I’ve always been an ELO fan. They have been described as the band that took up where the Beatles left off, and you can certainly hear the Fab Four’s influence in their songs. I remember 10538 Overture echoing around my bedroom when I was 15, while I did my homework. Well, it would’ve done if I’d ever done any homework.

I also remember dancing to their songs when I went to the Dixieland Showbar on the end of the pier, just a few hundred feet and forty years from the bandstand where tonight, the last day of my holiday in Eastbourne, a tribute band was playing. So you’ll see that Jeff Lynne and I have a history.

Dragging my family behind me, I headed for the venue on the seafront, tickets firmly clutched in my trembling hand.

The stage. You can almost taste the excitement.

And I’m pleased to report that the band didn’t let their audience down. They rattled through a collection of greatest hits, while we all shuffled along as enthusiastically as our middle aged bodies would allow. Grey hair bobbed up and down and side to side in rhythm to such greats as “Turn to Stone,” “Roll OverBeethoven,” and of course “Mr Blue Sky.”

Our fellow audience members were a very eclectic mix. There were a few who hadn’t lost their ability or enthusiasm to dance, and others who were there just to listen to so many familiar songs. The latter included a Jeff Lynne lookalike, complete with dark Afro-style wig and sunglasses, and a guy who was determined to wear his ELO t shirt, not caring that it was three sizes too small for him and that the temperature necessitated a lot of other people buying a blanket to keep out the chill once the sun went down. He shivered along in time to the music though, fair play to him.

Proving that Rock n Roll is King, no matter how old you are

One or two of the band members, including the two who set it up, didn’t look old enough to remember the heyday of their heroes. But at the risk of sounding like my parents, good music never dates, and I take my hat off to the likes of ELO Encounter for keeping it alive. Even if they didn’t perform 10538 Overture, the song that kicked it all off for me during my schooldays. Or Horace Wimp. But I’m not complaining, the songs they did cover were really well done.

And what a joy it was to see live music again. Yes, Eastbourne Bandstand isn’t Wembley Arena, but it was a real pleasure to see so many people enjoying themselves like we all used to.

Let’s hear it for the tribute bands, folks!