Ian Anderson-Live Lowell, Massachusetts

                                                                            John O'Hara-Keys and accordian

                                                                            James Duncan-drums

                                                                            Florian Opahle-guitars

put on a fine show last night here at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts.  The show was divided into 2 sets-a mellower opening set and a heavier more electric second set. Both featured mostly Tull music with some choice Anderson solo numbers mixed in. The band was talented and tight and Mr. Anderson has lost none of his on stage presence-jumping about while playing flute, standing on one leg, mugging at band mates and talking spiritedly to the crowd. His banter was more personnel and a lot less like some of the pompous behavior he used to show. He told little stories about some of the songs and joked about his age and his family.

On to the music. The show started with a terrific version of the Tull classic-"Life is a Long Song" with double acoustic guitars, keys, bass and drums and sounded almost as good as ever. The biggest difference being, as most of us know, Ian's voice is not what it used to be-but it has not worsened. Great starter-familiar and strong. He moved from here to a jig from Divinities that wad dedicated to Tull member Dave Pegg. Next came the first surprise of the night a fine rendition of "Up to Me" from Aqualung. Played with the full band, but slowed down a bit. Great to hear this forgotten gem from that album. He moved on to several solo numbers, which were quite good (no titles, the band just went right into them). After this we got an electrifying acoustic, flamenco influenced guitar solo by Florian Opahle-amazing, this young man can play the guitar!! Next came the 2 biggest surprises of the first set, "Wondering Again", from Living in the Past and .........wait for it........."The Hair Who Lost His Spectacles!" I thought I was having flashbacks!! Anderson did a brief intro talking about the bombastic "Prog Rock" of the 70's, mentioning Genesis, ELP, King Crimson and Yes,  and how right in the middle of it was Jethro Tull and proceeded into the reading of "The Hair" It was well played and quite funny! Closing out the first set were 2 Bach pieces"-Prelude in C", performed as a classical piece and of course the classic "Bouree." A 20 minute break followed.

Second set started with an unnamed instrumental that was a rocking way to get back into things. This was followed by the absolute highlight of the night, a 20 minute edit of "Thick as a Brick" that was as good as any Tull version I have had the privilege of hearing. The band was into it, with Messrs. O'Hara and Opahle providing fantastic keyboard and guitar work. Five minute standing ovation when it was done! From here we went to a couple of Anderson solo works, both very good-again unnamed-and then back to Tull to finish the show. First was an excellent rendition of the live staple,  "Budapest," with some terrific instrumental work from the entire band. Then the closer was a very interesting version of "Aqualung". It started as a mellow jazz jam with the flute and keys carrying the melody from the acoustic middle of the song, then moved to a jam to a variation on the classic riff, back to the middle section, with Anderson singing. From here it went into a regular rendition of the song, with a fine solo from Mr. Opahle. This was the end of the set. 

After a few minutes the band returned for their one encore, a rousing and twisted version of Locomotive Breath-again starting slowly, with acoustic guitar and then going to the keyboard intro, after the flute solo. from there they went into a rocking last verse, chorus and jamming outro! 

Overall a 4.5 star show that was entertaining, had the usual Ian Anderson surprises, great musicians and a whole lot of fun!

Your welcome. 

He struggled a bit with it, but as he seems to have done since he's had the vocal struggles, he adapted and made it work.