Elvis Presley | Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena | April 28, 1977

Shirley Romsos wasn't just there when Elvis Presley played Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena on April 28, 1977.

She was in the front row.

She didn't just stand in line to get tickets for what would go down as most famous concert in the arena's 60-year history.

She was the first in line.

Romsos was in her 20s when she and three of her co-workers at Fort Howard paper company left work early on a Friday morning in March to begin a 22½-hour wait for the box office to open the next day. They told their foreman they were all sick. Nice try, but he wasn't buying it, so they confessed to what they were really up to and off they went.

Elvis Presley | Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena | April 28, 1977.

News that Elvis Presley was coming to Green Bay was so incredible that Romsos said she could hardly believe it. She wasn't alone. The arena received more than 3,000 calls the day the concert was announced.

There would be 6,532 tickets available; 800 of them for $12.50 and the rest for $15. They were expected to be gone in three hours. 'Unprecedented demand' is how Ken Eslinger, the person in charge of ticket sales, put it to a reporter back in 1977.

Presley was still turning out hits like 'Kentucky Rain' and 'Burning Love' in the '70s, but the process of getting a concert ticket back then was a far cry from today. No online sales, no presales, not even any phone sales. It was in-person at the box office only. Cash only. Four tickets per person.

The line Romsos and her friends started eventually ballooned to 3,000 people and snaked all the way around the arena back to where the Packers Hall of Fame was once housed at the rear of the building. Temperatures were in the 20s, making the snowmobile suits brought by one of the husbands a lifesaver. Romsos remembers they took turns using a restroom at a gas station two blocks away so as to not risk losing their prime spot in line.

While newspaper accounts said some people, bundled up with blankets and sleeping bags, drank from flasks all night, not Romsos.

'We didn't drink anything. We just had hard candy to chew on, and then our friend's husband brought us food', she said.

Tickets that went on sale at 8 a.m. were all snatched up by 9:10 a.m. Some people cried when they got them. Some cried when they didn't. A Green Bay Press-Gazette story said one woman, who had waited for seven hours, sat down on the sidewalk and sobbed when she came away empty-handed. 'I didn't even do this for the Packers', she said.

The box office took in an estimated $10,000 that morning.

Elvis Presley | Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena | April 28, 1977.

In the weeks leading up to the show, tickets began showing up in the classifieds to buy or sell. One ad read: 'Elvis Presley tickets for sale or will trade for lawn furniture'. A few people paid as much as $100 for front-row seats.

Presley flew into Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport on his private jet named after his daughter, Lisa Marie, a Convair 880 with a stereo system and gold-plated bathroom fixtures. Hundreds were gathered to get a glimpse of him as he stepped off.

The rock legend was 42 when he performed a 90-minute show at the arena. His health had begun to deteriorate and he was overweight, but 'not the bloated misshapen Humpty Dumpty that rumor made him to be', Mark Moran wrote in his review of the concert in the Press-Gazette.

Presley could still sing - a moving version of Paul Anka's 'My Way' was mentioned as a standout - but he wasn't the famous showman of old. 'Elvis is an overweight and slightly frayed remnant of another time, another place', Moran wrote.

Presley had twisted his ankle the night before. There was 'no fabled pelvis', just a 'faint swivel of the hips'.

For fans, however, he was still 'The King'. They threw roses, teddy bears and hats at his feet, and at least a few women made it up onstage before they were quickly hustled off by security.

'It was a great night. I still remember it like it was yesterday', said Romsos, now 70 and living in Sturgeon Bay. 'There was nothing rowdy. It was just a lot of screaming. When he shook, they just went wild. It was just like your heart was beating a mile a minute. It was fun. It was so fun'.

Presley reached out and grabbed Romsos' hand as he moved across the stage, and she got one of the souvenir scarves he tossed to fans. That treasured memento was lost in a house fire a few years later. The tickets she stood in line for nearly a day to get were spared, still safely tucked away in her purse.

Less than four months after he sold out Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena, Presley died of heart failure on Aug. 16.

By Kendra Meinert
Green Bay Press-Gazette
April 24, 2019

CONCERT DATE: April 28 1977 (8:30 pm). Green Bay WI.

And How Was Elvis? 'Fantastic'
by Warren Gerds
Green Bay Press-Gazette
April 29, 1977

It was as if the President were visiting - only worse. Tight security. Secrecy about arrival time. Rumours. $100 tickets. Crowd control. No interviews. No tape recorders. No motion picture cameras. All this for Elvis Presley. He was accorded admiration suitable to his nickname - The King.

Hundreds awaited the arrival of his jet Thursday evening at Austin Straubel Field. Thousands more - 6532 ticketholders - cheered him at Brown County Veteran's Memorial Arena. On the bottom line, Elvis Presley is merely an entertainer. But he has built up an mystique around himself - partly due to his inaccesibility. That mystique generates itself into adventure and excitement for his followers.

His 70-minute performance was not remarkable in itself. But the whole atmosphere was. Earlier in the day, John Dederich, arena manager said laughingly of the impending show: 'If it does anything, it'll show that the middle age is just as foolish as the kids when it comes to their own thing'. Said one man enjoying a fling like the kids do at rock concerts: 'This is the first time 40 doesn't seem so old'. But the crowd was not entirely middle age. There were little kids and gray hairs. The average was probably early 30s.

Among the audience was a man who has to be among the ultimate Elvis fans. He's Donald Richard of Montreal. Richard and five of his buddies from Quebec have been following Presley's 12-show tour by car. And they've seen every show. Up to now that's been Detroit, Toledo, Ann Arbor, Saginaw, Kalamazoo, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Coming up: Duluth (where Presley flew right after the show), St.Paul, Chicago (twice) and Saginaw again. This is the fourth year Richard has been using his vacation time to do this. He's seen 75 Presley shows.

How did this interest develop? Richard responded simply in his French-Canadian accent: 'We like the show, and we like his style'. Richard said Presley changes songs in his show from city to city. Presley has used 28 on this tour. Presley has been 'fantastic' on this tour, Richard said. And the crows reaction is the same in every city - crazy, wild.

How do Richard and his pals manage to get tickets? 'From scalpers at the door'. And they don't get nailed for high prices. 'The most we pay is $20', Richard said. About 15 scalpers were selling tickets outside the arena Thursday. One ticket went for $70, while 20 feet away a youngster was selling at $30.

One high school student started asking $75. At 7PM, he turned down a $35 offer. He sold it at 8.30, show time, for $20. Perhaps it was to the patient Mr. Richard or one of his friends.

Meanwhile inside, sitting in a front row seat she paid 'around $100 for, Judy Cebert of Green Bay was eagerly awaiting the arrival of The King - her 'first teen-age love'. The price of the seat was worth it, she said. 'When you wait for 20 years and think he won't come here again, I think it is'.

Sitting behind her was he husband, Craig. He said: 'The only reason I'm here is to make sure she won't get killed'. Judy said, 'He has visions of me climbing on the stage'. A few people tried that, but Presley's security men pushed them back. The total security force was 21 off-duty, plainclothes county policemen and 10 deputies (same as for the recent Kiss rock concert), plus Presley's four-man guard.

Further back in the crowd, Karin Craft of Green Bay was sitting on the edge of her seat with a rose in her hand. 'I'm going to ask him for a scarf and a kiss', she said. She figured her chances for that were 'about 100 to 1'. Plenty of people - about 30 - got scarves, worn for seconds by Presley. One girl got a kiss - but she was Presley's 20-year old girlfriend, singing with the backup group. Karin is a devoted follower of Elvis. 'I've got all of his records', she said. That includes 52 albums. What's the attraction? 'I don't know, I just love him'.

Mary Keyser of Green Bay had the prime seat of the night. Front row, right smack dab under Presley's microphone. Things is, she didn't know she had such a good set beforehand. 'We (she and her husband) knew we were in a good section, but we didn't know we were in the first row'. The Keysers paid the regular $15 for the ticket, no $100 scalper rate. She said, 'I like him a lot, but I wouldn't pay a whole lot of money for it. I can't afford it'.

And then there was Judy Shoen of Green Bay. Judy, Judy, Judy - turned on Judy. She waited for 23 hours outside the arena March 19 and was in the group that got the first tickets - front row, of course. Thursday, she was adither with delight. 'Fantastic! This is it! He is the ultimate!' she cried before the show. 'I would have given my eye teeth to get in the arena, let alone the first row! Can you believe this? I just can't stop shaking'. What was she nervous about? 'Oh my God! Do you realize who'll be standing there?'

After the show, Judy's head was still spinning. 'Fantastic!' was her word for the night. Did she get a scarf? Yep, she produced it from inside her brassiere. She got the second one. Lucky Judy. What was she going to do with the scarf? 'Sleep with it tonight, tomorrow and the next night'. What of Elvis? 'He looked a little old, but he looked great to me', she said. 'I couldn't find a flaw in his body'.

Presley's show grossed nearly $100000 - easily a one-event arena record. Arena manager Dederich said the whole aura of Presley's visit was 'definitely, definitely fun'. Many would agree with him. Dederich added, 'I think it's a feather in Green Bay's hat if it wants something big'.

February 1977

Elvis Presley Orlando Florida | February 15, 1977
Elvis Presley, Dick Grob and Ed Parker: February 16, 1977
Elvis Presley Charlotte, NC | February 20, 1977

Elvis Presley Charlotte, NC | February 21, 1977

March

Elvis Presleys last vactaion | Hawaii, March 1977

April

Elvis Presley Ann Arbor Michigon: April 25, 1977
Elvis Presley | Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena | April 28, 1977

May

Elvis Presley Louisville Kentucky | May 21st 1977
Elvis Presley performs in Louisville Kentucky | May 22, 1977
Elvis Presley Philadelphia Spectrum, Saturday, May 28, 1977

June

Elvis Macon, GA | June 1, 1977
Elvis Presley Dane County Coliseum, Madison | June 24, 1977
Elvis Presley June 25, 1977 | 8.30pm Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, Oh
Elvis Presley June 26, 1977 | 8.30pm Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, In.

August

 Elvis, Ginger and Lisa Marie driving through the Graceland gates on August 12, 1977
Elvis Presley | August 16, 1977 | The last photo taken
Elvis Presley August 16-19, 1977
Kathy Westmoreland Remembers
How Elvis Presley's Death Led to the Birth of Modern Entertainment Journalism
How Memphis and Media Reacted to Elvis' Death

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