Three years he fought for the right to hang up his costumes

The soul of The King: a tribute of love by Franz Goovaerts

On 19 September 2026 you'll experience the comeback and the Vegas years of Elvis live. Franz Goovaerts, one of the world's most respected Elvis performers, has created a brand-new show especially for The Viage: Viva Las Vegas: The Elvis Story. No tribute concert, no impersonation — he brings the soul of The King back to life!

Franz Goovaerts has called himself a fan, not an impersonator, for thirty-five years. Nonetheless, he has been travelling the world for decades as one of the most respected Elvis performers in the world. With success. In 2006 he won the title of World Grand Champion in Memphis at the renowned Images of the King Contest. Before that, he had amassed an impressive string of awards across Europe and the United States, including becoming two-time European champion (2000 and 2005) and multiple-time national champion in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

On 19 September 2026, he brings that lifelong conviction to The Viage with Viva Las Vegas: The Elvis Story — a brand-new show that rewrites Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback and Las Vegas years. SCENIO spoke with him about re-orchestration, goosebumps, and why this is no ordinary tribute concert.

How do you rewrite a show for a legend like Elvis Presley, after all these years, so it still feels meaningful and appealing to audiences?

What I wanted to create with this concert is something you don't see on stage today. Generally, you always end up with a banal impersonation. What I wanted to do here was a concert with a certain re-orchestration of specific songs. In the first part, we go through the '68 Comeback, with songs like A Little Less Conversation and If I Can Dream. Then follows a tribute to the fifties, including That's All Right, Mama.

What I want to achieve is that Elvis fans don't find themselves at just another concert, however good it might be. This is a tribute of love to Elvis.

First and foremost, I'm an Elvis fan myself who doesn't want to be unique — that was Elvis — but who does want to make an exceptional concert. That's why this isn't a tribute concert, nor a cover concert. It's a reinterpretation, and the wish to feel that Elvis would have loved to sing it this way. That's my opinion as an Elvis fan, for more than thirty-five years now.

After the break, you take us to Las Vegas, just as Elvis himself once did. How do you approach that?

An important detail here is the little See See Rider vamp, just as in the Las Vegas years. Those kinds of things must not disappear. It's like the riff of Suspicious Minds, the solo bass of Polk Salad Annie, the choirs, brass and harmony in The Wonder of You. An Elvis fan recognises it immediately. I can assure you: I'm an Elvis fan myself and I've seen it all, but I've never experienced this feeling before. When I was writing the show, I realised I had never heard this in my entire life. If I could sit calmly in the audience and watch this concert myself, knowing what I know — I would want to be part of it immediately.

Tell us about the musicians. You've surrounded yourself with a full band for this show, which is quite exceptional.

Indeed. We have a wonderful band, put together by my guitarist Emmanuel Picardi especially for this occasion. Normally we play with a smaller section. For this concert we have a lead guitar, bassist, keyboard, drummer and pianist. We'll have three to four backing vocals and, of course, a horn section. That's exactly what makes Elvis in Las Vegas: from 1968 onward he's backed by a full band. So for the Las Vegas part it had to hit hard, ring in the ears, give goosebumps, bring tears to the eyes of every Elvis fan. Songs like In the Ghetto and Sweet Caroline will pass by, but there will also be beautiful songs that are rarely sung and that Elvis fans love enormously. For example, It's Midnight — a song Elvis himself adored, but that's rarely sung because it's so powerful. And then there are the gospel numbers.

I know you have a collection of costumes. Are they important for this concert?

I've always followed what Elvis himself said: you have to be yourself in life. He loved impersonators, but I'm convinced that today he would pat many of them on the shoulder and say: sing as who you are. Of course, you can't stand on stage in jeans and sneakers when you're singing this kind of concert. A certain class is called for, as in Las Vegas. This won't be an impersonation, neither vocally nor physically. The soul of Elvis will be present, that's for sure. For my own personal pleasure, costumes are part of it. I have some from B&K Enterprises, to whom the original patterns and moulds of his designs were later officially transferred. And I have some from Lansky Bros. in Memphis, Tennessee, where Elvis had his costumes made.

What do you want Elvis fans to take away most from this evening?

This concert will be a reunion, a family gathering. That's what Elvis fans need. We need to come together. I need a concert that pays tribute to the man I love, not one where I'm the star of the evening.

The show shows a fan speaking to fans, not an impersonator pretending. Fans will see the soul of Elvis.

I visited Graceland more than fifty times. I was in that house, met his musicians, his friends, his wife. I never felt like an impersonator, not even when I won the world championship in 2006. In fact, I felt uncomfortable in those costumes. It took me three years, but I hung the costumes aside and fought for the right to be myself — even when that seemed unacceptable, even in Memphis. I am an ETA, an Elvis Tribute Artist.

These days, young people and some of my friends are again following his example, and to them I want to show that Elvis may be imitated, but never equalled. We ETAs don't work from the wish to be someone, or to make money, but to pay tribute to the man who changed music history. Let my message of love come through. That is, above all, what this is: a tribute of love to Elvis.

PRACTICAL INFO

Viva Las Vegas: The Elvis Story
19 September 2026 – The VIAGE
Info and tickets: www.stagemagic.be

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