Caught Live (4): ELO Again @ The Robin 03/04/15

ELO Again: Reproducing the classic ELO live sound

#884: Hello ... Hello ... my old friends ... It's great to see you once again! ELO Again returned to Midlands last night (Friday 3rd April) and totally rocked a packed house at The Robin 2 with an energetic and dynamic powerhouse performance. Whilst it can difficult to review the same artiste without repeating certain phrases and adjectives, the spectacle provided by the South Wales based band - aided by an informed audience and the amazingly good sound (my compliments to the house) - was impressive.

ELO Again: Tripping the Electric Light fantastic

And this was without the impressive visual effects seen at their show at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham last month as well the omission from the set of "Hold On Tight" and "Big Wheels". I expected a professional and entertaining show but got a whole lot more. In particular, the amplification of lead guitar of Colin Smith (a.k.a. Jet Flynn) made a tremendous difference to the overall sound with the drums of Clive Smith (Dev Devon!) seemingly more prominent too. Add to that the perfectly amplified sublime string section of Gaelle, Sarah and Sion, the classy keys of Mike Holcombe (Rick Candy!) and the booming bass (and certain operatic high notes) of Jim Ramsey and you had a great show.

The light show was at times reminiscent of the Jet Records logo

I always love hearing "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" performed live but the highlight of last night had to be the entire first set, including a superb "10538 Overture" and "Ma Ma Ma Belle". The second set including a stringed up "Twilight" (replete with diving cellos) and the crowd pleasing, if not highly vocal "Telephone Line" was also memorable. ELO Again, last night, upped their game.

ELO Again performed: "Standin' In The Rain" ~ "10538 Overture" ~ "Evil Woman" ~ "Livin' Thing" ~ "Wild West Hero" ~ "Ma Ma Ma Belle" ~ "Showdown" ~ "Sweet Talkin' Woman" ~ "All Over The World" ~ "The Diary Of Horace Wimp" ~ "Twilight" ~ "Do Ya" ~ "Can't Get It Out Of My Head" ~ "Confusion" ~ "Shine A Little Love" ~ Gaelle's violin solo ~ "Last Train To London" ~ "Telephone Line" ~ "Rock 'n' Roll Is King" ~ "Turn To Stone" ~ "Rockaria!" ~ "Mr. Blue Sky" ~ "Don't Bring Me Down" ~ "Roll Over Beethoven"

ELO Again are: Colin Smith (Guitar/Lead Vox) ~ Jim Ramsey (Bass/Vox) ~ Mike Holcombe (Keyboards/Vocoder) ~ Clive Smith (Drums/Vox) ~ Gaelle Favre (Violin) ~ Sarah Waycott (Cello) ~ Sion Dawson (Cello/Guitar). Check out their official website thus:

www.eloagain.co.uk

ELO Beatles Forever (ELOBF) recommends ELO Again to those enlightened folks who enjoy the music of ELO/Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, The Move, 'Brum Beat', The Beatles and related artistes.

Until next "Time" in the ELO (and related) Universe ... KJS ... 04-Apr-2015