Ian Anderson 10.26.2010 review

[Laudio9]

Ian Anderson has refined the music of Jethro Tull to the point of perfection...not that it has ever been anything but perfect but now its like a vintage wine...keeps getting better with age. I’ve seen Ian atleast 10 times since the early 70’s. Mostly with Jethro Tull but the last couple of times as Ian Anderson solo, solo meaning with musicians other than Tull musicians.
This solo tour is actually different from the last solo tour. The last one was more of an orchestrated affair doing mostly Ian solo material. This one was Ian with a mostly young band doing Jethro Tull music. Three of the players, Keyboard, Drums and Bass are all from Bristol, England and the Guitarist was from a town close to Germany. The Guitarist was classically trained, looked to be about 25 or so and was great...reminded me of a young Martin Barre. The bass player had played with Jethro Tull on the last couple of Tull tours and he was older but the keys, drums and guitar were all young players, probably none of them were 30 yet or maybe I’m just old and everyone seems young...

Life’s a long song.....was the opening number...Ian kinda stretches to hit some of the notes now but he is always in key and although his voice is noticeably weaker the aged perfection of the music more than makes up for it.

They did two sets with a twenty minute intermission, Both sets were about an hour long. The first set was more of an acoustic set, although the whole concert leaned more acoustic than electric, and the second set was a bit more electric than acoustic. They played a few from Aqualung, one of my favorite’s from that album is Up to Me which they played in the first set. Songs like Wondr’ing Again, Nursie, things from Roots to Branches, which is a great underrated Tull album and even threw in a couple new tunes that were so new they didn’t have titles yet. One of the highlights for me was Thick As A Brick. They played probably a 25 minute version of it, one of the longest versions I’ve seen him play since I seen the original concert in 1972.... on a side note, the opening act for that concert in ‘72 was Gentle Giant. At one point, Ian came out with his SpEckTacles on and a book in hand.....they played....The Hare who Lost His SpEckTacles from Passion Play! Funny stuff, I also hadn’t seen him do this since the original Passion Play concert in ohh...”73-’74 ...its kind of a blur now but that was a funny little interlude at the end of the first set.

The Carnegie Music Hall was totally sold out and to my surprise, there were women there...real women at a semi-progressive concert... I say semi, because alot of the people there were “Classic Rock” people.......people who wanted to hear Aqualung and Locomotive Breath and they got their
wish...they did a great version of Aqualung. At times you wouldn’t even know it was Aqualung...I liked it alot but I think some of the Classic Rock people were a bit taken back by it since they didn’t play it note for note.... Locomotive Breath was the encore and Ian started it out with an acoustic guitar, not the big piano intro..it was cool...They only did the one encore, but nothing to complain about...it was a great great concert and more than enough music for the evening. Ian said with over 40 years of music he has a vast catalogue to pull from...
sooooo good for us and thank you Ian.

[Ted]

Laudio,

Thanks! You are da' man. I appreciate your sharing with us your thoughts and impressions of this concert... and wonderful artist.

Have a GREAT day!!!

Regards from Texas,
Ted

[dangerboy]

thanks laudio. It's good to see that Ian can still bring it on, and keep it fresh.

Cheers L9....great review.

I'm interested to know if the drummer was Ian's son James Duncan.

[Laudio9]

Ian's touring band this time is Florian Opahle on guitar, John O’Hara on accordion and piano, David Goodier on bass guitar and Scott Hammond on drums. James Duncan was not the drummer, nor did I know that he
was Ian's son??? How do you know this Keithie? I could not find any information on him being Ian's son. He is on the Tull website as a touring member of the band but nothing about being the son of Ian.....

[tobytanzer]

Great review Laudio. You brought back a lot of memories. Some good ones too.

Originally Posted by Laudio9

Ian's touring band this time is Florian Opahle on guitar, John O’Hara on accordion and piano, David Goodier on bass guitar and Scott Hammond on drums. James Duncan was not the drummer, nor did I know that he was Ian's son??? How do you know this Keithie? I could not find any information on him being Ian's son. He is on the Tull website as a touring member of the band but nothing about being the son of Ian.....

I read about it in one of the programs from a previous tour.

It also mentions him in the Wikipedia page about Ian Anderson under the Family life heading.

[okireen]

i saw mr. anderson with jt at slavkov in august last year. concert lasted about 90 minutes and although bands energy (and loudness!) were awesome, in the end (that consisted of eagerly anticipated highlights from aqualung and taab which i was at the time most familiar with) ians voice, especially high notes seemed so weary and forced it was almost pathetic. i had that intense feeling of shared yet unspoken embarassment: audience keeps its polite, encouraging smile and thinks: pack it up while theres time and dignity, old man and stick to the flute gymnastics... i felt almost pity and was preparing to defend the man. but it was unnecessary. fans i spoke with had no such complaints or kept them private or were simply wiser than me and concentrated on (abundant) bright sides of performance. it was quite a relief. and its nice to read laudios report of outsold carnegie hall. especially considering how much of good ol' 70s prog i used to like is now more or less dead for me but jethro tull still manages to excite. thanks for the report! and a lesson for mr. anderson: 20 minute break does you good. or so it should...

[mariocc]

very nice review Laudio,
couple of years ago I saw JT again and what I most enjoyed it was arranging of their music. Refreshing versions , well played, and nice tone and sound of each instrument.
I would like to see him with this lineup.
saludos amigo