My Jethro Tull Concert Review

[Shotgun]

The list of things I've never done got shorter by one on Friday. I went to see Jethro Tull. Not by choice, really, or on purpose, but my wife's brother in law was about to wet himself to go, and it was in Fort Myers, so I said I'd go along. He blew $60 on my ticket and drove over from Miami, the least I could do was act like I liked it. I didn't have to do him, much to my relief.

Weird fucking set. They covered (no shit) several old songs, as in, songs written and performed before the use of electricity for practical applications. Four hundred year old Irish folk songs. And Bach. The first half of the show, I kept expecting an 18" tall foam Stonehenge to be lowered from the ceiling, but if that happened, I missed it. The cover of Keith Emerson's cover of a medley of West Side Story songs sort of confused the hell out of me, which is a great way to summarize the whole show: a really really busy stew of dissimilar items thrown in together for the fuck of it. I think it is most likely that the whole thing was a joke, but I seemed to be the only one in attendance who understood that.

Regardless, that stuff was pretty cool. The guitar didn't cut through and for all the guitarists skill, he was pretty mechanical. His blue-flame PRS was shiny and reflected light well, and those two SOLDANO heads did a good job of anchoring the set list down - it never blew away, not once.

As for the rest of the show, well, I can honestly say I've never seen somebody play flute that well. That dood kicks ass on flute. Seriously, if you're looking for somebody to just play the holy shit out of a flute, then that Ian whatever-the-hell-his-name-is guy is your man.

[Cygnus X1]

That would be Ian Anderson, and I used to mimic his flute solos on my guitar back in the day. They have always been a fan's band, critics be damned. Good attitude to take.

[MartinBarre]

Er, nice review. Didn't really make any sense though.

Here's my review of when I saw them a year or so back (bear in mind they're my favourite band): Shit sandwich.

[Crankdaddy]

Made perfect sense to me: The concert made absolutely NO sense to Keith.

Very funny, as always, bro!

[Shotgun]

It was a great show, though, and I'm very glad that I got to go.

[AlexL]

Have seen them several times, but haven't seen them in the last 10 years.

Every show was great. I still am a huge fan, and listened to "Broadsword and the Beast" while I wrapped Christmas presents today. After the first date with my now wife, I made her a Jethro Tull mix tape.

The first time I saw them, it was a religious experience.

- E.

[MartinBarre]

I'm too young (30) to have seen them live when they were at the top of their game in the late seventies and they're just not the same nowadays. Ian's voice is totally shot and even his flute playing seems to lack the energy and excitement it did when he was younger. Martin's guitar is woefully underused and in general the "rock" element has been swept under the carpet.
I was SOOO disappointed when I saw them recently.

I've still been listening to their "Christmas Album" the past couple of weeks though.

Live nowadays? - shit sandwich. For some amazing guitar playing check out the full, album version of the song "Minstrel In The Gallery". Superb stuff.