By K.D. Norris
ken@wktv.org
Jethro Tull by Ian Anderson, Aug. 18, at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Mi.
60-second Review
Two preface points: First, when I say the Jethro Tull concert was rock ’n’ roll theater by a good ol’ dude for good ol’ dudes, I count myself as one of those dudes. (Empirical evidence of the audience’s majority was the fact that the line for the men’s restroom was longer than the for the women’s.)
Second, despite Tull’s heart and soul, Ian Anderson, having turned 70 earlier this month, we will avoid the easy review road by ignoring the band’s 1976 release “Too Old to Rock ’n’ Roll; Too Young to Die”. (Didn’t like the song the year I graduated from high school, and I now avoid cliches whenever possible.)
As to Friday night’s sold-out concert at Meijer Gardens, Anderson and his band — the current line-up includes not a single other member of the original band, but now includes standout keyboardist John O’Hara and lead guitarist Florian Ophale — breezed through a 18-song, 2-hour and 45-minute set that was just what the audience came for.
Most of the songs were from the band’s very-late 1960s and ‘70s heyday, most mainstays of the “Classic Vinyl” music radio channels and record store record racks. From the opening song, “Living in the Past”, to the set-closing pre-and post-encore break offerings of “Aqualung” and “Locomotive Breath”, Anderson/Tull played the hits.
Having heard Tull’s hits almost ad infinitum, my favorite songs were lesser-known to me and maybe unknown to the casual fan: “Heavy Horses”; the more-modern social commentary of “Banker Best, Banker Wins” and “Farm on the Freeway” as well as the purely instrumental “Bourrée” and “Toccata and Fugue in D Major” (both Johann Sebastian Bach covers).
Aside from the songs, however, the two real pleasures of the night were experiencing what was, really, a video-driven rock show — with a large screen behind the band showing song-by-song videos apparently synched to the live music, or visa versa — and spending a great evening with Anderson, whose singing voice may have, ah, “mellowed” over the years but who can still make his flute whisper and scream as desired.
It was good to see, as Anderson sang in “Locomotive Breath”, with slightly changed lyrics: “You know I couldn’t slow down …” — even if many of the audience had, clearly, slowed down a little.
May I have more, please?
Having been in the pop-music biz for coming on half a century now, Ian Anderson undoubtedly has new music and new stories that few interviewers want to hear or ever ask about. But being the polite, proper Englishman that he is, Anderson provides perfectly acceptable answers to stale answers on his website.
Under the heading of “All Too Frequently Asked Questions” he talks about the origin of the band’s name, the changing line-up over the years, and his on-again, off-again retirement and distance from his Tull.
But the most interesting pat answer, I think, is his response to the question “Do you listen to new bands and who are your favourites?” (Spelled in the English way, of course!) His answer:
“I receive rather a lot of unsolicited demo tapes and CD’s from would-be musicians as well as from more professional performers, so I listen to a lot of “new” stuff that way. The car radio and music television keep me as informed as I want to be. But I have never been a great listener of other people’s work. Even when I first started, I listened only to a few things which really caught my attention. My favourite music to listen to these days is that of Muddy Waters, Beethoven and Indian Classical and pop music.”
Quite an eclectic guy, in music and life, I would say. Would love to share a pint with him sometime.
