As Elvis tributes go, Saturday night’s concert at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts was as close to heaven as a fan could ask.

“This was the most exciting evening I’ve had in a long time,” declared Mindy Campbell of Memphis, who brought along a memory of seeing Elvis in his last concert in Hawaii.

Terry Mike Jeffrey performs with Steven Reineke conducting the Memphis Symphony Orchestra during the Elvis Birthday Pops concert on Saturday evening at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. Jeffrey's son, Adam Jeffrey, is at left on drums.

Terry Mike Jeffrey (center) hams it up with members of The Imperials (from left) Gus Gaches, Sherman Andrus, Terry Blackwood, and Joe Moscheo.

And while the nearly full auditorium witnessed the visual revival of Elvis performing some numbers on video, it was so much more.

The Terry Mike Jeffrey Band replicated Elvis’ performances to crowd-pleasing perfection, with the help of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

Jeffrey is an extraordinary pianist, guitarist and singer with great mastery of the material. He is not, thankfully, an Elvis impersonator, but rather allows the music to evoke the spirit of the King of Rock and Roll. His wife Debbie, and son Adam are part of the sextet that performed on almost every number during the evening.

But even with the band’s big sound, the orchestra made it even larger. Saturday night was, after all, part of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s Pops Series and the aggregation of strings, brass, winds and percussion — led by guest conductor Steven Reineke — raised the roof of the Cannon Center.

Reineke’s first words to the audience were “Happy Birthday Elvis” and with the subsequent applause, there was the feeling of a fitting sense of history: This concert was on the very spot where the Ellis Auditorium once stood, a venue where Elvis famously performed.

The other starring group Saturday night was The Imperials, the Gospel group that caught Elvis’ ear in the 1960s and backed him in concerts and on several recordings. Some members of the current quartet performed with Elvis and that provided another connection for fans to relish.

The Imperials are a classic Gospel group with an assured sense of harmonies and texture. In fact, the concert could have had more of their winning spirit and been the better for it.

As for the musicians, the audience was as much the star of the evening.

“This is my favorite thing to look forward to every year,” Jeffrey said after the show. “Elvis fans are the best. They so appreciative and there’s something about this place. The sound and chemistry just sparkle.”