my boy.’ It’s always been in my mind, no matter where I was with him,” he said. “And that’s what I did to the best of my ability.”
