Wembley or Bust

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.

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.

Prior to the album and DVD's release, in addition to a trailer,^[4] 3 videos were taken from the film and were released on ELO's YouTube channel, the songs featured in the videos were: "Turn to Stone", "Telephone Line", and "Evil Woman".^[5][6][7]

Wembley or Bust was released via record labels Big Trilby, Columbia, and Sony Music. It was made available on CD, LP, and digital download.^[3]

In 2018 a book entitled Wembley or Bust was released, limited to only 1,500 copies.^[8] The book is about Lynne's music career and the planning that went into the Wembley or Bust concert.^[9] Included with the book was a 7" vinyl picture disc with the live recordings of "Xanadu" and "Don't Bring Me Down".^[8][10]

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 of which Jeff Lynne was formerly a member.

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Record Collector	[12]
The Spill Magazine	[13]

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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."^[14] Audiophile Review similarly said, "it sure is swell to hear these dense, complex arrangements performed live as Jeff intended them to be heard!"^[15] The Spill Magazine called it "A legendary performance from a world-class band".^[13] 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".^[11]

Personnel for the live album and film.^[16]

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 the celloists Amy Langley, Jessica Cox and the violinist Rosie Langley (who replaced Chereene Allen on violin solos)^[17] had appeared at Glastonbury as part of the Orchestra. The keyboardist, Marcus Byrne, replaced Richard Tandy on piano and vocoder,^[18] causing his former role to be replaced by Jo Webb on keyboards, backing vocals and acoustic guitar (on "Handle with Care" (replacing Mick Wilson from Hyde Park)).^[19] The percussionist, Mick Wilson, was removed from the band before Glastonbury causing most of his role to be replaced by the backing vocalist Iain Hormal and 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, fire extinguisher
• Melanie Lewis-McDonald – lead and backing vocals
• Rosie Langley – violin
• Amy Langley – cello
• Jessica Cox – cello

Additional personnel

• Craig Fruin – manager
• Steve Jay – mixing engineer
• Adam Ayan – mastering engineer
• Carsten Windhorst – photography
• Gerard Hynes – photography
• Kris Goodman – photography
• Ryan Corey – art direction, design, illustration