The ELO Experience to play Hull New Theatre
There are countless tribute acts for most classic rock bands, yet The Electric Light Orchestra missed out on the love.
That was until a group of musicians from Hull banded together as The ELO Experience, performing the bands' chart hits from 1974 to 1986.
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Experience it: The ELO Experience are performing at Hull New Theatre on January 11.
Their records can be difficult to reproduce live, tracks like Ma Ma Ma Belle, Showdown, Livin' Thing and Mr Blue Sky.
Andy Louis, lead singer and guitarist with The ELO Experience, said it takes years of practice.
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"You've got to have good musicians and we have some excellent players, especially Steve Hemsley our keyboard player and musical director," he said.
"You also need to work hard and enjoy it.
"We are massive fans of ELO and had the idea to start a tribute band about 15 to 20 years ago, but we only really got going about seven or eight years ago."
Things started slowly for the group and they played at a number of venues in East Yorkshire.
"Nobody else was doing it," Andy said. "There wasn't a tribute band for ELO and we are still going from strength to strength."
The ELO Experience was so well received and the musicians were invited to play a short residency in Las Vegas in 2008.
Andy said: "It came about through some contacts I'd made over there when doing an Elvis Presley tribute.
"I sent them a recording of us and it went from there.
"It was a great experience for the band and we hope we'll repeat it."
A year after the trip to the US, the group lost bassist and founder member Peter Allinson, who died within a few months of ELO's bass player Kelly Groucutt.
Andy said the band always think of Peter and Kelly had been to see them a few times and praised their live performances.
"Mik Kaminski, the band's violinist, also came to see us and at one point, when The Orchestra was in danger of having to break up, he came close to joining us," Andy said.
"Mik actually told us that we do some things the original band would never have tried – The Diary Of Horace Wimp for example – they never played it live."
The show itself is a two- hour trip through the career of one of Britain's best bands and they always expand their repertoire.
Andy said: "We want to be careful and not over-complicate the set.
"We want everyone to recognise all of the songs and have a great time."
• The ELO Experience will perform at Hull New Theatre on January 11.
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