CBSO: It’s A Living Thing – Symphony Hall, Birmingham

Conductor: Richard Balcombe

There’s little doubt that 1960s pop music belonged to Liverpool and the Merseybeat. But one can make an argument that the 70s belonged further south, centred on Birmingham, with such iconic bands as Black Sabbath, The Moody Blues, Slade, Duran Duran, UB40 and, of course, the subject of tonight’s concert, ELO. Early pop music would add orchestral arrangements to beef songs up, but this was typically an afterthought. Then The Beatles, growing in maturity, produced Strawberry Fields Forever, which, it’s said, inspired Jeff Lynne, with Bev Bevan and Roy Wood to form ELO, with its fusion of orchestral music with guitar-based pop and rock to “pick up where The Beatles left off.” It was a recipe that was to prove successful even after Wood left to form Wizzard (another band that could be on the list of Midlands alumni above). The band entered a hiatus in 1986 but has had revivals led by Bevan and Lynne in the last few years.

Tonight’s conductor, curator and arranger, Richard Balcombe, is well known for devising and directing symphonic pops programmes with Graham Bickley under the flag of GRB Concerts, so it’s unsurprising that they should turn their attention to the back catalogue of ELO: what is surprising is that they didn’t do it earlier.

In tonight’s programme, Balcombe and Bickley explain that the concert was produced “with ELO’s unique sound in mind, expanding it with a full symphony orchestra, band, choir and six singers to replicate the iconic wall of sound.” Are they successful? In spades! Indeed, a founder member, Bill Hunt, is in tonight’s audience and gives an enthusiastic thumbs up at the close.

Balcombe has curated a concert that runs the whole gamut of ELO music, across its eras. All the expected songs are there with maybe a few surprises. Balcombe’s conducting style, while understated, exudes authority.

The first thing that one notices is the depth and resonance given to the music by the luxury of a full orchestra alongside guitars and drums – with the orchestra very much an equal partner in the arrangements. The mellotron is replaced by the power of the CBSO Chorus, and we have two powerhouse lead singers, Stuart Matthew Price and Patrick Smyth, to guide us through the evening. There’s no fewer than four backing singers to add to the musical tapestry.

Smyth has a powerful rocky voice with a strong falsetto, while Price’s voice is more resonant in the lower registers with a bluesy feel. Price, in particular, really lives his songs, seeming to sing with his entire body. Notable among the set list is a later, perhaps lesser-known track, When I Was A Boy from the 2015 album, Alone in the Universe, penned by Lynne. Smyth introduces this as a semi-autobiographical work about Lynne’s dreams as he grew up in Birmingham. It’s more introspective than much of the rest of the evening’s offerings and is really rather moving and touching.

One of the backing singers, Heather Lundstedt-Price, blows the roof clean off Symphony Hall with her soprano sections of Rock Aria, her clear voice slicing through the orchestral backing. She later returns to emulate Olivia Newton-John in Xanadu showing she’s a capable pop singer too.

ELO’s fourth album, Eldorado, was the first to feature an actual orchestra in the recordings rather than using overdubbing of the resident string players. One can immediately hear the difference this allowed Lynne and co-arranger Louis Clark as the orchestral sound in the overture and finale fills the hall; Bickley steps up to provide the voiceover on the overture and finale as well as performing lead singing duties on Can’t Get it Out of My Head, showing off his fine light tenor voice.

Many members of the audience were wearing ELO gig T-shirts of various vintages, and they would perhaps provide the strongest critical voice of this reworking of ELO’s oeuvre; the rapturous standing ovation and dancing in the aisles to Mr Blue Sky and the encore, Roll Over Beethoven provides their seal of approval to this impressive and respectful recreation of the ELO concept and sound.

Reviewed on 8 March 2025