Preview: Viva Las Vegas Live

May 5 2008 Western Mail

Swansea Grand

IF you believe certain people, there’s no such thing as an Elvis impersonator – and that’s because die-hard fans would say the King is still alive.

But the next best thing is coming to Swansea.

Paul Lillie won the inaugural Elvisly Yours competition as young Elvis, sharing the top spot with Irish guesthouse owner Mark Leen, the Emerald Elvis, as the Vegas Era.

Now Lillie is taking his repertoire of near-enough 150 Elvis songs on the road.

In a tribute to Presley’s inimitable style, he will be backed with an 11-piece band and dancing girls.

Classically trained in the guitar and bassoon, Lillie aims to recreate the spontaneity of the King’s on-stage persona.

“I’m from a rather different background to the average Elvis impersonator,” he said.

“If you met me in the street, you would not think that is what I do. I like transforming myself when I perform, I like the theatrical element.”

Elvis, he claims, “had something in his physical presence. He had this androgynous thing, he was the perfect human being.

“It’s a tall order to impersonate him.”

Despite Paul’s determination to capture the King’s on-stage persona and easy-going manner with an audience, he also sets himself strict boundaries.

“I appear as Elvis would have done during the late ’60s,” he says.

“After his comeback and as he prepared for his Vegas shows. It was then that he was at his self-assured best.”

But fans of his other decades will not be short-changed.

In Viva Las Vegas Live, Lillie presents the biggest hits drawn from Presley’s career with songs like Hound Dog, Blue Suede Shoes, All Shook Up, Jailhouse Rock, You’re the Devil in Disguise, A Little Less Conversation and Suspicious Minds.

Viva Las Vegas Live will be at the Swansea Grand on Friday, May 9.

Call 01792 475715 for tickets