Jeff Lynne and ELO perform at Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 26, 2024.

LOS ANGELES — Could this really have been it? Of course, it’s really hard to believe pop stars when they try to sell us tickets for a so-called final tour, not when everyone from KISS to Motley Crue, Elton John, The Who, Cher and Slayer went back on those last goodbyes and returned to shamelessly pedal more ducats down the road.

Yet, there’s something in the way Jeff Lynne has always carried himself that makes one take him at his word when he promises that his ELO outfit is hanging it up – and parking the buses for good – after the Over and Out Tour concludes.

So, yeah, we have to believe that Saturday night’s show at the Kia Forum – which was the second date at the Los Angeles area venue as well as the next-to-last stop on the North America tour itinerary – will go down in history as the very last concert from Jeff Lynne’s ELO in California.

Jeff Lynne’s ELO performs at Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 26, 2024.

And, if so, then Lynne and company certainly went out on top as they celebrated the mighty legacy of the Electric Light Orchestra.

The 13-member ensemble – consisting of vocalist-guitarist Lynne, guitarist and musical director Mike Stevens, bassist Lee Pomeroy, drummer Donavan Hepburn, pianist Marcus Byrne, guitarist Milton McDonald, keyboardists Jo Webb and Shannon Harris, backing vocalists Melanie Lewis-McDonald and Iain Hornal, and a string section of Amy Langley, Jessie Murrphy and Jess Cox – sounded absolutely stellar (or, perhaps more appropriately, interstellar) as it soared through 20 songs during its 90-minute set.

Following an opening set from hometown rock act Rooney – led by Robert (brother of Jason) Schwartzman – the headliners took the stage and began thumbing through one of the magnificent catalogs in rock history.

Jeff Lynne’s ELO performs at Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 26, 2024.

Jeff Lynne and ELO charged right out of the gate with the tour mission statement “One More time,” as the 76-year-old bandleader made it crystal clear what the fans were indeed witnessing on this night.

“Gonna play those songs again,” Lynne sang. “It’s the best thing since I don’t know when. Just one more time.”

That opening number hails from the band’s most recent album, 2019’s From Out of Nowhere, and was the only “new” tune to make the cut.

Otherwise, Lynne just stuck to the A-list classics, mainly fueling the overjoyed crowd from that sensational run of albums that extended from 1974’s Eldorado to 1979’s Discovery (and, if we are counting soundtracks, 1980’s magical Xanadu as well).

Jeff Lynne’s ELO performs at Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Calif. on Oct. 26, 2024.

That translated to fan favorites like “Evil Woman,” from 1975’s Face the Music; and “Do Ya,” first recorded by Lynne’s earlier outfit The Move, but given new life on ELO’s A New World Record in 1976, during the first half of the show.

The band also touched upon a couple of numbers from its early albums; the glorious “10538 Overture” from Electric Light Orchestra’s eponymous 1971 debut (known in the U.S. as No Answer due to a misunderstanding between the group and its record label) and the subtle bluesy pop of “Showdown,” off 1973’s On the Third Day. Both nicely illustrated, in different ways, the rock-classical-hybrid sound that differentiated ELO from the field in the early ‘70s.

There were so many highlights that, well, it’s meaningless to even dub anything as a highlight. It was just one superb offering after another as Jeff Lynne – sounding even stronger than he did during the tour opener back in August at Acrisure Arena in the Palm Desert area – thrilled the crowd with joyous singalong “Sweet Talkin’ Woman,” disco nugget “Last Train To London” and, perhaps best of all, the pristine pop of “Can’t Get It Out Of My Head.” All along, the songs were accompanied by a spellbinding array of video graphics, lighting displays and laser light work.

ELO finished up the main set with an incredible run through “Turn to Stone,” “Shine a Little Love” and “Don’t Bring Me Down,” then returned for an encore of the fabulous “Mr. Blue Sky,” before leaving the fans to wonder one more time: Could this really have been Lynne’s last-ever show with ELO in California?

And if the answer turns out to be yes – once and for all — then what a tremendous way to say goodbye to his fans in the Golden State.

Setlist:
1. “One More Time”
2. “Evil Woman”
3. “Do Ya”
4. “Showdown”
5. “Last Train to London”
6. “Believe Me Now”
7. “Steppin’ Out”
8. “Rockaria!”
9. “10538 Overture”
10. “Strange Magic”
11. “Sweet Talkin’ Woman”
12. “Can’t Get It Out of My Head”
13. “Fire on High”
14. “Livin’ Thing”
15. “Telephone Line”
16. “All Over the World”
17. “Turn to Stone”
18. “Shine a Little Love”
19. “Don’t Bring Me Down”

Encore:
20. “Mr. Blue Sky”