On their farewell tour, Jeff Lynne's ELO could have used more Jeff Lynne

On Monday, the inanimate, soft-spoken Lynne moved cautiously. He never recorded guitar solos, only playing rhythm guitar. Most importantly, his voice was a bit rough at times and he often didn't even attempt to reach his high notes, instead relying on backup singers Iain Hornal and Melanie Lewis-McDonald to support him.

Still, the 88-minute performance sounded superior to other arena rock concerts. The sound was wonderfully crisp and clear; Listeners were able to enjoy every instrument, from the piano to the three-piece string section to the vocoder. This was important because ELO is a sound festival, a delicious mix of rock, pop, R&B, disco and classical music with six-part vocal harmonies.

Lynne is a musical synthesizer who doesn't hide his influences, which was evident Monday – on the Beach Boys harmonies (“Sweet Talkin' Woman,” “Turn to Stone”), the rock 'n' roll of Little Richard (“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 2019, there was nothing from the catalog of the Traveling Wilburys, Lynne's supergroup with Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Tom Petty. For the most loyal fans there were a few deep ELO pieces – including the violin-driven instrumental “Fire on High”. But the 15,000 crowd loved the rousing “Sweet Talkin' Woman” (featuring Lynne's commanding vocal performance) and the epic “Rockaria!” (with Hornal doing the rock'n'roll parts and Lewis-McDonald the aria parts) and the fiery rave- Up “Turn to Stone” (with Hornal and Lewis-McDonald sparkling like diamonds as lead singers).

ELO cut one number, “Believe Me Now”, so Lynne could sing “Last Train to London” with the opening verse “It was nine twentynine/ Nine twentynine, back street, big city” at the exact time. Unfortunately it was 9:28pm when he gave the talk, just a little off as it was the middle of the night.

The concert was opened by Rooney, a pop band from Los Angeles that has been around for 25 years. Although his sound was solid, Rooney may be more notable due to leader Robert Schwartzman's lineage; He is the son of actress Talia Shire, brother of actor Jason Schwartzman and nephew of filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.