Review: On its farewell tour, Jeff Lynne’s ELO could have used more Jeff Lynne

It’s hard not to be cynical about veteran music acts on their farewell tours. After all, how many so-long (or sooo long) treks did Cher and Kiss do? Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour stretched for five years. The Eagles’ current Long Goodbye: The Final Tour just keeps getting longer.

It’s easy to believe that Electric Light Orchestra’s — now officially Jeff Lynne’s ELO — Over and Out Tour is a swan song.

Lynne has always been a studio recluse and never a road warrior. And backed by 12 musicians on Monday at Xcel Energy Center, he declared “adios” with his opening number.

“We gotta give it some rock ‘n’ roll,” he sang in the apt “One More Time.” “Hey baby, we’re rollin’ on the road again/We gotta give it everything we got/Until the joint is fallin’ apart/Just one more time.”

“One More Time” appeared on ELO’s 2019 album, “From Out of Nowhere.” All the other material heard on Monday was from 1980 or earlier. It’s been nearly 40 years since the British group’s last hit.

That doesn’t matter because this was a show that lived proudly in the past with stunning futuristic visuals. Lasers, a spaceship, blinding lights, odd-shaped video screens with images of space stations, floating clouds, ELO flying saucers (as originally depicted on the cover of the 1977 LP “Out of the Blue”). What a trip!

It was a gorgeous and gracious farewell with one exception — the namesake maestro seemed to be missing in action to some extent, often more a figurehead than the key participant.

ELO guru Lynne, 76, is the last original member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band that prospered from 1972-86 with its post-Beatles Beatles sound. He still looks remarkably the same with a shaggy mop of dark hair, tinted glasses and a well-kempt goatee. However, he didn’t seem to be the same as the rock hero who put on a unforgettable show in 2019 at the X (which was ELO’s first local appearance in 38 years).

On Monday, the unanimated, soft-spoken Lynne walked gingerly, with small steps. He never took any guitar solos, playing only rhythm guitar. Most importantly, his voice was a little rough at times, and he often didn’t even attempt to reach his high notes, instead relying on backup vocalists Iain Hornal and Melanie Lewis-McDonald to ghost him.

Still, the 88-minute performance sounded superior to other arena rock concerts. The sound was sumptuously crisp and clear; listeners could appreciate every instrument from the piano parts to the three-piece string section and even the vocoder. That was important because ELO is a sonic feast, a delectable mélange of rock, pop, R&B, disco and classical music with six-part vocal harmonies.

Lynne is musical synthesist who doesn’t hide his influences, which was apparent Monday — on the Beach Boys harmonies (“Sweet Talkin’ Woman,” “Turn to Stone”), Little Richard rock ‘n’ roll (“Rockaria!”), Bee Gees disco (“Last Train to London,” “Shine a Little Love”), 1950s doo wop (“Telephone Line”), Elton John piano rock (“Don’t Bring Me Down”) and Chuck Berry rock ‘n’ roll (“One More Time”).

Unlike in 2019, there was nothing from the catalog of the Traveling Wilburys, Lynne’s supergroup with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty. There were a few ELO deep cuts — including the violin-fueled instrumental “Fire on High” — for the most devoted fans. But the crowd of 15,000 loved the toe-tapping “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” (featuring Lynne’s most assured vocal performance), the epic “Rockaria! (with Hornal taking the rock ‘n’ roll parts and Lewis-McDonald the aria sections) and the blazing rave-up “Turn to Stone,” (when Hornal and Lewis-McDonald sparkled like diamonds as lead singers).

ELO trimmed one number, “Believe Me Now,” from its usual 20-song set list in order for Lynne to sing “Last Train to London” with the opening couplet — “It was nine twenty-nine/ Nine twenty-nine, back street, big city” — at the precise time. Alas, it was 9:28 p.m. when he delivered the line, off just a little, as he was part of the night.

Opening the concert was Rooney, a Los Angeles pop band that has been around for 25 years, often opening for established acts. While its sound was solid, Rooney may be more noteworthy for leader Robert Schwartzman’s pedigree; he’s the son of actress Talia Shire, the brother of actor Jason Schwartzman and the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola.