“Well, we were reelin’ and rockin’ all through the night
Yeah, we were rockin’ at the opera house until the break of light
And the orchestra was playin’ all Chuck Berry’s greatest tunes
And the singers in the chorus all got off on them singin’ blues
And as the night grew older everybody was as one
The people on the streets came runnin’ in to join in song”
Jeff Lynne (1976)
I can’t say I was a big ELO fan in high school. When I started listening to music, I mainly followed the bands my friends liked, and ELO wasn’t on the radar. I knew the band’s name, as I recall seeing them play “Roll Over Beethoven” on The Midnight Special- it started with the string section playing a bit from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony before rocking into the Chuck Berry tune. I liked it, but it seemed like a bit of a novelty, and I went back to listening to Chicago and my other favorite rock bands.
After graduating from high school in 1974, I was looking for a summer job. A friend worked at Strawbridges in Center City Philadelphia, and said he could get me a job there. The catch was they didn’t hire summer workers, so he told me to pretend I was looking for full time work, and not tell them I was going to college in the fall- then just quit when it was time to go to school. I followed his advice, and got a job stocking shelves in the men’s department.
I worked with one other stock person in my department- a girl named “Terri”. She was a street-smart, tough girl from Tacony, while I was a nerdy straight-laced short-haired kid from Fox Chase. We were as opposite as you can get. Her best friend Sue, also from Tacony, worked at Strawbridges as well. We frequently ate together, and took the train home together after work, so I got to know them pretty well. They were 100 times “cooler” than me, and I found myself making up stories about what I did on the weekends just to fit in. But they were always very nice to me, and I really appreciated that. (They probably could have beaten the crap out of me.) In one of our many conversations, they mentioned how much they loved the Electric Light Orchestra. And every time I heard ELO after that, I thought of my Tacony girls, Terri and Sue.
At the end of the summer, I quit my job at Strawbridges and started at Temple University. That fall, ELO started getting a lot of radio airplay from their fourth studio album, “Eldorado”. I remembered that was the band Terri and Sue were talking about, and I bought the record. I really loved that album, and became a big fan of the band, buying all of their subsequent albums as well- “Face the Music”, A New World Record”, and “Out of the Blue” all came out during my college years. Then in my senior year, I saw they were coming to Philadelphia to play and the Spectrum- the date was September 16, 1978. I scooped up tickets.
I had seen other bands before, but that first ELO concert blew me away, and remains one of my all-time favorite shows. Up until that time, most of the concerts I went to were not big productions like they are today- basically the band was on stage and played. Then I saw ELO. A giant spaceship came out of the ground, the top half opening up and the band rising up from the bottom of the spaceship. Smoke, and lasers, and flashing lights- I had never seen anything like it. And the band was incredible- I loved the flashy string section, which I wasn’t used to seeing at a rock show. It was an unforgettable experience.
I continued to be a fan and eventually bought a CD box set of every single one of their albums. Jeff Lynne eventually moved on, producing records for other artists and joining the Travelling Wilburys. Several of the original members continued on without Lynne as ELO Part 2, but at that point, I lost interest and stopped following them.
Many years later, I was thrilled to see Jeff Lynne reformed ELO and had planned a North American tour in 2001, which included a show in Philadelphia. I was super disappointed when the tour was cancelled due to very low ticket sales before they could play a single public show. What a bummer! It wasn’t until 2015 when he tried again. Jeff Lynne’s ELO released the album “Alone in the Universe” and played their first full shows in the United States in 30 years. They were only playing two shows in America- in New York and Los Angeles. We jumped on it and bought tickets for the show at Radio City Music Hall in New York. What an amazing show it was! It brought back so many memories, and Jeff Lynne never sounded better.
Jeff Lynne’s popularity was back, and the following year he booked a full American tour, this time with a stop in Philadelphia. We splurged and bought VIP tickets, with seats in very first row at the Wells Fargo Center. He was 10 feet in front of us. Another memorable show, and it was incredible being that close. Eva enjoyed it so much, when she was in Newcastle England later that year helping with our new grand-daughter, she went by herself to see his show in Newcastle. She said it was another great show, although it was a bit of an adventure travelling by herself to the venue on the Metro.
It was hard to top having VIP front-row seats, but when he announced a farewell tour (“Over and Out”) this year, we had to see him one more time. At 76 years old, Jeff still sounds good, and he had a great 13-piece band with him (3 keyboards, 3 strings, 3 guitars, 2 backing vocalists, bass, and drums- with 8 of them singing). It was a great setlist, playing all the hits. I especially loved the deep cuts, the 10538 Overture from their first album and the instrumental “Fire On High” from “Face the Music”. (And of course I loved “Do Ya”, which I happened to play with the School of Rock adult program in my one and only live musical performance at Brittingham’s, in my short-lived attempt to learn how to play guitar.) But my personal favorite of the evening had to be “Showdown”, one of my favorite ELO songs. The encore was a rousing version of the crowd-pleasing “Mr. Blue Sky”.
“We were reelin’ and rockin’ all through the night. Yeah, we were rockin’ at the opera house until the break of light.” Another fun ELO show!
P.S. – While this might be Jeff Lynne’s final tour, we can still see “The Orchestra, featuring former members of ELO” playing our favorite ELO tunes. This is a continuation of the ELO Part 2 band. Although the members have changed over time, they still have the original ELO violinist, Mik Kaminsky, along with Glen Burtnik of the Weeklings, our friend Cliff Hillis, and others. They always put on a great show if you’re in the mood for some ELO.
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