Written by Wilmar Mejia
Photos by Joe Guzman
The joy of music is to sing along, to the radio by yourself during the most routine moments of the day, or with thousands of people you’ve never met in attendance at a concert, or maybe in unison with the memories of what has been or the excitement of what is to come. And in some unique rare cases, the joy of music comes from the sempiternal impact of songs that allow us to sing along with the voices that have long been gone, but we carry deep within our hearts. That was the case for me at the Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra show in Dallas on October 18 at the American Airlines Center. Despite attending by myself, or perhaps because I was physically there by myself, I enjoyed a special spiritual communion with a different time, a different place, and the dearest person in my life, my dearly departed father.
My father was no musician, and he never even learned to speak fluent English, but he loved to sing along. And at the concert on Friday, nearly a dozen songs immediately came back to me as the music he learned the lyrics to, and sang around the house so frequently that they became almost lullabies and building blocks for my English language learning process. Given that I was born in the mid 70s it should be easy to connect to why these songs were all around my formative years. And judging by the packed to the roof arena with around 20,000 fans in attendance, his songs have obviously connected with thousands of people, not only those born almost half a century ago, but many teenagers and even a few children were seen in attendance brought by parents and grandparents.
What were the memories and stories each of these families shared in connection with the songs of Jeff Lynne, I will never know. But what any of us can know is how massive his impact has been in music history. His twenty song set included a dozen of the most iconic songs of the 70s and 80s, and some that, thanks to the placement in modern day soundtracks, have also become iconic songs in the last decade. Keenly aware of the power in the music, Mr. Lynne spent very few interludes talking. His longest spoken moment was when he introduced each and everyone of the members in his band, and they each captured the audience’s roaring applause in recognition of the phenomenal way their instruments and voices highlighted the songs. Because this was a show about the songs first and foremost.
The stage setup wouldn’t be left behind, and instead of trying to compete and outshine, it neatly complemented and illustrated the setlist. The widely known logo, originally inspired by a Wurlitzer 408 Jukebox speaker, and first used in their 1976 sixth album, morphs into a spaceship for their album covers and the animations in the center screen during live shows. It was a visual reminder of the history of the band, while its lasers pointed decidedly into the fact that this band’s sound, and image, are cause for celebration in this present day.
Billed as “The Over and Out Tour” and being his final set of performances in America, Jeff Lynne made a case for a perfect farewell that will make hundreds of thousands of fans across the country remember this show as perhaps the best bookend to his career exhaustively filled with hits for him and others. His collaborations as producer for The Beatles, Tom Petty, and as a Traveling Wilbury speak of his impact beyond the songs he writes and performs himself. But this was a celebration of the songs made famous under the name Electric Light Orchestra, and the band honored each word in the name. With futuristic iconography, and orchestral arrangements, the concert was one to remember, visually and sonically. But mostly, the show reminded us that in this strange magic of live music performances, the songs of Jeff Lynne are now known all over the world, and while we wonder why just like Mr. Blue Sky he stayed away from the concert circuit for so long, we are all celebrating that we were invited to board this last train to London… and sing along.
ELO
ROONEY
