Jeff Lynne’s ELO Announces North American Tour Launch

Jeff Lynne’s ELO is dusting off the spaceship for its first major North American tour in more than 35 years: a 10-city voyage lifting off Aug. 2 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.

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Tickets go on sale Nov. 17 via Ticketmaster for the three-week outing, which sees the band make stops in markets including Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, New York City, Toronto and winding down at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center Aug. 24.

The last time Electric Light Orchestra extensively toured the U.S., MTV was playing videos, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was the biggest movie, and “General Hospital” was all the rage.

While it may be the first such arena tour for the band in decades, Lynne and ELO have dipped their toes in the water very successfully in the U.S. the last couple of years, including a well-received three-night run at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in Sept. 2016.

Those were followed by two nearly sold-old nights at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall at 98 percent, commanding ticket prices up to $245 and a gross of $1,427,571.

Jeff Lynne’s ELO has been honing its chops in Europe for the last year as well, racking up arena sellouts in the U.K. and across the Continent. The band performed 20 arena dates through June of this year, plus a slot at Glastonbury 2016 and a show at London’s 98,000-capacity Wembley Stadium June 24.

In the last year-plus since ELO embarked on that European tour, the band has generated some 230,000 tickets sold, grossing $25,221,585 reported to Pollstar.

With numbers like that, ELO is more than ready to return to North America in a big way.

“Our audiences are amazing,” Lynne said in a statement. “It’s like they’re in the group. We can’t wait to play for them again.”

The tour announcement comes four days before the release of a live concert CD/DVD of “Wembley Or Bust,” the pre-order of which earns the buyer an access code to a Nov. 14 concert ticket presale.

American Express cardholders have a presale beginning Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. local times, Live Nation presale begins the next day and the public onsale kicks off Nov. 17.

The full tour routing can be found at the Jeff Lynne’s ELO artist site at Pollstar.com.