Wembley or Bust is a live album and concert film by Jeff Lynne's ELO. It was recorded during the Alone in the Universe Tour at Wembley Stadium. The album peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart and at number 12 on the BillboardTop Rock Albums. The album was also certified silver in the United Kingdom.
Jeff Lynne decided to reform the Electric Light Orchestra after BBC DJ Chris Evans and the listeners of his show expressed their desire to see ELO play live again.[1] Lynne recruited former ELO member Richard Tandy along with a new band and played a single concert in Hyde Park, London to a crowd of 50,000 in September 2014. After the success of the show, Lynne decided to produce another ELO album.[1] The album Alone in the Universe was released in November 2015,[2] and the band undertook the Alone in the Universe Tour to promote the record with a similar band from the Hyde Park Concert.
Recording[]
The album and film were both recorded during the Alone in the Universe Tour at Wembley Stadium, in London. The concert was performed in front of a sellout crowd of 60,000 on 24 June 2017.[3] The experience from the concert would later be described in the song "Time of Our Life" from the next ELO album From Out of Nowhere.
Songs[]
All of the songs played at the concert were included on the album and film. Almost all of the songs were previous ELO songs, with the exception of the Traveling Wilburys' song "Handle With Care", a band Jeff Lynne was formerly a member of.
The album received favorable reviews, with most of the discussion about how the complex sound of ELO was performed. The Decider said that "It sounds perfect. Pitch perfect. Every note. So perfect, it's just like listening to the record."[7]Audiophile Review similarly said, "it sure is swell to hear these dense, complex arrangements performed live as Jeff intended them to be heard!"[8]The Spill called it "A legendary performance from a world-class band".[6] In his review, Stephen Thomas Erlewine at AllMusic said that Wembley or Bust "could sometimes be mistaken for an ELO greatest-hits album", but he also mentioned that Lynne "is a little rougher and lower than he was at his peak".[4]
Track listing[]
Audio CD[]
All tracks are written by Jeff Lynne, except where noted.
Most of the band had performed with Jeff Lynne on previous occasions at Children In Need rocks in 2013, Festival In a Day at Hyde Park and Glastonbury 2016 though Celloists Amy Langley, Jessica Cox and Violinist Rosie Langley (who replaced Chereene Allen on Violin solos)[10] had appeared at Glastonbury as part of the Orchestra. Keyboardist Marcus Byrne replaced Richard Tandy on Piano and Vocoder,[11] causing his former role to be replaced by Jo Webb on keyboards, backing vocals & acoustic guitar (on "Handle with Care" (replacing Mick Wilson from Hyde Park)) [12]. Percussionist Mick Wilson was removed from the band before Glastonbury causing most of his role to be replaced by backing vocalist Iain Hormal & Melanie Lewis-McDonald.
Jeff Lynne's ELO
Jeff Lynne - lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, composer, lyricist, mixing engineer, producer
Mike Stevens - backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, musical director
Marcus Byrne - piano, keyboards, vocoder
Bernie Smith - synthesizer, keyboards
Donavan Hepburn - drums
Milton McDonald - backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
Lee Pomeroy - backing vocals, bass guitar
Jo Webb - backing vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar
Iain Hornal - lead and backing vocals, 12 string guitars, percussion
