Tour Analyses
Over the years, Jeff's various live shows held some interesting surprises, including changes in line-up and interesting song choices. These tour analyses attempt to give an in-depth look at each of the tours that Jeff Lynne was involved in, from start to finish, with careful attention to the songs played on the tours. Right now, only few of the tours are detailed, with plans for more soon.
For an in-depth analysis of a tour, click the tour title below:
Other than the Out Of The Blue and Time tours, the tours were not necessarily billed as a specific album tour. In truth, for much of ELO's early history, the band simply toured continuously-- mostly between the UK and USA-- and just promoted whatever the current release was at the time. For example, the Face The Music album was released in August 1975 and the band commenced touring pretty much continuously from then to August of 1977 with breaks in Decembers for Christmas, July 1976 to record an album and May 1976 simply because the band was exhausted. During this period, three albums were released (Face The Music, Olé ELO and A New World Record) with any performances simply in support of the current-at-the-time and earlier LPs with the setlist changing according to whatever the newest album was at the time.
The timeline below attempts to generally show ELO's touring activities over a selected period. Sections in black are when the band was taking a vacation and/or their activities were unknown.
| TBD | ELO 2 Tour | Showdown & OTTD Sessions | ? | ELO II Tour | OTTD Sessions | ? | OTTD Tour w/ Christmas/winter break in January |
Eldorado Sessions | OTTD & TNTLWOILB Tour (continued) | ? | Eldorado Tour w/ Christmas break in December |
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| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
| * * * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eldorado Tour (continued) w/ break in January |
FTM Sessions |
Eldorado Tour | FTM Tour w/ Christmas break in December and cancelled shows in May |
ANWR Sessions | FTM Tour (continued) |
? | ANWR Tour w/ Christmas break in December | ? | OOTB Sessions | ? | OOTB Tour | ? | Discovery Sessions | ? | Xanadu Sessions (off and on with Christmas break) |
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| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
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| * * * | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Xanadu Sessions (continued) |
? | Time Sessions (dates uncertain) |
? | Time Tour w/ Christmas break in December and time off in January |
TBD | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
Notice any errors or omissions? Let me know at jefflynnesongs@gmail.com.
Robert Porter
September 2024