Of all the gigs to see in 2025 one bittersweet experience will be the final show ever by Electric Light Orchestra. Part of the BST concert series at London’s Hyde Park, the famous ELO flying saucer will land one last time on July 13 for the climax of the world jaunt aptly-named The Over And Out Tour.
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The voyage goes all the way back to 1972, when leader Jeff Lynne played his first gigs with the band. After the group’s dissolution in 1986, with some false starts around the millennium, the group’s mastermind fully refitted the band for touring after establishing Jeff Lynne’s ELO in 2014. Now comes the farewell that was originally planned for 2020, but which was derailed by Covid.
“It will certainly be an emotional show for me,” Lynne tells MOJO, adding, “it has been great getting to tour the world and to this day at every show I am always surprised and delighted by the crowds and the energy they bring. I will miss it.”
US dates last year presented all the hits, drawing mainly on ELO’s ’70s heyday, with an all-killer climax of Shine A Little Love, Don’t Bring Me Down, Telephone Line and Mr Blue Sky. On this illustrious occasion, wonders MOJO, might there be any surprises, or old comrades taking a bow?
“We will of course be playing all the songs the fans want to hear,” Lynne says. “As for surprises, these are the final shows so who knows what can happen!”
While Lynne will be 77 when he plays Hyde Park – dates in Birmingham and Manchester precede the climactic London date – he stresses it’s not the end of the story and that more music will come, though whether that’s new ELO releases or productions for other people he isn’t saying (he also politely sidesteps questions about an ELO musical or a technologically-assisted rebirth like ABBA’s Voyage). “I am happy with what I’ve done, and the crowd reactions to the shows and the music have been amazing,” he says. “This is not a farewell to music. I am excited to return to the studio full-time, which is what I love!”
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