“Viva Las Vegas” is one of a small collection of covers that Bruce actually recorded in the studio, and it came about in an unusual way.
In 1990, the late, great British magazine New Musical Express produced and released an Elvis Presley tribute album to benefit the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Center. The album, The Last Temptation of Elvis, consisted solely of covers of songs Elvis performed in his movies, and it included such artists as Paul McCartney, The Pogues, Hall and Oates, Robert Plant, and of course Bruce.
Bruce chose “Viva Las Vegas” for his contribution, and it ended up leading off the album.
Bruce recorded “Viva Las Vegas” in September 1989, weeks before he officially put the E Street Band on hiatus, and as such no members of the band appear on the track. (Bob Glaub supplies bass, Ian McLagan keyboard, and Jeff Porcaro on drums.)
Bruce’s version is harder-rocking than Elvis’ original, but it retains the same sense of light-hearted fun.
The track didn’t find wide exposure on its original album, but it got some radio airplay thanks to its headlining spot on a promotional single for the album (with Paul McCartney on the B-side!).
It appeared next in 1992, when Bruce’s cover appeared in the movie Honeymoon in Vegas. (It didn’t make the film’s soundtrack album, though.) In 1993, “Viva Las Vegas” was issued as a promotional single in Spain.
Perhaps capitalizing on its small resurgence, Bruce performed the song a few times on his 1992-1993 tour. Here’s a lovely pro-shot performance from May 1993 at Milton Keynes:
Bruce brought it out a couple more times since (including twice in Las Vegas on the Reunion tour–he both opened and closed the show with it), performing it last in Vegas on the Rising Tour.
It took until 2003 before most fans were able to own the track, however. Late that year, Bruce included it on the bonus disc that accompanied the original issuing of The Essential Bruce Springsteen.
The track received one more release in 2008, when it appeared in the soundtrack of an Elvis documentary. Other than the limited-time 2003 bonus disc, however, “Viva Las Vegas” remains unreleased in Bruce’s own catalog to this day.
Viva Las Vegas
Recorded: September 13-14, 1989
Released: The Last Temptation of Elvis (1990), The Essential Bruce Springsteen (2003)
First performed: August 13, 1992 (Worcester, MA)
Last performed: August 18, 2002 (Las Vegas, NV)
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