This August, I ended up in Madison Square Garden, screaming every lyric to every song of the Electric Light Orchestra.
What began as a way to impress and understand my SO a little bit more, turned into a bit of a deep, musical love (though it’s been almost a year, and I’m still not sure if it’s embarrassing or cool to like ELO now as much as I do). I, like many people, knew and unknowingly liked the typical hits from the Electric Light Orchestra, like Mr. Blue Sky and Don’t Bring Me Down… yet besides those foot-stomping-typical-film-credit closers, what other (decent) songs did they even make? What I would come to find was, apparently, enough for me to become wholly invested.
Here and there, I’d listen to their albums and amass a collection of the songs I liked on Spotify. I bought some of their vinyl. I watched the music videos and discussed song lyrics with my SO. It all seemed to fall into place when around the same time, Jeff Lynne, beloved front-man and musical genius behind the band, announced he was going on a full US tour for the first time in forty years. I knew I had to get tickets for my SO and I, so there I was on November 14th, sitting at my computer, waiting for them to go on sale.
August 21st, 2018 couldn’t come fast enough. Then, in the blink of an eye, we were headed into the venue, going through security, the whole deal.
Our first stop was the merch table. Next stop, the escalators up to the 8th ave side-view area. We saw the whole stage, and though we couldn’t see the huge LED screen behind the band, we were right in front of another screen with live, close-up camera shots of the band.
The opening act was Dawes, an American rock band dabbling into country influences in a sort of Nickelback-esque poppy/edgy way. It wasn’t my usual cup of tea, but their performance was seamless and their attitude was awesome. It was enjoyable; their set was about an hour.
After Dawes, the stage went black. Instruments were switched, adjusted, added. There was movement. Rustling. And then… the faint sound of rain and a synthy piano, got louder and louder. The LED screen flashed on a rainy, grey backdrop.
Standing in the Rain, the opener, was a more obscure, minor hit in the states, but the choice was an awesome homage: it had been used forty years ago to open ELO’s last Madison Square Garden show. It was absolutely surreal. After the intro to the song, everything went bright, and we saw the man himself, Mr. Jeff Lynne.
Lynne is in his 70s now, but you would have never known from his stage presence. He was nimble and very involved with both the crowd and his band, playing his electric guitar amongst the other musicians – about ten or twelve people. That sounds like a lot, but if you are familiar with ELO’s music, you’ll know that Lynne uses a lot of layers and sounds in his songs – there are three part harmonies, operatic singing, multiple guitar parts, synths, piano, and of course, an orchestra.
That being said, naturally ELO’s magic came from them being more of a studio band – but that didn’t stop them from playing any part of any song, live. There were no backing tracks, no added-in, prerecorded nonsense. There were live strings (the Langley sisters), multiple backup singers, and a multi-instrumentalist who almost stole the show, Ian Hornel. He played bass, guitar, backing vocals, and filled in for Lynne’s higher vocal range when needed.
As with other reviewers, I too will jump on the bandwagon and say that it was a little too “perfect”. No mistakes to be made, no room for a ton of improvisation, no divergence from the traditional set of songs that we had already heard on 2017’s live release, Wembley or Bust. I wished I could have heard a bit more of the band’s deeper tracks – not only do I tend to like those more than the hits, but it would have introduced existing fans to more of the catalogue, as well as adding some diversity to the show. I’ll give Lynne and his band some credit, as they tried to do throw us some diversity with a Traveling Wilburys tune, Handle With Care. At the time, I heeded this choice as an unexpected twist… until I looked at the Wembley record (as well as previous US sets) and saw it had already been a sort of “obscure staple”. It was disappointing, and for me, it showed a lack of creativity and faith in the fans that they’d possibly like something outside the norms.
All in all, I did have boatloads of fun, and I can now say that I have seen a true legacy act in concert, that I doubt I will see again, considering Jeff’s age and dislike of touring in general. My SO had the most fun (this was ultimately his Christmas gift, by the way) and ELO has just been more cemented as the soundtrack of our lovely relationship. I would recommend any fan who has the opportunity to see Jeff Lynne’s ELO, to do so right away. You will not regret it, and you will be witnessing a small slice of what is already musical history.
Written by Gillian Greene