Blog: ELO

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A couple of days ago The Characters In My Message and I both got an unusual text from our chum Mr M Sutton. "Are either of you available tomorrow evening?" it said. "I've got a free ticket to see ELO."

As it turned out one of us WAS available, and so it was that on Tuesday night I met Mark at the front of the O2 arena, ready for some Electronic Light ROCK. I do like the O2 - myself and The Seats In My Arena have been there SEVERAL times as a) it's REALLY easy to get to from our house b) it has very comfy seats and a good view wherever you are and c) you can book tickets near an AISLE for easy access to BEER and TOILETS. Gig going in middle-age, it's PEASY when you know how!

Before we went into the actual auditorium we stood in the corridor/walkway outside having a beer and a natter. "Is that The Feeling playing?" asked Mark. I thought it was just the pre-show music being played, but we went to have a look and it turned out it WAS The Feeling, doing the support slot! You could tell they had done this sort of thing before - the singer kept saying "You're about to see ELO!" and got a huge round of applause every time. CUNNING!

Usually we book tickets to one side, but Mark had got his RIGHT in the centre, looking toward the stage. We were almost DEAD centre so when Actual ELO started it felt like all the SCREENS and LAZERS had been set up specifically for us. It looked pretty AMAZING - there was a huge circular screen which had SPACE stuff on it and with all the lights and things swooshing around it was MESMERISING!

The actual music was pretty good too - I'm not OVERLY familiar with ELO, but even I know a GIGANTIC HIT when i hear it, and "Livin' Thing" is definitely one of those! He seemed to do quite a lot of songs from his new album, but to be honest I couldn't tell the difference between those and the old ones, and after a while it did all start to sound a bit samey. It's a very distinctive sound he's got, has Mr J Lynne, but it does take over the SONGS after a while. Still, it was all very lovely and, with the light show whizzing away, very relaxing!

The GIGANTIC HITS came back after a while, with an ENORMOUS version of "Don't Bring Me Down", which was GRATE. "Two more songs after this," said Mark. "Sweet Talking Woman" one of them. "Then Mr Blue Sky?" I suggested, just as the band kicked off "Sweet Talking Woman" followed by "Mr Blue Sky". The band went off stage and I struggled to think what they'd do for an encore - it was their odd, long, LOUD version of "Roll Over Beethoven"! Of course it was!

We got out easily and speedily - we were amongst the youngest of a very seventies, very HAPPY audience! It was a lovely evening - if anyone else has free tickets for a ROCK LEGEND within half an hour of my house do let me know!

posted 28/4/2016 by MJ Hibbett

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