ELO tribute band blends rock, classics for Palace Theatre show

The Electric Light Orchestra album “Out of the Blue” helped Ronda Price through a hard time in her life.

As a young teen, she played it on repeat during the summer of 1979 after her mother passed away.

Forty years later, she offered a gesture of thanks by forming Into the Blue, an ELO tribute band.

The 11-member ensemble of classic rockers and classically trained musicians will play The Palace Theatre in Greensburg at 2 p.m. Jan. 2.

“I’ve been an ELO fan since junior high,” said Price, a resident of Canton, Ohio. “My dad turned me on to them.”

He took her to see the group in 1981. Years later, she took her own teenage son, Ben Williamson, to see Jeff Lynne’s ELO in Columbus. He even wore her shirt from the 1981 show.

“He grew up on ELO because of me,” she said.

Williamson, 19, is the drummer for Into the Blue, while Price sings backup vocals.

“I’ve been a singer since I was 17,” she said. “I’ve played the local taverns and pubs and wineries. I sing in another classic rock band and took the core of that band and formed Into the Blue.

“We’re a garage band, really,” Price said.

The string section comprises players from the Tuscarawas Philharmonic based at Kent State University.

Ben has been drumming since he was 5. A 2021 high school graduate, he works as a stagehand in the Akron area.

“Music is definitely his life,” said Price, who is a language arts teacher at Tuscarawas Valley Middle School south of Canton.

United in ELO

Into the Blue is a true family pastime, she added, as the string section includes violinist Mary Bontrager and her daughters, cellist Abigail Bontrager and violinist Kaylee Bontrager.

The ensemble was formed shortly before the pandemic closed down entertainment venues.

“I had anxiety about it during covid, but I kept plugging through. It gave us time to practice,” Price said.

Into the Blue’s first live show was this summer at Lock 3 in downtown Akron, an outdoor venue hosting concerts, festivals and other seasonal events.

“It was two years to the day from that ELO show,” Price said. “They booked us and believed in us before we had anything professional to show for ourselves.”

They opened for Hard Day’s Night, a California-based Beatles tribute band.

The Palace show will be the group’s third live performance, but Price is familiar with the venue.

“I’ve been there to see Donny Iris and some other shows,” she said.

The Palace audience will hear top songs from the pop band with the classical influence formed in Birmingham, England, in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan.

During the 1970s and ’80s, ELO had a string of top 10 albums and singles, resulting in 27 top 40 songs on the UK Singles Chart and 15 top 20 songs on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Familiar tunes include “Livin’ Thing,” “Evil Woman,” “Turn to Stone,” “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky,” which ranked as the “happiest song ever” in a 2020 study and survey commissioned by Greatest Hits Radio.

Show opener will be Evolution, an Eric Clapton tribute act.

Tickets at $20-$50 are available by calling 724-836-8000 or online at thepalacetheatre.org.