From the mid-70s, to the height of pop and disco, ELectric Light Orchestra has been a booming band. After the split up in 1986, members wishing to keep the music alive created ELO Part II. Jeff Lynne, after trademarking the name “Electric Light Orchestra” and “ELO”, caused ELO Part II to change their name to The Orchestra and for him to form Jeff Lynne’s ELO on his own. Original members from ELO and ELO Part II now are joined by Styx’s second lead singer Glen Burtnik and are back on tour. On May 13, I had a chance to witness the magic at The Arcada Theater in St.Charles, IL.
The venue was amazing, and it wasn’t the first time I got to see the amazing architecture of the building. The scene was beautifully set, and our seats were only a few rows away from the stage. The opening act had a very similar feel to ELO and were called “Classical Blast”. Classical blast was formed in 2012 and takes a new twist on classical songs and mixes them with newer material. The band was a great opening act and most people seemed to really enjoy them. The style was very similar to ELO, and the stage presence of the band was amazing. I found Jimmy Chaos, their violinist, to be the best part of the show. Though somewhat isolated from the rest of the band, his playing stuck out and was a great mix between rock ‘n roll and classical.
During the last few minutes of the Classical Blast show, I got a chance to get backstage to meet The Orchestra. I’ve met Burtnik before since was the Paul McCartney in the original Beatlemania, and plays in the Beatles tribute band “Liverpool.” The meeting was short, but all the members were nice, and the final picture turned out nicely.
We returned to our seats, and waited patiently for the band to start. They started off with the classic “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” off the album Out Of The Blue. They continued with a bunch of other singles and number one hits from the ELO collection. Their stage presence was amazing, and each of them communicated with each other and appeared to be good friends. One thing that really amazed me was the number of them that sang. I thought that Burtnik would be the main singer, and I was surprised when the others from ELO Part II joined in.
Overall they were a wonderful show, and it was worth the price of admission. To find out more about the Arcade Theater visit their site here. To Find out more about The Orchestra visit their site here and for Classical Blast look here.
