Complete Song List 1960s (112 songs) 1970s (715 songs) 1980s (307 songs) 1990s (185 songs) 2000s (248 songs) 2010s (418 songs) 2020s (13 songs) The Midnight Special

Song Analyses Overview  * Can't Get It Out Of My Head  * Do Ya  * Don't Bring Me Down  * Evil Woman  * Ma-Ma-Ma Belle  * Mr. Blue Sky  * Roll Over Beethoven  * Showdown  * Sweet Talkin' Woman  * Telephone Line  * Xanadu  * You Got It

Tour Analyses Overview  * The Electric Light Orchestra  * ELO 2  * On The Third Day  * Eldorado  * Face The Music  * A New World Record  * Out Of The Blue / The Big Night  * Discovery/Xanadu  * Time  * Secret Messages  * Balance Of Power  * Alone In The Universe 2016  * Alone In The Universe 2017  * Live 2018  * Live 2019  * From Out Of Nowhere  * The Over And Out Tour

Single/LP Analyses ELO UK Singles ELO USA Singles non-ELO USA Singles ELO USA Reel-2-Reels ELO USA 8-tracks

Video/TV Analyses Overview TV Appearances (All) Beat-Club (Germany) The Midnight Special (USA) Mr. Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne & ELO Set Of 6 (UK) Supersonic (UK) Top Of The Pops (UK) Home Video Promotional Videos and Films

Miscellaneous Quadraphonic + Exposing Secrets Concert For George Advertisements Unofficial Remixes This is not Jeff Lynne Jeff's First Guitar Limericks!

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Running from August 19, 1972 to March 27, 1981 and producing 352 episodes, The Midnight Special was a USA produced weekly musical television series that broadcast on late Friday nights on the NBC network. The show was created and produced by Hollywood producer, Burt Sugarman. Each episode featured a celebrity host to introduce the various musical and comedy acts. The Electric Light Orchestra made many appearances on the show, hosting it twice (1975 and 1977), and were the subject of several special tributes.

The Midnight Special was noted for using actual live, stage performances at each broadcast. However, things weren't always as "live" as they were reported to be. Several early performances were either a tape backing, with live lead vocals and the band miming or completely mimed. But many other performances were actual live shows, including mini-versions of ELO's live concert set, promoting their latest album. In the last few years of The Midnight Special, when promo videos were becoming more common and production costs for the show were reduced, the show often aired promo videos for ELO, rather than actual live performances. This is particularly true for the songs from the Discovery album, for which ELO did not tour and no live promotion was done. Many of the shows simply reused footage from earlier episodes, with ELO's Telephone Line from a 1977 performance getting the most reuse.

There a series of compilations released on DVD in 2006, under the slight re-title of Burt Sugarman's The Midnight Special (as it was sometimes referred to on the show itself), but none of these compilations include the ELO performances. In October of 2014, TimeLife (under the StarVista label) released several DVD compilations that were "best of" types of compilations featuring select performances from several show and this released did contain several ELO performances. There were several different compilations, all incorporating much of the same material. The 6-DVD, 7-DVD, 11-DVD and 20-DVD collections all contain the March 5, 1976 performances of Evil Woman and Strange Magic on DVD2 and the January 9, 1976 performances of Eldorado Overture and Can't Get It Out Of My Head on DVD3. The performance of Telephone Line from the February 17, 1977 broadcast was only released on DVD7 of the 7-DVD set as it was considered a bonus disc to the 6-DVD set. No other ELO performances were in this release, however it's noted that Jeff Lynne's non-The Midnight Special performances of Handle With Care and While My Guitar Gently Weeps from the 2004 Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame concert were included on DVD12 of the 20-DVD collection.

Starting in 2023 and into 2024, nearly all ELO performances were released from the vaults by Burt Sugarman on YouTube's The Midnight Special channel as streaming videos. All such releases were clips only, although the November 23, 1973 episode from Trafalgar Square and the February 8, 1974 episode were release in their entirety. Currently, the only ELO performances left unreleased are three songs from the January 17, 1975 episode and the Livin' Thing reprise from the February 18, 1977 ELO hosted episode. The latter was unreleased as a clip because it is during the show's closing credits and is an incomplete performance.

Original performances used in the show are as follows:

SEE IT ON . Roll Over Beethoven SEE IT ON . Kuiama	Performance Recording Date: May 29, 1973 Original Broadcast Date: June 29, 1973	These songs were first aired on June 29, 1973. The August 17, 1973 performance (a month and a half later) of Roll Over Beethoven survived on the bootleg market for many years, which is a re-packaged broadcast of the earlier performance. Both ELO performances a tape backing, with live vocals by Jeff Lynne and Mike deAlbuquerque and the rest of the band miming. The performance of Kuiama, which also uses a tape backing to live vocals by Jeff Lynne and Mike deAlbuquerque. These performances were released officially as clips only on YouTube in May and June of 2023.
SEE IT ON . Showdown SEE IT ON . Ma-Ma-Ma Belle	Performance Recording Date: September or October, 1973 Original Broadcast Date: November 23, 1973	SEE IT ON . This was a special episode highlighting British artists and filmed entirely in London's Trafalgar Square. ELO's performances were filmed on the steps of Nelson's Column. The performances were mostly mimed, although Jeff and Mike De Albuquerque provide live vocals over the recording (the originally recorded vocals can be heard too) and Bev's drumming can sometimes be heard too. ELO's sound man, Rick Pannell mimes the cello as the band had recently lost a cello player and Hugh McDowell had not yet been hired.
SEE IT ON . Showdown SEE IT ON . Bluebird Is Dead	Performance Recording Date: November 20, 1973 Original Broadcast Date: February 8, 1974	SEE IT ON . These performances are completely mimed. The original broadcast features an introduction of the band by Ike and Tina Turner. Both songs were rebroadcast on June 7, 1974, which Showdown alone (promote the 1976 re-release of the song on the album) was rebroadcast in September 17, 1976 with an introduction by The Spinners. It is this latter broadcast that was available for years on the bootleg market.
SEE IT ON . In The Hall Of The Mountain King SEE IT ON . Great Balls Of Fire SEE IT ON . Eldorado Overture SEE IT ON . Can't Get It Out Of My Head SEE IT Mik's Violin Solo/Orange Blossom Special SEE IT ON . Laredo Tornado SEE IT Hugh's Cello Solo/Flight Of The Bumblebee SEE IT Roll Over Beethoven	Performance Recording Date: November 26, 1974 Original Broadcast Date: January 17, 1975	This is nearly a full concert performance from a time when ELO hosted the show. It is completely live. Unfortunately, only bootleg recordings of Eldorado Overture, Can't Get It Out Of My Head and Laredo Tornado taken from rebroadcasts and/or foreign markets, are available for review as well as one officially released performance of In The Hall Of The Mountain King on the official The Midnight Special YouTube channel. If the setlist of the broadcast is to be believed, then it is the only known officially recorded performance of Mik Kaminski's violin solo and Hugh McDowell's cello solo. The performance and release of In The Hall Of The Mountain King is especially compelling as it is the only known video recording of the "exploding cello" gag, although sadly, the camera cuts away at the big moments so only the immediate aftermath is seen.
SEE IT ON . Evil Woman SEE IT ON . Nightrider SEE IT ON . Strange Magic	Performance Recording Date: Some time between February 8 and February 11, 1976 Original Broadcast Date: March 5, 1976	These are live concert performances. Select songs from this performance were reused in April and June, later in 1976. The repeat performances from June 25, 1976 (with Natalie Cole introducing the band) survive on the bootleg market, which is a repeat performance of Strange Magic and Evil Woman only. A performance of Nightrider from the original airing on March 5 or the repeat from April 23, 1976 also survives in poor picture quality. The performance of Nightrider was released in streaming format only on July 31, 2020.
SEE IT ON . Livin' Thing SEE IT ON . Do Ya SEE IT ON . Telephone Line SEE IT ON . Rockaria! SEE IT Livin' Thing Reprise	Performance Recording Date: January 29, February 1 or February 2, 1977 Original Broadcast Date: February 18, 1977	This was another episode hosted by the Electric Light Orchestra. All performances by the band are 100% live. Livin' Thing opens the show, then Bev comes on stage to say hello and introduce Jeff, following with Jeff introducing the show, mentioning that Santana will be coming on the show later, and getting the audience excited for the "laser beam show" that will be shown during their set. This is then followed by live performances of Do Ya, Telephone Line and Rockaria!. At the end of the show, Bev comes back on stage to thank the audience and other live acts, followed by another performance of Livin' Thing over the show's closing credits. Because this is over the closing credits, it is incomplete, cutting off after beginning of the second verse ("Makin' believe this is what you conceive..."). This was ELO's final original performance on the show. Footage from this show would be repeated many times on later The Midnight Special episodes, with the performance of Telephone Line being used in at least five later episodes, including a much later episode in May of 1980.