Jeff Lynne’s ELO ‘Over and Out’ Tour Review: A Vibrant Final Ride Through Classic Hits

On Sept. 23, more than half a century after co-founding Electric Light Orchestra in Birmingham, England, lead singer Jeff Lynne took the stage to thunderous applause at TD Garden in Boston. The impending show would be part of the aptly named “Over and Out” Tour, which marks the end of Lynne’s long performing career.

Formed in 1970 by Lynne and his collaborators Bev Bevan and Roy Wood, Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO for short, found its niche in a unique style that fuses rock with classical components, often featuring orchestral strings. During the 1970s and 1980s, the group released a series of top 10 singles and albums, including their most successful album, “Out of the Blue,” in 1977.

After disbanding the group in 1986, Lynne reformed it with original keyboardist Richard Tandy in 2014, together rebranding themselves as Jeff Lynne’s ELO. Tandy tragically [passed away][DIED] in May 2024, just after the “Over and Out” Tour was announced in March. In a post on social media, Lynne called Tandy “a remarkable musician and friend,” and he no doubt headed into the band’s final tour feeling his absence.

With Tandy’s passing and a broader feeling of finality lingering, the tour’s stop in Boston was a fittingly emotional ride through the group’s greatest songs. Despite the occasional delayed vocal entry, Lynne’s performance was as strong as it could’ve been, considering that the 76-year-old has been playing shows for over 50 years. With vital support from backing vocalists Melanie Lewis-McDonald and Iain Hornal, and a robust string section composed of Amy Langley, Jess Murphy, and Jess Cox, the group did justice to its diverse suite of hits, which range from upbeat rock tunes to slower love songs and ballads.

Lynne and company wasted no time getting to some of their most well-known titles. Their second song out of the gate was “Evil Woman,” whose famous introductory piano riff instantly had the audience energized and clapping along. Slightly later, they rounded out the first half of the setlist with “Strange Magic,” whose creeping pace, flanged acoustic guitar, and rich instrumentation coalesced to create an otherworldly mood.

The best back-to-back combination of the night came in the second half of the setlist, when the group played “Livin’ Thing” and “Telephone Line” in succession. Violinist Jess Murphy stood out during a solo at the start of “Livin’ Thing,” a song whose pairing of solo string lines with traditional rock elements makes it perhaps the most direct embodiment of ELO’s unique range of styles.

The group then changed things up with “Telephone Line,” a slow song whose narrator waits in agony for someone — presumably his ex-lover — to pick up the phone. Lynne’s words convey the narrator’s loneliness and desperation in an incredibly effective way, eventually combining with strings and gorgeous harmonies in a sweeping chorus to make “Telephone Line” one of the band’s very best songs. Just as the song became ELO’s biggest single success in the U.S. upon its release in 1977, the TD Garden crowd was nothing short of enchanted, as the thousands of voices made Lynne’s lonely words ironically communal.

As the group prepared to finish up, they played “Don’t Bring Me Down,” their most traditional rock tune, driven by its dominant drumbeat and identifiable melodies. They then concluded the night with “Mr. Blue Sky,” an upbeat pop song that became popular among newer listeners as the intro dance sequence to the film “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” [NEW PARAGRAPH]The song’s sheer vitality made it a great ending for the show, especially given that it dramatically alters its mood in its final minute to make way for a slow, grand finale characterized by strings, piano, and operatic voices. Such a conclusion matched the emotion warranted by the simultaneous realization that this moment, for the Boston audience, meant the end of Jeff Lynne’s career on stage.

The “Over and Out” Tour will finish on Oct. 25 in Los Angeles, and Lynne has been unambiguous about this tour being the band’s last. While it may be their final time in concert, if the Boston show was any indication, the legendary songs of Electric Light Orchestra — and the impassioned support of fans — will live on.

—Staff Writer Kieran J. Farrell can be reached at kieran.farrell@thecrimson.com.