Jeff Lynne’s ELO says goodbye with hit-packed farewell show at Kia Forum – Daily Breeze

The Over and Out Tour, which kicked off at the Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert in August, played its final California show at the Kia Forum on Friday and Saturday the 25th-26th. October. After a rescheduled date in Phoenix on Tuesday, that was it. for Lynne and ELO.

This was no funeral at the Forum on Saturday by any means. How could it be that so many songs – 15 that made the Top 20 – brought so much joy to millions of listeners over the years?

How about the giant spaceship stage prop, an image from ELO’s 70s album art made real, that shone lights and shot lasers across the stage and around the arena all night?

The show opened with “One More Time,” a song from Lynne’s 2019 ELO album, and did we mention how awesome that spaceship is? In 70s parlance, when ELO’s 1976 release “A New World Record” was one of the 12 albums I ordered from the record club for a penny – a penny! – the flying saucer is still crazy.

It might have been the least known of any of the 20 songs Lynne played over 90 minutes on stage. No such problem with “Evil Woman,” which followed it, the piano riff that opens the song instantly recognizable. Same with the power chords that start “Do Ya,” technically a cover of a song by Move, the ’60s band that Lynne and ELO co-founders Roy Wood and Bev Bevan all came from.

None of the original members of ELO remain in the band. Keyboardist Richard Tandy, who joined in 1971 and played with Lynne in the studio and on stage, died in May. But the 12 members of the current lineup, including a string section of two cellos and a violin, are all strong musicians.

Other highlights early in the set included “Showdown,” a slower, vaguely Western-themed track, and “Last Train to London,” a late-’70s electronic dance-pop song.

Lynne remains a shy presence on stage. His bushy hair, beard and sunglasses look the same as they always have. Dressed mostly in black, he stood on the right side of the stage, singing and playing guitar, but rarely said more than thank you to the audience and occasionally gave the thumbs up to their cheers and applause.

Others in the band provided more action throughout the night. Backing vocalist Melanie Lewis-McDonald’s operatic vocals shined on songs like the ballad “Stepping Out,” and she and backing vocalist Iain Hornel added lovely harmonies to “Strange Magic.”

Violinist Jess Cox stepped forward to join Lynne on several songs, including an instrumental part of “Fire On High” and the violin solo leading into “Livin’ Thing,” another of the most beloved ELO tracks.

That song, like many throughout the show and the ELO catalog, has the kind of strong melody and simple lyrical hook, often in the title of the song, that makes it easy for fans to sing along, as they did to almost every song on Saturday.

Highlights of the final part of the night included “Telephone Line,” complete with the ringing phone and way down the line vocal effects that kick it off. “Turn To Stone” rose on waves of racing rhythms.

“Don’t Bring Me Down” closed the main set, the crunchy guitar riffs and pounding drum beats anchoring the song as Lynne and the backing vocalists sang its simple but catchy lyrics.

Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra have always acknowledged a love of and influence from the Beatles, both for a similar kind of melodic sweetness and a shared interest in using the recording studio to unlock fresh sounds. That influence shines brightest on “Mr. Blue Sky,” from the pounding piano chords that open the track to its stacked harmonies, cowbell-like percussion, swelling strings and more.

The song, which arrived as an encore, only reached No. 36 in the charts when released in 1978, but has since become more loved with each passing year, and now has more than 1 billion streams on Spotify.

As farewells go, it was a perfect choice on Saturday: the audience on their feet, singing and dancing, making and smiling at the musician whose creation brought a bit of blue sky into all their lives one last time.