Marriott
Four Points by Sheraton Munich Arabellapark
Arabellapark, Bogenhausen, Munich
The hotel in the Arabella high-rise itself, 446 rooms over the floors that stood above Musicland. The studio is gone; the tower is the same.
Check roomsBirmingham 1970 · Munich 1977 · Wembley 2017
Electric Light Orchestra
A Birmingham band that put cellos on rock. Out of the Blue was written in an Alpine chalet through weeks of rain, and its third side ends on the morning the sun came out.
Shard End and Broad Street, Birmingham · 1947–1970
A £2 guitar in Shard End.
Cellos on a B-side.
Jeff Lynne was born in Birmingham on 30 December 1947 and grew up in Shard End, going to Alderlea Boys’ Secondary School. His father bought him his first acoustic guitar for £2.
In 1966 he answered an advertisement in the Birmingham Evening Mail and joined the Nightriders, later the Idle Race, as guitarist; he was their main songwriter until 1970.
Where he grew up; the family home is private, so it is not named or pinned. The photograph is Shard End Lake.
Where this comes from
The Move formed in Birmingham in December 1965: Trevor Burton, Ace Kefford and Roy Wood jammed at the Cedar Club, then asked Carl Wayne and Bev Bevan to join. Lynne joined the Move in 1970, at Roy Wood’s invitation.
ELO was formed in Birmingham in 1970 by Lynne, Wood and the drummer Bev Bevan, growing out of the Move. Wood’s idea, from 1968, was a rock band built around violins, cellos, horns and woodwind.
On 12 July 1970 Wood put cellos on a Lynne song meant as a Move B-side. It became 10538 Overture, the first ELO song and a top-ten hit.
The Walk of Stars, Broad Street
Lynne was given a star on the Birmingham Walk of Stars in 2014, the year Birmingham City University made him an honorary doctor.
Pavement stars along Broad Street, free to walk any time. Look down.
Where this comes from
Broadcasting House · 7am, Saturday 30 September 1967
The first record on Radio 1.
The Move’s.
Radio 1 went on air at 7am on Saturday 30 September 1967, with Tony Blackburn presenting the breakfast show. The first complete record it played was the Move’s Flowers in the Rain; a theme tune and a jingle were heard before it.
Roy Wood wrote it; Carl Wayne sang lead with Wood, and it reached number 2 in Britain.
A promotional postcard with a cartoon of the prime minister, Harold Wilson, led him to sue; the High Court sent the song’s royalties to charities of his choosing, and by the 1990s they had passed £200,000.
For more than 20 years Radio 1 went out from a pair of continuity suites in Broadcasting House; it moved across the road to Egton House in 1985.
A working BBC building: see the curved stone front from Portland Place and the piazza.
Where this comes from
Little John’s Farm, Reading · 12 August 1972
Strings you could hear.
Pickups, first used at Reading.
Pickups let ELO’s string players be heard on stage. The band first used them at the Reading Festival on 12 August 1972.
Roy Wood left during the second album, taking Bill Hunt and Hugh McDowell with him to form Wizzard.
Where this comes from
Little John’s Farm, Reading · Richfield Avenue, Reading
The festival found its permanent home in Reading in 1971, at Little John’s Farm on Richfield Avenue, near Caversham Bridge. It runs over the August bank holiday weekend, Friday to Sunday.
Riverside fields by Caversham Bridge; the festival fills them over the August bank holiday weekend.
Where this comes from
A rented chalet in the Swiss Alps · 1977
Three and a half weeks of rain.
Then the sun.
Lynne wrote the whole of Out of the Blue in three and a half weeks, in a rented chalet in the Swiss Alps. A weather house works on a twisted gut string that takes in the damp: wet air, and the figure with the umbrella comes out; dry, and the one in her Sunday best. Twist the string through side three of Out of the Blue.
Side three · Concerto for a Rainy Day
- 1Standin’ in the Rain
- 2Big Wheels
- 3Summer and Lightning
- 4Mr. Blue Sky
Rain on the chalet roof. Twist the string.
The relentless rain there gave him Concerto for a Rainy Day, side three: Standin’ in the Rain, Big Wheels, Summer and Lightning and Mr. Blue Sky.
The tracks run in the album’s order; nobody has said which was written on which day.
Where this comes from
Arabellapark, Bogenhausen, Munich · May–August 1977
The rain was taped in Munich.
Under a 23-storey tower.
Basement · Musicland
- 1975Face the Music
- 1976A New World Record
- 1977Out of the Blue
- 1979Discovery
- 1979Xanadu
- 1981Time
Giorgio Moroder started Musicland in the basement of the Arabella high-rise in the early 1970s; it was enlarged in 1973 with the engineer Reinhold Mack.
ELO made Face the Music, A New World Record, Out of the Blue, Discovery, the Xanadu soundtrack and Time there, from 1975 to 1981. Out of the Blue was recorded at Musicland from May to August 1977, about two months, with Mack engineering.
It came out in Britain on 28 October 1977, a double album, and had sold about 10 million copies by 2007. Queen, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin recorded at Musicland too.
The tower went up in 1966–69 to Toby Schmidbauer’s design: 23 floors, 75 metres. Most of its flats became hotel rooms for the 1972 Olympics; today it holds the Four Points by Sheraton, the Arabella Klinik, flats and offices.
Musicland closed at the start of the 1990s. Wikipedia blames noise from the U-Bahn; Mack has said a rent rise of almost 100 per cent ended it.
The studio is gone. The tower is a hotel, clinic, flats and offices; stay in the hotel to go in, or see it from Arabellapark.
Where this comes from
Queen recorded here too: the Queen World.
Wembley Arena · 1978
Eight nights running.
Ninety-two dates in nine months.
The 1978 Out of the Blue tour ran nine months and 92 dates, with a huge spaceship stage, fog machines and lasers. ELO played eight sold-out nights in a row at Wembley Arena.
It was the highest-grossing tour in music up to then; in America, billed as The Big Night, the Cleveland Stadium show drew 62,000.
Where this comes from
Wembley Arena · OVO Arena Wembley, Engineers Way
The concert film Out of the Blue: Live at Wembley comes from that tour.
A working arena, now OVO Arena Wembley: go in with a ticket for a show.
Where this comes from
OVO Arena Wembley
A show at the old Empire Pool
Engineers Way, Wembley · Ticketed shows · see the venue’s listings
Wembley Arena in 1978, OVO Arena Wembley now. Go to a show to go inside the hall ELO filled eight nights running.
See the venue
Jeff Lynne’s ELO · London
Twenty-eight years after Stuttgart.
Pick a year.
ELO’s last show had been on 13 July 1986 in Stuttgart, supporting Rod Stewart; the split was not announced for about two years.
On 14 September 2014 BBC Radio 2 held its Festival in a Day in Hyde Park. The 50,000 tickets sold out in 15 minutes.
Where this comes from
Hyde Park
Lynne and Richard Tandy were backed by Gary Barlow’s band and the BBC Concert Orchestra.
A royal park, open every day. Summer concerts are ticketed; the rest of the park stays free.
Where this comes from
1750 North Vine Street, Hollywood · April 2015
A star on the pavement.
Mr. Blue Sky’s own.
Lynne’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was dedicated in April 2015, near 1750 North Vine Street, in front of the Capitol Records building.
It was the 2,548th star; Tom Petty and Joe Walsh helped to host.
In 1988 Lynne formed the Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. ELO went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 7 April 2017: Wood, Lynne, Bevan and Tandy.
On the pavement outside the Capitol Records tower, by Hollywood and Vine. Free, any time.
Where this comes from
Two Wilburys have Worlds of their own: Roy Orbison and Tom Petty.
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Hollywood walking tours
Hollywood, Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for Hollywood Boulevard and Walk of Fame walks. Check each route reaches Vine Street.
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Compare toursWhere it is now
8 places on the map, in Birmingham, London, Reading, Munich and Hollywood. Shard End is where Lynne grew up, a private family home, so it is shown but not pinned.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Pavement stars along Broad Street, free to walk any time. Look down.
Jeff Lynne’s star on Broad Street, 2018. Zorro2212 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Broad Street, Birmingham city centre
The Walk of Stars, Broad Street
The Move formed in Birmingham in December 1965: Trevor Burton, Ace Kefford and Roy Wood jammed at the Cedar Club, then asked Carl Wayne and Bev Bevan to join.
Pavement stars along Broad Street, free to walk any time. Look down.
Where this comes from
Stay
Sleep above the basement.
The hotel in the Arabella high-rise.
Marriott
Four Points by Sheraton Munich Arabellapark
Arabellapark, Bogenhausen, Munich
The hotel in the Arabella high-rise itself, 446 rooms over the floors that stood above Musicland. The studio is gone; the tower is the same.
Check roomsGo there
Stand where it happened.
Wembley’s stadium tour, a show at the old Empire Pool, and walks in Hollywood and Munich.
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium tour
Wembley Park, London · Prices on the booking page
The standard tour goes into areas usually kept for the big sport and music names; a VIP tour with a private guide goes further.
See toursOVO Arena Wembley
A show at the old Empire Pool
Engineers Way, Wembley · Ticketed shows · see the venue’s listings
Wembley Arena in 1978, OVO Arena Wembley now. Go to a show to go inside the hall ELO filled eight nights running.
See the venueViator · Ad / affiliate
Hollywood walking tours
Hollywood, Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for Hollywood Boulevard and Walk of Fame walks. Check each route reaches Vine Street.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours
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Munich city tours
Munich
Live marketplace results for Munich walks and bike tours. None is about ELO; the Arabella high-rise is out east in Bogenhausen.
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Compare toursWhat’s on
The songs, live.
No dates are announced.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
Records.
Out of the Blue and A New World Record on their first British pressings.
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Out of the Blue
Electric Light Orchestra · 2×LP, Jet, 1977
The British double LP of 28 October 1977, made at Musicland. Side three is the rainy one.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyeBay · Ad / affiliate
A New World Record
Electric Light Orchestra · LP, Jet, 1976
The 1976 British LP, also made at Musicland.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
The weather log
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
9 of 9 places · 11 of 11 Moments
Shard End
Shard End, east Birmingham
Shard End
Jeff Lynne is born in Birmingham and grows up in Shard End.
The Walk of Stars, Broad Street
Broad Street, Birmingham city centre
The Move
Roy Wood’s band forms in Birmingham, Bev Bevan on drums.
10538 Overture
Wood puts cellos on a Lynne song, and ELO begins.
Broadcasting House
Portland Place, Marylebone
Seven in the morning
Flowers in the Rain is the first complete record on Radio 1.
Little John’s Farm, Reading
Richfield Avenue, Reading
Strings you can hear
ELO play Reading with pickups on the strings for the first time.
Musicland, under the Arabella high-rise
Arabellapark, Bogenhausen, Munich
Three and a half weeks of rain
Lynne writes Out of the Blue in a Swiss chalet; the sun comes out for Mr. Blue Sky.
Out of the Blue
Recorded under the Arabella high-rise with Mack, rain and thunder taped in Munich.
Wembley Arena
OVO Arena Wembley, Engineers Way
Eight nights
The spaceship tour plays eight sold-out nights at Wembley Arena.
Hyde Park
Hyde Park, Westminster
Festival in a Day
50,000 tickets, gone in 15 minutes.
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park
Wembley or Bust
Jeff Lynne’s ELO play Wembley Stadium to 60,000.
Lynne’s star, Vine Street
1750 North Vine Street, Hollywood
A star on Vine
Lynne’s star goes down outside the Capitol tower.