ELO
Acrisure Arena, Palm Desert, California, Saturday August 24.
With a dozen musicians unleashing majestic swirls of sound around him, Jeff Lynne is in the eye of the storm at centre stage. He rarely moves from the microphone stand, and he speaks very little: His most loquacious moment this evening comes in the middle of the set, when he says, simply: “This is our last tour ever, so I’m really going to be enjoying it.”
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The band once known as Electric Light Orchestra was rebranded a few years back as ‘Jeff Lynne’s ELO’, in part because Lynne is the lone original member still in the group. But really, this has always been Lynne’s show. Not to discount the contributions of musicians such as Richard Tandy and Bev Bevan, not to mention his old Move bandmate and co-founder Roy Wood — but ELO has always depended first and foremost on Lynne’s songs, and on his creativity as a producer and arranger merging rock and classical instrumentation.
Tonight’s farewell tour-opener will be followed by 30 more U.S. dates, with high-profile stops including two nights each at New York’s Madison Square Garden and Chicago’s United Center before ending in Los Angeles Oct. 25-26 at the Kia Forum. Fans who caught the band’s last American tour five years ago will hear mostly the same rapid-fire parade of hits that were a near constant presence on the radio throughout the 1970s.
New to the band’s repertoire is One More Time, a fresh track that appeared on the 2019 album From Out Of Nowhere. It’s a fitting choice to open the show, given its subject matter: “We’re rollin’ on the road again, we gotta give it everything we’ve got, until the joint is falling apart,” Lynne sings, underscoring the apparent finality of this jaunt that’s been dubbed ‘The Over And Out Tour’.
At 76, Lynne is understandably slowing down. He moves carefully and gingerly, his stage presence often overshadowed by the dynamic musicians alongside him. But that’s all right: Lynne’s most essential contributions came long ago when he wrote and arranged these tunes. Now it’s up to his supporting players to send them into the stratosphere, and they’re plenty ready for the job. More half of them have been with Lynne since he relaunched ELO in 2014 — including backup singers Iain Hornal and Melanie Lewis-McDonald, whose powerful vocals are essential supplements to Lynne’s leads.
The string players are newer recruits. Cellists Amy Langley and Jess Cox came aboard in 2016, with violinist Jessie Murphy joining in 2019. But their contributions are vital: It’s the strings that put the “O” in ELO, even as keyboardists Marcus Byrne, Jo Webb and Shannon Harris (dubbed “the new guy” by guitarist Mike Stevens during band introductions) further flesh out the orchestral accents.
Murphy steps out front mid-set for a spirited snippet of Fire On High and the 1976 hit Livin’ Thing from A New World Record, the evening’s most-visited album with five total cuts. Next is 1977’s ambitious double-album Out Of The Blue, represented by four songs including the splendid concert-closer Mr. Blue Sky. Three more songs come from 1979’s Discovery. The 1970s were unquestionably ELO’s glory days, so it’s no surprise for 17 of the set’s 21 songs to draw from that decade. Taken from the band’s 1980s releases are All Over The World, Twilight and Calling America.
A near-sellout crowd at the 11,000-capacity arena delighted as much in the visual spectacle as the music. Sensory overload has always been a big part of ELO’s identity, and its space-age fixations are still a cornerstone of the band’s live presentation. The logo-emblazoned flying saucer from several of the group’s album covers is arguably the star of the show, dominating the stage backdrop. A circular jumbotron at the centre of the spaceship flashes futuristic images throughout the night of planetary landscapes, never-ending skyscrapers, Tolkien-esque dwellings, whirling disco balls and the like. Laser lightbeams frequently punctuate the space between the crowd and the stage, and the entire arena often seems awash with radiant colours.
Early-set highlights include Sweet Talkin’ Woman, arguably the finest of the band’s many 1970s radio hits, and Do Ya, the song that bridged the transition to ELO from 1960s Birmingham outfit The Move (founded in 1965 by Roy Wood and others, with Lynne joining in 1969). Momentum flags somewhat in the middle, but once they charge into Livin’ Thing about an hour into the set, there’s no turning back. The heavy rhythms of Don’t Bring Me Down bring the main set to a thunderously satisfying close, with Telephone Line casting an exquisite spell to begin the encore before Mr. Blue Sky brings the mothership home to land. Soon, Lynne and ELO will no longer perform these songs again, but tonight is a reminder of the timeless magic he’s created.
Setlist
One More Time
Evil Woman
Showdown
Do Ya
Sweet Talkin’ Woman
Strange Magic
10538 Overture
Can’t Get It Out Of My Head
Twilight
Rockaria!
Last Train To London
Calling America
Steppin’ Out
Fire On High/Livin’ Thing
All Over The World
Turn to Stone
Shine A Little Love
Don’t Bring Me Down
Encore:
Telephone Line
Mr. Blue Sky
Picture: Jason Stoltzfus
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