Fox Theatre Atlanta

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Lore & Background

Elvis Presley played at the Fox Theatre on March 17, 1956, a year that marked his explosive rise to national fame. The theater itself had already weathered the Great Depression and near-demolition by the 1970s, but in 1956 it was still operating as one of Atlanta's finest movie theaters. The Fox's Moorish design, with its plaster Bedouin canopy and trompe-l'œil details, created an exotic backdrop for the young rock and roll star. The venue's shallow stage, a limitation from its origins as a movie palace, would have brought Presley closer to the audience, intensifying the electric atmosphere of his single performance.

In Their Own Story

When Elvis Presley took the stage at the Fox Theatre in 1956, he was at the peak of his early career, having just released his first number-one single 'Heartbreak Hotel' earlier that year. The theater, which had opened just 27 years earlier as a lavish movie palace, was still gleaming with its original décor—the 96 crystal stars embedded in the ceiling, the plaster beams painted to look like wood, and the gold leaf that was actually just paint. The audience that night experienced the King in his rawest form, before his army service and Hollywood转型, in a venue that would later be saved from demolition by a public campaign featuring entertainers like Liberace and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Reader's Guide

Elvis Presley played at the Fox Theatre in 1956, according to the source. The theater, located at 660 Peachtree Street NE in Midtown Atlanta, was originally designed as part of a Shrine Temple and opened as a movie palace in 1929. Its 4,665-seat auditorium replicates an Arabian courtyard with a ceiling featuring 96 embedded crystal stars, a third of which flicker, and a projection of clouds that drift across this 'night sky.'

The Fox has hosted many other legendary concerts: Bruce Springsteen in 1976, 1978, and 1996; Bob Marley and the Wailers on December 12, 1979; Pearl Jam in 1994; the Rolling Stones in 1978 (as The Cockroaches) and 1981; the Allman Brothers in 1980 and a three-concert run recorded September 24-26, 2004 (released as the Fox Box); Ray Charles in 1983; James Brown in 1985; R.E.M. The venue was also the site of Prince's final performance, one week before his death on April 21, 2016, and Col. Bruce Hampton died after collapsing onstage at the Fox during a concert celebrating his 70th birthday in May 2017.

Did You Know?

• Elvis Presley played at the Fox Theatre on March 17, 1956.
• The Fox Theatre's ceiling has 96 embedded crystal 'stars,' a third of which flicker, and a projection of clouds that drift across this 'night sky.'
• A longstanding rumor that one of the stars was a piece of a Coca-Cola bottle was debunked in June 2010 by restoration staff.
• Prince's final public performance was at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta on April 14, 2016; his final performance ever was a private show at Paisley Park on April 21, 2016.
• Col. Bruce Hampton died after collapsing onstage at the Fox during a concert celebrating his 70th birthday in May 2017.