Concert review: Jeff Lynne lights up the X one last time with the Electric Light Orchestra

Believe Jeff Lynne when he says his current Electric Light Orchestra tour, which filled St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Monday night, is the band’s final outing.

Lynne co-founded ELO in 1970 with Roy Wood. But Wood departed the lineup early on, allowing Lynne to take full control of the band. ELO went on to release some of the biggest, brightest and catchiest songs of the ’70s, songs that sounded just as good blaring from car radios as they did reverberating through arenas and soundtracking Friday nights at the local roller rink.

The magic started to fade, along with concert ticket sales, in the ’80s. Lynne shifted into producing the likes of Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and George Harrison. After a planned 2001 reunion tour was canceled due to a lack of interest, it seemed that was it for ELO.

But a one-off 2013 charity show by Lynne sparked his interest in hitting the road once again. The 50,000 tickets for a 2014 show at London’s Hyde Park sold out in 15 minutes, which led to a full-on comeback that included the release of two new albums and shows in the States and across Europe.

Now billed as Jeff Lynne’s ELO, the group offered a triumphant performance at the X in July 2019 and, Monday night, kept the good vibes going.

Lynne’s attention to detail once again meant he had a dozen people in the band’s lineup who were able to faithfully recreate the various idiosyncrasies of ELO’s biggest hits. Drummer Donavan Hepburn and bassist Lee Pomeroy offered a rock solid base for the other guitarists and string players on stage. And, crucially, Lynne had backup vocalists Iain Hornal and Melanie Lewis-McDonald handle the notes he couldn’t hit, a move that kept the pristine magic of his music intact. (Why don’t more classic rock lead singers do the same thing? Ego, I suppose.)

After opening with a new one, “One More Time,” Lynne and company then focused on the smashes, save for “Steppin’ Out,” a majestic ballad from 1977’s “Out of the Blue.” The crowd of about 15,000 cheered at the opening notes of “Evil Woman,” “Do Ya,” “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Turn to Stone” and then sang and/or danced along.

Thankfully Lynne skipped his garish ’80s hits like “Hold on Tight,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Is King” and “Four Little Diamonds,” but added “Strange Magic,” the high school prom anthem that didn’t make the cut in 2019.

In a sly move for the devoted, Lynne has been starting his shows just after 9 p.m. and timing the beginning of his disco era banger “Last Train to London” so the actual time matches its opening line of “It was 9:29.” He was off by a minute Monday, but it was still a fun little bit.

With his trademark sunglasses and dark, curly hair, Lynne is not the most compelling frontman around. That explains the almost comically oversized stage, complete with a circular screen showing sci-fi imagery and the sort of dazzling light show Lynne helped perfect in the ’70s. Not that he needed all that, the songs were the true stars of the night.

To be sure, Lynne’s voice was a bit rougher than it was in 2019. He moved a bit slower, too, and used a monitor that displayed his lyrics. But the guy is 76 and, again, he says this is the end. He sure went out with a bang.

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