Moncton’s Thane Dunn is back in the province and doing his first ever island-wide tour with a new show: “Aloha ‘73,” a tribute to Elvis Presley’s 1973 “Aloha From Hawaii” concert.
“It just tells me, once again, how amazing Elvis really was,” Dunn says. “A guy like me can have a job like this.”
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He’s used to it. As an Elvis Presley tribute artist who looks, acts and sounds almost exactly like the King, Dunn makes a living with his live Elvis shows, backed by a full band. His newest show, which he’s touring this week, is “Aloha ‘73,” a tribute to Elvis’ 1973 “Aloha from Hawaii” concert.
“What we’re doing is recreating what was one of the pinnacles of Elvis’ career,” Dunn explains. “Elvis did a lot of firsts, and this was the first live worldwide satellite broadcast (with a single performer).” The concert was said to have attracted close to 1.5 billion viewers.
Elvis wore an “American Eagle” jumpsuit for the concert, and Dunn has an exact replica, custom-made for him from the same pattern.
“It’s got something like 25,000 grommets and studs on it, and the cape alone probably weighs 25 pounds,” Dunn says.
Dunn’s “Aloha ‘73” show will feature a mix of Elvis tunes, with standards like “Hound Dog” and “Suspicious Minds.” Dunn’s especially thrilled to do a version of Elvis’ cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.”
Dunn and his band The Cadillac Kings performed in Stephenville Monday night and will hit the Corner Brook Arts and Culture Centre tonight and Wednesday, Grand Falls-Windsor’s Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts on Thursday, the Gander Arts and Culture Centre on Friday and Clarenville’s Eastlink Events Centre on Saturday, before ending up at Holy Heart Theatre in St. John’s Sunday night.
Since he started performing the Aloha show earlier this year, he’s been entering concert-goers into a draw for a trip for two to Hawaii, which will happen at the end of January.
“To be honest, Newfoundland has been so good to me, it wouldn’t really hurt at all if someone from there won it,” he says, chuckling. “We’ve met a lot of really super people over here.”
For more information on the “Aloha ‘73” tour, visit www.thanedunn.ca or 5th String Entertainment on Facebook.
