Watch Jeff Lynne’s ELO Revive Rousing ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ on ‘Fallon’

Jeff Lynne’s ELO stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday to perform a pair of tracks, including a web-exclusive rendition of Electric Light Orchestra’s 1977 hit, “Mr. Blue Sky.”

Lynne and company delivered a faithful, spirited rendition of the jaunty “Mr. Blue Sky,” with the frontman showing off his guitar chops and still striking a delicate falsetto. Lynne’s sizable band — which included a small string section — provided phenomenal support, with his back-up singers and instrumentalists conjuring an array of harmonies and his keyboardist delivering the track’s delightful talk box hook.

Lynne’s ELO also performed “When I Was a Boy,” a sweet, nostalgic power ballad with Beatles-esque melodies that appears on the band’s new album, Alone In the Universe.

Lynne explained the origins of the track in a recent interview with Rolling Stone: “My interest in music grabbed me when I was a boy,” he said. “I used to go under my bed listening to the crystal set [radio]. There weren’t many good stations back then. You only got about an hour of pop music and that was on a Saturday night. That’s what led to the song, which was one of the quickest I’ve ever written lyrically and musically.”