Jeff Lynne’s ELO Lands in Saint Paul One Final Time

Last updated on February 18th, 2025 at 07:29 am

Jeff Lynne’s ELO landed in Saint Paul one final time for the “Over and Out” Tour, the iconic group’s final trek.

Over 50 years since the debut album, “The Electric Light Orchestra”, hit the airwaves, Lynne and company are celebrating a career well spent. Few groups throughout music history have had the staying power and draw like ELO.

Always future-forward, it feels like the group was tailor made for modern arena productions. The iconic songs paired well with incredible lasers and visual displays. That said, some of the visuals on display looked to be AI generated, which negatively stood out against an otherwise polished and well-produced show.

Regardless, the most important thing at a show like this is the music, and wow, did they deliver. Even into his 70s, Jeff Lynne still had a great stage presence and solid vocals. What really impressed though was the caliber of the live band. With a full fledged string section, a grand piano, and more, it was a very impressive showing of musicianship.

ELO drew an impressive crowd to Saint Paul’s Xcel Energy Center, with an estimated 13,000+ in attendance. Fans were primarily really cool looking dads who likely went to a ton of shows in the 80s, and have since grown up to sustain MPR. I joked with my friend that if there were younger fans in attendance, it would be Bob Belcher teaching his son Gene what “real music” sounds like.

The opening act for the night was Rooney, a group led by Robert Schwartzman. Perhaps best known for their single “When Did Your Heart Go Missing”, they did a great job setting the tone for the night.

Their sound reminded me a little bit of alternative group Neon Trees, and I definitely heard some ELO influences in their music as well. However, the most interesting things about the group came from my rush to Wikipedia to learn more about them.

As mentioned, the band is led by Robert Schwartzman – the brother of actor Jason Schwartzman. This led me into a rabbit hole of their family history. Turns out Nicholas Cage is his cousin, and that’s pretty cool. The Coppola family has deep roots.

Overall, the show felt like a well oiled machine, and aspects of it reminded me of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra; a well traveled act that has their niche and performs it incredibly well.

Being touted as their farewell tour, one has to wonder if this is really the end of Jeff Lynne’s ELO. Legacy acts like this tend to be on their final tour forever so it seems. If this is the last ride, I am really glad I got to see them live.