Jeff Lynne is bringing ELO tour back to Chicago

It looks like Chicago fans won’t have to wait another three decades between tours with Jeff Lynne’s ELO rolling out 20 arena shows for next summer including one at The United Center! Lynne’s trek will cover all the bases, hitting Southern and Northern California; the Pacific Northwest; the Midwest; the South; the Northeast, along with a pair of Canadian stops. Jeff Lynne’s ELO rocks the United Center on Saturday, July 27th, 2019.

Lynne’s shows have been wowing fans and critics alike with a jam packed setlist featuring such classic Electric Light Orchestra songs as “Evil Woman,” “Showdown,” “Livin’ Thing,” “Do Ya,” “Xanadu,” “Sweet Talkin’ Woman,” “Telephone Line,” “Turn To Stone,” “Don’t Bring Me Down” — and even a take on the Traveling Wilburys‘ signature tune, “Handle With Care.”

Although Jeff Lynne is about as British as they come, he explained to Pulse why nearly all of his songs sound as if they’re sung by an American: “It’s just that when you start, all the records you learn, listen to and learn, they’re all singing in this twang; like a dialect. Y’know, it sounds so cool with music put to it. But when you start doing it, like somebody who’s very posh or something, it just doesn’t have any; it just sounds wrong. So we all tend to go onto the American dialect.”

This month marks the 30 anniversary of the Traveling Wilburys’ legendary debut album, Volume 1, featuring George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. Shortly before his 2001 death, George Harrison shed light to Pulse on why he chose Jeff Lynne to be his collaborator for his 1987 comeback album, Cloud Nine: “So I thought, well, I don’t want someone who’s going to boss me about and turn me into something I’m not. I want someone who has a bit of (laughs) respect for me (laughs) and for my past. I want to respect him, too. So I gave it quite a lot of thought and I — the only person I could think of was, who I would really like to make a record with, was Jeff Lynne. I suddenly thought, I’d been playing his records, and I thought, ‘Jeff, that’s it!’ So, Jeff Lynne, he’s it, if I can get to meet him and con him into (laughs) coming in to work with me.”

JUST ANNOUNCED: Jeff Lynne’s ELO North American tour dates (subject to change):

June 20 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center
June 22 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center
June 24 – San Jose, CA – SAP Center
June 26 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
June 28 – Tacoma, WA – Tacoma Dome
June 29 – Portland, OR – Moda Center
July 3 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
July 5 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
July 7 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
July 9 – Sunrise, FL – BB&T Center
July 11 – Washington, DC – Capital One Arena
July 13 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
July 16 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
July 18 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
July 20 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
July 23 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
July 25 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
July 27 – Chicago, IL – United Center
July 30 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena
August 1 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena