Jeff Lynne's ELO Farewell Tour?

[dgtlman]

Is it really the end? Here's a list of tour dates.

https://www.jambase.com/article/jeff...-north-america

[Dan Roth]

I'd like to see this, but cautious on ticket prices. We'll see when the presales start tomorrow what it looks like.

[ronmac]

Yikes, he'll be in Pittsburgh right before the Burton Cummings show that I dropped $500 on for VIP tickets. I'm sure ELO tix will be pretty high.

[3LockBox]

I saw Lynne's ELO back in '19 in the Tacoma Dome (WA). It was (I think) the 4th show on the tour with my wife, my daughter and her boyfriend. Jeff was in great form and it was a great looking show. Lynne sang on every song. Dahni Harrison was the warm-up act (meh) but Dahni did join Lynne on stage midway through and they performed some Traveling Whilbury stuff. I saw some videos of the tour later on that year and Lynne wasn't singing every song, one of the backup singers was. Lynne would chime in on the choruses but mostly strumming his guitar.

My daughter's favorite band as a teenager was ELO. She was watching some old videos on YT and freaked out when I told her I had most of their CDs.

[JohnG]

Checked out the Artist Presale today and the cheapest ticket for MSG is $220e. Not many tickets available and in poor locations. Will wait for further presales or the general sale. One can also wait till the day before or night of and try the Gametime app. Got into Genesis at USB for $50 a few years ago.

[Dan Roth]

I grabbed a $229 ticket 25th row center for Philly in the presale today. What a mess though - I ran into multiple "Bad Gateway" pages (and perusing the Jeff Lynne facebook group, it appears I wasn't alone). $229 was higher than I wanted to spend - I was shooting for $150, but that price bracket was quite a bit further back. The prices were staggered - $800 for the first few rows, then $549, $449, etc. The 24th row was $279, so I grabbed a ticket in the first row of the $229 tickets. It will be my first and last time to see Lynne.

[Aggie87]

I grabbed a $229 ticket 25th row center for Philly in the presale today. What a mess though - I ran into multiple "Bad Gateway" pages (and perusing the Jeff Lynne facebook group, it appears I wasn't alone). $229 was higher than I wanted to spend - I was shooting for $150, but that price bracket was quite a bit further back. The prices were staggered - $800 for the first few rows, then $549, $449, etc. The 24th row was $279, so I grabbed a ticket in the first row of the $229 tickets. It will be my first and last time to see Lynne.

I saw the 2018 show (in Houston) and thought it was fantastic. I think you'll be happy you saw him. I bought tickets today for the Phoenix show for my wife and I - $194 apiece for decent seats about 10 rows up on the right side of the arena. Didn't consider floor seats because my wife can't see over the top of people standing in front of her.

[Rarebird]

Enterprise Center St. Louis $ 1.00 to $ 6.00

But if you go to Ticket Master, you get the real prices.

[ronmac]

Screw that. I'm not paying $200/ticket.

[Rael]

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that ELO is not only performing in 20,000 seat venues but charging $250 to $500 a seat. Has their stature really risen that much since 2001? Didn't they cancel a US tour in 2001 due to poor ticket sales? Good for them if they can do it, I guess. But I thought the tours that ELO/Jeff Lynne had been doing in the intervening years were in smaller venues and in only certain markets of the country.

[chalkpie]

12.8 mil monthly listeners on Spotify, nothing to sneeze at. Floyd is at 18.6 mil, so there is some perspective. I'm actually very surprised at how popular they still are. BTW, I love my old man's original Out of the Blue and Eldorado vinyl.

[arturs]

^^^ This is an interesting hypothesis: streaming may have revived the live demand for classic-era bands. Back in 2001 you either knew the music or you didn't. Youngsters weren't going to plunk down $10 for a best-of CD. But now youngsters and oldsters alike have the music at their fingertips. The logical next step for those who get hooked or re-hooked is what the heck, I'd like to see them live.

It is consistent with reports of bands like the new Foreigner selling out 5-10,000 seat arenas. Twenty years ago they were strictly a club/casino act

[mozo-pg]

I love ELO - I think Eldorado is perfect or near perfect. The string of on The Third Day through Face The Music is classic. I'd pay those prices in a minute but I'm not driving 4 to 5 hours to Toronto both ways, hotel, gas, time off work, etc. If they played Montreal I'd go in an instant.

[SteveSly]

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that ELO is not only performing in 20,000 seat venues but charging $250 to $500 a seat. Has their stature really risen that much since 2001? Didn't they cancel a US tour in 2001 due to poor ticket sales? Good for them if they can do it, I guess. But I thought the tours that ELO/Jeff Lynne had been doing in the intervening years were in smaller venues and in only certain markets of the country.

Was that the "Zoom" tour? I seem to remember them having a hard time selling tickets back then too. I saw the last tour in 2018 and they sold out a 20,000 seat arena in Detroit with ease.

[pb2015]

I remember PBS showed a "dress rehearsal" type set with that band in 2001 that ended up not touring.

[Koreabruce]

I'm absolutely flabbergasted that ELO is not only performing in 20,000 seat venues but charging $250 to $500 a seat. Has their stature really risen that much since 2001? Didn't they cancel a US tour in 2001 due to poor ticket sales? Good for them if they can do it, I guess. But I thought the tours that ELO/Jeff Lynne had been doing in the intervening years were in smaller venues and in only certain markets of the country.

As I understand it, 9/11 may have impacted the tour getting canceled. I could be mistaken, but I seem to recall reading that somewhere.

[JJ88]

Lynne's comeback has been very well received in the UK- big shows at festivals, Wembley Arena etc. But in the US, I don't know. I know the last album From Out Of Nowhere greatly underperformed in the US. FWIW I didn't think it was that great an album though.

Lee Pomeroy is still in the band I guess? He's had some high-profile gigs over the years. I first heard of him in Rick Wakeman's band in the 2000s, and when I saw Steve Hackett it was in that period where Pomeroy was filling in on bass.

[Rarebird]

Lynne's comeback has been very well received in the UK- big shows at festivals, Wembley Arena etc. But in the US, I don't know. I know the last album From Out Of Nowhere greatly underperformed in the US. FWIW I didn't think it was that great an album though.

Lee Pomeroy is still in the band I guess? He's had some high-profile gigs over the years. I first heard of him in Rick Wakeman's band in the 2000s, and when I saw Steve Hackett it was in that period where Pomeroy was filling in on bass.

From out of knowhere is basicly Jeff Lynne solo.

[JJ88]

^Really it is solo material yes- not much like the old ELO sound. But TBH that album felt like offcuts from the previous one Alone In The Universe, which I thought was a better effort. I wish he'd have got a proper drummer in on both of those albums.

[Dan Roth]

I saw the 2018 show (in Houston) and thought it was fantastic. I think you'll be happy you saw him.

Thanks! Yeah, I am a fan of ELO (own almost all of their output) and most-things-Jeff-Lynne, so genuinely excited about this.

[ronmac]

Well, it looks like I'll be seeing the Pittsburgh show. My daughter bought my wife and I tickets for our birthdays.

[Splicer]

My wife got tickets for MSG so I guess I'm going to this. I just hope the songs are not at half-speed. That's all I ask.

[3LockBox]

My wife got tickets for MSG so I guess I'm going to this. I just hope the songs are not at half-speed. That's all I ask.

My doctor said I should avoid MSG

[SteveSly]

My wife got tickets for MSG so I guess I'm going to this. I just hope the songs are not at half-speed. That's all I ask.

Curious why you think it would be at half-speed? I saw the tour a few years ago and all of the songs basically sounded just like on the records. There was very little in the way of improvisation or stretching out instrumentally. They are kind of like The Eagles where they play the songs almost exactly as they were recorded.

[3LockBox]

Curious why you think it would be at half-speed? I saw the tour a few years ago and all of the songs basically sounded just like on the records. There was very little in the way of improvisation or stretching out instrumentally.

this was my experience as well. Lynne must have had 15 people on stage with him.

They are kind of like The Eagles where they play the songs almost exactly as they were recorded.

well, rumor has it that they're playing to backing tracks (nowadays) of years older performances. In fact, I had my doubts back in '16 or '17 when we saw them in Seattle.