Recovering from the death of a friend and colleague is no easy thing, particularly when you played a perfect gig with him just the night before.

When Kelly Groucitt passed away from a heart attack in February Mik Kaminski and his fellow former Electric Light Orchestra colleagues that make up The Orchestra were in complete shock, and have yet to fully come to terms with the news.

"It is still a shock and I keep expecting him to phone," says Mik.

"We had just played in Berlin the night before so it was very sudden and it's taken time to sink in.

"I had played in bands with him for 35 years which is a long time.

"In the initial shock everybody didn't quite know what was going on but when we sat down and thought about it Kelly was the ultimate showman and he would have wanted us to carry on.

"Kelly would have hated the thought of us stopping so we like to think he is looking down on us and smiling."

The Orchestra is made up of former members of ELO and ELO Part II Kaminski, Louis Clark, Eric Troyer, Phil Bates, Gordon Townsend and Glen Burtnik and together they will be playing all hits from one of the supergroups of the 1970s and 80s.

"We have changed a few things around for this show," says Mik.

"There was a lot of requests for ELO Part II material so we have worked more of that into the set and there's some new stuff too.

"Songs from ELO make up the majority of the show as that is what people want to hear.

"We don't really get tired of playing them but sometimes you do think, not that one again, but once you see the reaction from the audience that feeling goes away."

The Orchestra, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, October 14, 8pm, £20. Call 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk.