Graceland’s First Ultimate Elvis Brings the King Back to Mohegan Sun
Graceland’s First Ultimate Elvis Brings the King Back to Mohegan Sun
Elvis left the building nearly half a century ago.
On Sunday, August 30, Shawn Klush will try to make 10,000 people inside Mohegan Sun Arena forget that for a couple of hours.
The Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular starring Shawn Klush brings the music, costumes and different eras of Elvis Presley’s career to Uncasville for a 7:30 p.m. performance. At the center of the production is a performer whose connection to Elvis goes considerably deeper than putting on a jumpsuit and learning how to curl his lip.
Klush was the first performer ever crowned Graceland’s Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist by Elvis Presley Enterprises.
He’s also spent years performing with the musicians, singers and friends who actually knew and worked with Elvis.
A Kid From a Pennsylvania Coal Town
Shawn Klush grew up in Pittston, Pennsylvania, a small coal-mining community between Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
Elvis became his musical obsession.
Klush began performing Presley’s music professionally in Pennsylvania’s Poconos before taking his act into Canada. There, he entered the Worldwide Elvis Competition in Montreal and won its $5,000 grand prize.
That victory opened another door.
Klush was recruited by Legends in Concert, the long-running tribute production, and began performing as Elvis in its showrooms in Myrtle Beach, Las Vegas, Branson and Atlantic City.
What began in a Pennsylvania coal town was turning into a career.
Then came the competitions that changed everything.
Millions of People Picked Him
Klush eventually competed on the BBC television program The World’s Greatest Elvis.
The international competition put Elvis performers against one another before a massive television audience.
Klush won.
Approximately 6.5 million viewers watched as he was named the World’s Greatest Elvis.
But another title would carry even greater weight.
Because this one came from Graceland.
The First Ultimate Elvis
In 2007, Elvis Presley Enterprises launched its Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest in Memphis.
The timing carried special significance. It was being held during Elvis Week, marking 30 years since Presley’s death.
On August 16, exactly 30 years after Elvis died at Graceland, Shawn Klush became the competition’s first champion.
He was officially named the first Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist by Elvis Presley Enterprises.
That’s why the words attached to Sunday’s Mohegan Sun show matter.
“Graceland’s Ultimate Elvis” isn’t simply an advertising slogan somebody dreamed up for the poster.
Klush earned it.
Then He Met the People Who Were Actually There
Winning competitions can establish that someone does an extraordinary Elvis.
Klush’s subsequent career gave him something different.
Access.
He has performed with an extraordinary collection of people who were part of Presley’s musical world.
D.J. Fontana was Elvis’ original drummer during the explosive early rock & roll years.
Jerry Scheff played bass in Presley’s touring band beginning with his return to live performances in Las Vegas.
The Jordanaires provided those unmistakable backing vocals on scores of Elvis recordings.
The Sweet Inspirations sang behind him during his later concert years.
Klush has performed with all of them.
His list of collaborators also includes The Imperials, J.D. Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, Charlie Hodge and conductor Joe Guercio. He’s worked with Jerry Schilling and Joe Esposito, two members of Presley’s inner circle.
Imagine trying to recreate Elvis with the people who stood beside Elvis watching you.
They would know when something felt wrong.
They would also know when it felt right.
Elvis Wasn’t One Elvis
That’s part of what makes the Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular more interesting than a conventional tribute concert.
There isn’t really one version of Elvis Presley to recreate.
There’s the young singer who walked into Sun Studio and helped change popular music.
There’s the 1950s television phenomenon whose movements generated almost as much attention as his voice.
There’s Elvis the movie star.
Then there’s the man in black leather who reclaimed his musical identity during the 1968 television comeback special.
And finally, there’s the jumpsuit era: Las Vegas, enormous concert rooms and the seasoned performer who had become one of the most recognizable people on Earth.
The Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular is built around that evolution, allowing the audience to move through different periods of Presley’s career rather than spending the entire night in 1970s Las Vegas.
The Voice Is Only Half the Job
Elvis tribute artists face an unusual problem.
Almost everybody knows what Elvis looks like.
They know the stance. The hair. The clothes. The smile.
And within a few seconds, most people know whether the voice is working.
Klush has spent decades studying all of it.
The physical resemblance certainly helped establish his career, but recreating Elvis in concert requires something harder than looking convincing in a photograph.
Presley didn’t perform his songs exactly like the records night after night. His timing could shift. He joked with musicians. He stretched phrases, reacted to audiences and changed the energy of songs depending on the room.
Klush’s years performing with Presley’s actual musicians gave him unusual access to that side of Elvis.
They weren’t studying old concert footage.
They remembered the man standing next to them.
Elvis Beyond the Concert Stage
Klush’s ability to inhabit the role has also taken him into television.
He portrayed Elvis in Shake, Rattle and Roll, which aired on CBS and VH1, and later played Presley in HBO’s Vinyl, the music-industry drama associated with Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger.
He has appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, performing with the CBS Orchestra, and has released five CDs during his career.
But the live stage remains where the transformation matters most.
And Sunday night gives him a very large one.
This Elvis Show Gets an Arena
The Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular isn’t tucked into one of Mohegan Sun’s smaller performance spaces.
It’s taking over Mohegan Sun Arena.
The 10,000-seat venue gives the production something much closer to the scale associated with Presley’s later career. Klush has also developed history with the venue, including previous Elvis performances at Mohegan Sun
Sunday’s show is part of an unusually busy closing stretch of Mohegan Sun’s 2026 summer entertainment calendar. Demi Lovato plays the Arena Saturday night, followed by Klush and the Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular on Sunday.
Free self-parking is available in Mohegan Sun’s garages and Winter Lot, with upgraded reserved parking available in the Riverview Garage. Guests should also check the Arena’s bag policy before arriving; backpacks and several other larger bag styles aren’t permitted.
Long Live the King
Shawn Klush can’t give an audience Elvis Presley.
Nobody can.
What he can do is something more interesting than simple imitation.
He can reconstruct pieces of the experience.
The young Elvis. The movie star. The black leather. The Vegas years.
And behind Klush’s performance are lessons gathered from people who didn’t learn Elvis from records or YouTube clips. D.J. Fontana sat behind him. Jerry Scheff played beside him. The Jordanaires and Sweet Inspirations sang with him.
Klush eventually stood beside some of those same people and played the music with them.
Then Graceland held a competition to find its Ultimate Elvis.
They picked him first.
On August 30, he brings all of that history to Mohegan Sun Arena.
Event Details
Event: Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular starring Shawn Klush – Graceland’s Ultimate Elvis
Date: Sunday, August 30, 2026
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena
Address: 1 Mohegan Sun Boulevard, Uncasville, CT 06382
Headliner: Shawn Klush
Show: Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular
Admission: Ticket required
Parking: Free self-parking available; reserved Riverview Garage parking available for purchase
Bag Policy: Backpacks, string bags, diaper bags, shopping bags, messenger bags, briefcases and rolling-style bags aren’t permitted
The Elvis Tribute Artist Spectacular follows the different eras of Elvis Presley’s career, led by Shawn Klush, the first performer ever named Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist by Elvis Presley Enterprises.
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
To purchase tickets, click the Event Ticketing link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.
