(Credits: Far Out / Jeff Lynne)
Thu 29 January 2026 17:30, UK
Ever since Jeff Lynne heard The Beatles working on The White Album, he knew there was no career for him other than musician.
“I didn’t actually listen to The White Album,” said Lynne, recalling the event. “I was invited to Abbey Road by an engineer I knew from where I was recording the first Idle Race album [Advision Studios]. But all I saw was Paul and Ringo in one studio and John and George in the other. They were really friendly, the lads, and there was George Martin, leaping around, conducting the strings for ‘Glass Onion’. I couldn’t believe I was there! I couldn’t sleep for days.”
So many great musicians’ careers began with The Beatles. When you look at a lot of artists who were getting their start in the 1960s and ‘70s, when they’re asked about who their influences were, they say The Beatles, and it’s easy to understand why. The band were masters of rhythm and melody, plus, they could write lyrics which tapped into the heart and soul of everyone within earshot. We’ll never have another like them, but we did have many musicians find fame who were directly inspired by them.
Lynne was very much channelling The Beatles when he started writing music, but he didn’t have three other bandmates to bounce off when coming up with different ideas. Instead, he was locked away, driving himself wild with his own contrasting thoughts, but coming up with some truly exceptional music in the process.
The influence was clear, as Lynne’s band ELO were once dubbed the “sons of The Beatles”, something which he was extremely happy with. “That was a rather good compliment,” he said, “I’ve still got that down on tape… I admired all of them, to be honest.”
Off the back of being inspired by The Beatles and his sudden devotion to the craft of songwriting, Jeff Lynne has had an incredibly successful career, one which hasn’t just come with hits, but has also resulted in him performing to sold-out arenas around the world. He was planning to play his final ELO shows last year, but had to call them early due to health reasons, and as such, as bitter a pill as it is to swallow, we may have seen Lynne perform live for the final time.
So, what was the last song that Jeff Lynne played live?
“Unfortunately, due to illness, tonight’s scheduled performance of Jeff Lynne’s ELO at the Co-op Live will not be going ahead,” came the announcement on social media when it was revealed that Lynne wouldn’t be able to finish his run of gigs in the UK.
Adding, “Jeff is devastated he cannot perform this evening. More information will become available as soon as possible.”
Lynne hasn’t performed since these shows, and it’s looking less and less likely that he will again. His show at Hyde Park was supposed to be his last, and unfortunately, he had to call it off, and as such, the track he ended his set with in Birmingham on July 5th, 2025, may well be the last song he ever plays live, and how fitting that it was his biggest track, ‘Mr Blue Sky’.
Yes, the song that the majority of people know Lynne for and which is easily his greatest to sing along to is the last he ever played on stage. It’s fitting that his final moments performing live will have been spent providing joy, with an audience singing a time-tested classic, and everyone in the space being reminded why he is and always will be such a prolific musician.
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