Jeff Lynne performing on opening night of his 2024 tour at Palm Desert, CA (Photo: Jason Stoltzfus via Live Nation)
Jeff Lynne has cancelled his performance at London’s Hyde Park that was scheduled for Sunday, July 13, 2025. The announcement, posted on his social media platforms today (July 12) shortly after 10 a.m. ET, was for health reasons. “Jeff has been battling a system infection and is currently in the care of a team of doctors who have advised him that performing is simply not possible at this time,” it said. It will not be rescheduled. The announcement apparently puts an end to his touring days; the performance for Jeff Lynne’s ELO on July 10 in Manchester had been cancelled just minutes before its scheduled start. The maestro had performed the first three concerts of the brief U.K. leg of his “Over and Out” tour, with two shows in his hometown of Birmingham and one in Manchester. However, he was unable to play guitar at those concerts due to a broken hand suffered in a recent traffic accident while he was a passenger in a taxi.
Jeff Lynne revealing his broken hand that prevented him from playing guitar at his July 5, 2025, concert in Birmingham.
The July 12 announcement indicated that Lynne is “heartbroken” about the decision to cancel. It noted, “The legacy of the band and his longtime fans are foremost in Jeff’s mind today – and while he is so sorry that he cannot perform, he knows that he must focus on his health and rehabilitation at this time.” Lynne turned 77 on December 24, 2024.
The brief tour was to consist of four arena shows—a pair each in Birmingham at the Utilita Arena and Manchester’s Co-op Live—in advance of what was billed as the band’s final concert, to be held at London’s Hyde Park on July 13. The star-studded lineup for the finale was to include the Doobie Brothers, Steve Winwood and Dhani Harrison. Harrison, who served as the opening act for Lynne’s 2019 tour, was the sole support act for the earlier arena dates.
Towards the end of Wednesday’s (July 9) concert in Manchester, Lynne, looking noticeably weaker, ultimately sat in a chair during the last few songs. It appeared that he had difficulty singing “Mr. Blue Sky,” the evening’s final song, as many fans speculated afterwards about his health beyond his broken hand. It appeared Lynne needed assistance coming off the stage.
Related: Our recap of the 2025 tour’s opening night in Birmingham, U.K.
The London performance, first revealed in The Times (U.K.) on October 20, 2024, included a brief quote by the Electric Light Orchestra mastermind. “My return to touring began at Hyde Park in 2014,” Lynne told The Times. “It seems like the perfect place to do our final show. We couldn’t be more excited to share this special night in London with our U.K. fans. As the song goes, ‘we’re gonna do it One More Time!’” At the time, no mention of whether the London concert—which quickly sold out, and is part of the annual BST Hyde Park program—would be the culmination of a 2025 U.K. tour, though it was anticipated that Lynne would do a summer run there. Surprisingly, no other cities were added other than Birmingham and Manchester. Tickets quickly sold out.
Related: Our review of the tour’s final U.S. performance, on Oct. 29, 2024
The band’s 2014 Hyde Park concert led to a pair of shows at small venues in New York and Los Angeles in 2015. In subsequent years, Lynne booked larger and even larger venues in North America, the U.K. and Europe.
Related: Our reviews of the 2014 Hyde Park concert, 2015 at NYC’s Irving Plaza, 2016 at Radio City Music Hall and 2018 at Madison Square Garden
Jeff Lynne’s ELO, as the band has been known for a decade, finished its “The Over and Out” 2024 North American tour on October 29. The 31 shows represented his first tour in five years. But there was never a hint about a U.K. run. The original 2024 tour announcement on March 19, billed as the final tour, followed a pair of teaser posts on his various social media accounts. (Those were preceded by a Facebook post on Christmas Eve that noted, “I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.”)
Lynne made his first stage performance in four years when he played a 10-song set at Joe Walsh’s VetsAid benefit concert on November 12, 2023.
Watch Jeff Lynne’s ELO perform “All Over the World” during their VetsAid set
Lynne’s most recent studio album was From Out of Nowhere, released in November 2019 and the first from Jeff Lynne’s ELO since 2015. Order it in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. It followed 2015’s Alone in the Universe, which initiated a burst of activity from the maestro. Lynne resumed touring with a new edition of the Electric Light Orchestra, now dubbed Jeff Lynne’s ELO. The band did a 2019 summer tour in the U.S. and had booked a 2020 U.K. tour which was canceled due to the pandemic.
Jeff Lynne’s ELO performing on opening night of their 2024 tour at Palm Desert, CA (Photo: Jason Stoltzfus via Live Nation)
Related: Our recap of opening night of the 2024 tour
Related: Listings for 100s of classic rock tours
ELO recordings are available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.
3 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationThe ELO Show in Detroit was the best I’ve ever experienced in over 50 years of going to rock shows….
It was such a great show, I wish I could do it all over again.
Great show in Seattle!
Flew over from Oz, and it was a good excuse to drive down the coast to LA.