<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0OPHU9_0w1ge9bh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0OPHU9_0w1ge9bh00" width="1465" height="1046" ><figcaption>Jeff Lynne gives fans at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena a thumbs-up during his ELO show there on Wednesday night, Oct. 9 (Photo by Scott Legato/313 Presents)</figcaption></figure>“Here’s another one you might know,” Jeff Lynne told fans on Wednesday night, Oct. 9, early during his Jeff Lynne’s ELO concert at Little Caesars Arena.<blockquote>ELO is a livin’ thing again for Jeff Lynne, fans</blockquote>Ya think?During the 54 years since co-founding the Electric Light Orchestra in England, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has amassed a set of enduring tunes that made Wednesday’s show — part of Lynne’s Over and Out farewell tour — a veritable jukebox of favorites, almost entirely from the 70s. The 95-minute, 19-song performance packed more bona fide hits than the Detroit Tigers-Cleveland Indians game that ended not long before Lynne and company took stage, a fat-free exercise in giving the near-capacity crowd exactly what it wanted.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0crYSj_0w1ge9bh00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0crYSj_0w1ge9bh00" width="1860" height="1328" ><figcaption>Jeff Lynne’s ELO performs Wednesday night, Oct. 9 at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena (Photo by Scott Legato/313 Presents)</figcaption></figure>On top of that, too, is Lynne’s voluminous resume as a producer (George Harrison, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, etc.) which was celebrated with selections played over the PA between opener Rooney’s well-received 40-minute set of power pop and ELO’s arrival.There were visuals to dress up the proceedings — lots of lasers and an extensive visual production that included a large, circular recreation of the ELO flying saucer with a video screen in the middle, accompanying the songs with a series of animated creations. But the night’s greatest joy was the music, carefully recreated by a 13-piece band whose makeup — up to four guitars, three keyboards, three string-players — covered every nuance and texture of the arrangements with record-caliber accuracy and driven by Donavan Hepburn’s monster drumming.Backing vocalist and guitarist Iain Hornal was also invaluable in spelling Lynne, who sounded best on quieter fare such as a “Can’t Get It Out of My Head” and a truly gorgeous rendition of “Strange Magic.” And Melanie Lewis-McDonald, whose husband Milton played lead guitar, offered the operatic vocal touches that elevated “Rockaria!” above its 50s-style boogie.If this truly is goodbye — and watching the 76-year-old Lynne guided on and off stage gave no reason to doubt it — ELO bowed out by keeping the hits coming in mostly faithful fashion, tweaked only in the occasional extended endings. There were a couple of deep digs, such as the opening “One More Time” from 2019 (the night’s youngest song by a good 30 years) and the 1977 “Out of the Blue” track “Steppin’ Out.” The muscular, majestic “10538 Overture hearkened back to ELO’s earliest days, though a snippet of the instrumental “Fire on High,” which introduced “Livin’ Thing,” felt like a tease.Mostly, however, one could go hoarse singing along to the parade of joyous favorites, including “Evil Woman,” “Do Ya” (originally by Lynne’s pre-ELO band The Move), “Last Train to London,” “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” “Telephone Line,” the Motown-flavored “All Over the World,” “Turn to Stone” and “Don’t Bring Me Down. A disco ball on the video screen during “Shine a Little Love” was a reminder of how ELO straddled genre lines during the 70s, and “Mr. Blue Sky” ended the night with Merseybeat ebullience, one last song and dance before Lynne said over and out to this particular crowd.He did not, per usual, have much to say, but early on he also noted that, “It’s our last tour, this one, and I’d like to thank you for sticking with us all these years.” The feeling, of course, was more than mutual.</div></body>

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Jeff Lynne’s ELO shines the love one last time at Little Caesars Arena

“Here’s another one you might know,” Jeff Lynne told fans on Wednesday night, Oct. 9, early during his Jeff Lynne’s ELO concert at Little Caesars Arena. ELO is a livin’ thing again for Jeff Lynne, fans. Ya think?. During the 54 years since co-founding the Electric...

Jeff Lynne’s ELO shines the love one last time at Little Caesars Arena

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