Priscilla Presley Never Saw Elvis Perform Live Until His “'68 Comeback Special”: 'A Trip' (Exclusive)

A new Netflix documentary explores the significance of the rock 'n' roll legend's 1968 comeback, when he was at a major crossroads in his career

It wasn't until Priscilla Presley was nine years into her relationship with Elvis Presley that she got to see him perform live for the first time during the taping of his '68 Comeback Special, which aired on NBC on Dec. 3, 1968.

"You see all the girls lined up, all the fans going nuts, and I'm looking at this going, 'Wow,'" Priscilla, 79, recalls to PEOPLE. "And he'd take his scarf off his neck and he'd give it to someone right there by the stage, and they would go crazy. It was really a treat. It was a trip, a great trip.”

The taping of the special came at a major crossroads in Elvis' career, as explored in Netflix's new documentary Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley (out Wednesday, Nov. 13).

"He was nervous because he hadn't appeared [on stage] in so long," says Priscilla. "People would think, ‘How could he be nervous? He’s Elvis Presley.' He was very nervous, but he did his homework. He would go and rehearse and rehearse and rehearse."

Related: Elvis Presley Admits 'Hollywood's Image of Me Was Wrong' in Rare Vulnerable Moment Featured in New Doc (Exclusive)

Prior to the taping, Elvis — who became the biggest music star on the planet in the mid ’50s — hadn’t performed in front of a live audience in seven years, in part due to him being drafted into the Army in 1957. After training, Elvis served in Germany, where he first met a 14-year-old Priscilla.

Following his return from the Army in 1960, Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, got him locked into a multi-year movie studio contract. He became increasingly frustrated with the scripts he was being offered.

"One day he was reading a script, and he threw it across the room and said, ‘I’m not doing this,’” says Elvis’s longtime friend Jerry Schilling. “The Colonel loved Elvis and vice versa, but Elvis outgrew the Colonel.”

Related: Priscilla Presley Opens Up About What 'Freed' Her from Being Known as Just Elvis Presley's Wife

Priscilla says he "wanted to be in great movies, not the stupid movies that he did like Girls! Girls! Girls! That wasn't Elvis."

"Colonel did not get him really at all," she says. "That was hard for both Jerry and I, but you couldn't say anything to Colonel. You just had to keep quiet."

In one scene of the documentary, Priscilla and Schilling view footage of Elvis singing the children’s song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm" in the 1967 musical Double Trouble.

“That, to me, is a crime,” Priscilla says in the clip. “It is a crime. To put him in that situation and sing that song. It made him a laughingstock. And he knew it.”

Related: Elvis and Priscilla Presley's Relationship: A Look Back

Though Parker tried to get him to do a family friendly Christmas special, Elvis insisted on a return to his rock roots.

"The Colonel, he came from the old school where he wanted Elvis to be Bing Crosby doing a Christmas Special, rather than doing a sexy rock and roll gospel, like the '68 special," says Schilling.

The special went on to become the highest-rated show of the year for NBC, much to Elvis' surprise.

"He did not know what the public was going to think of that," says Schilling. "It wasn't until we saw it live on television with the rest of America that he realized it was good. Phone calls started coming in from special people he knew, and that was the first time he really relaxed and knew it was good. He was beaming at that point. That led to everything after."

Related: All About Priscilla and Elvis Presley's 4 Grandchildren and 1 Great-Grandchild

Elvis dedicated himself to live performances from then on, and he played hundreds more concerts before his death at age 42 in 1977.

"I feel strongly I lost my friend at an early age out of creative disappointment. I know I did," says Schilling. "That creative disappointment caused other problems. But when he had a challenge like the '68 Special, he would go into training like Muhammad Ali. He'd lose 20 lbs."

With the documentary, Priscilla says, "I really want the kids of this generation to know why he was the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley is streaming now.