The Orchestra at The Grand Opera House, York -
21st June 2006
We made the
short trip to York on the afternoon of 21st June leaving
a couple of hours spare to have a walk around and something to eat
before heading to The Grand Opera House to see The Orchestra. As
I’d heard about the gig early enough I’d managed to get front row
tickets.
I’d been a big
fan of ELO from the early days since I heard Mr. Blue Sky for the
first time in 1977 – a blue vinyl copy played at a school friend’s
birthday party. Since then I’ve bought just about every album I
could but I’d never seen them play live in any of their different
line-ups. This was a first for me.
On entering the
Grand Opera House, we found out that Kelly and Hux would be
appearing to sign merchandise at some point so we hung around that
area.
We weren’t to
be disappointed. Having initially bought No Rewind and Kelly’s
self-titled album, I got the latter signed by the man himself.
I then
approached him again and apologised for bothering him for a photo.
Kelly said it was no bother at all and we posed for a picture and he
told us to enjoy the show. We then met Hux and got another photo
with him.
The gig itself
started at around 8:45pm, following the warm up by Dean Johnson from
Liverpool; a great guitarist/singer who described himself to those
at the back as a cross between James Nesbitt and Robert Plant.
Apparently, because of his origins, at one point Mik Kaminski had
jokingly accused him of nicking the wheel’s off their spaceship :O)
The band opened
with Evil Woman and then proceeded to knock out all the other
favourites from the past with relentless enthusiasm, including Mr.
Blue Sky, Turn To Stone, Sweet Talkin’ Woman, Wild West Hero, Ticket
To The Moon (included in the set after it was a big success in
Russia), Roll Over Beethoven, Rockaria, Ma Ma Ma Belle, Shine A
Little Love and a really spine-tingling solo acoustic version of
Midnight Blue by Kelly. The guys were clearly enjoying themselves
on stage as they were carried along by the keen sell-out audience.
Kelly's
incredible vocal range is still there after over 30 years in the
business and with the traditional accompaniment from Mik Kaminski
and his trademark blue violin, plus the superb talents of Eric
Troyer, Parthenon 'Hux' Huxley, Louis Clark and the powerful
drumming of Gordon Townsend, this is a very strong musical package
not to be missed. The ELO sound is still very much alive and well.
Intertwined
with the well-known hits were a few tracks from the latest album, No
Rewind, including The Orchestra’s new interpretation of Twist &
Shout beginning with a brilliant violin intro. from Mik Kaminski.
After nearly
two hours of incredible music, we came to the traditional encore of
Don’t Bring Me down.
 
As with other
gigs, Kelly had the whole audience on their feet singing along,
repeating the chorus until he was happy that we were all making as
much noise as possible.
All too soon it
was over. An incredible night’s entertainment and well worth
the money.
A few of us
gathered outside the stage door afterwards like aging groupies,
waiting for the band to leave. Through the glass of the door we
could see Kelly, Mik and Louis wandering about inside, sipping wine,
etc. but shortly after that Hux appeared outside, followed by Eric
and then Gordon. They were quite happy to chat and sign autographs.
No appearance
by Kelly, Louis or Mik this time – either they were shy or they knew
what we were like !
Even now as I
write this four days later, I’m still buzzing from the experience.
They say that some bands improve with age and this is the case with
The Orchestra.
Roll on the
next tour – we’ll be there for definite.
Review & photos by
Nick Barker - 26th June 2006
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