Jethro Tull 2005 Tour

Geck0 wrote: Erm, this may sound weird Richard, but I know a guy from Swindon who's brother loves IQ and saw them at Chippenham a few years back, that's not you is it?  If so, then I've met you.  The guy in question is Ian and he has a mate Andy. My mate Martin loves Wishbone Ash, I may go, I'm not sure yet.  It would be cool to meet you, it may help any future prog adventures! Any plans to go and see the Ozrics in Bournemouth?  £7 is cheap! Do you drink in The Rolleston?  If so, we'll have to meet up, you probably know me anyway.

Don't have a brother and no to the Rolleston as well I'm afraid.I live near Old Town so I stick to that area.Its too rough down the bottom of town at night!

Wishbone Ash is this Tuesday.Let me know if you are going.I'm not planning on seeing the Ozrics.

I also saw Jethro Tull, at Peterborough a couple of nights ago.  In fact I only just discovered this forum whilst searching for a Tull messageboard to see if the tour was being discussed or reviewed (has anyone a link to the best used Tull forum BTW?)

An excellent concert as always.  I liked the idea of having the more acoustic set in the first half, and the more traditional 'rock' show after the interval.  Although Ian Anderson's voice is definitely strained to its limits, we know that anyway so it didn't detract from the overall show.

I thought that the violinist was a little over 'exposed' (no I don't mean the dress), good though she was, maybe at the expense of Martin Barre, who seemed to have less solo work than the young lady.  I must admit to cringing when the instrumental at the start of the second half turned into Bohemian Rhapsody, and then Kashmir, well I'd rather they'd have played another Tull song to be honest.

Anyhow, minor gripes at an otherwise excellent evening.  The audience here were quite civilized too, but appreciative -  lets face it, none of us are getting any younger... The band received a rousing standing ovation at the end.

Hoping to get to see Wishbone Ash too in Cambridge next month

Oh, and does anyone know why the drum kit is surrounded by a perspex screen (an acoustic thing maybe?)

aapatsos wrote: well I'm in Bath but didn't have company to go... Richardh you should have given me your ticket...

You can still have it ...and for a knock down price

well I'm in Bath but didn't have company to go...

Richardh you should have given me your ticket...

Believe it or not I had a ticket for the Bristol gig...but completely forgot it was on.  

I was hoping someone would say they were crap! I'm now well and truly pissed off ...big time.Aaarghh...

I saw them on Saturday at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.

Setlist (in rough order):

Life is a Long Song
Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day
Living in the Past
Griminelli's Lament
Sibelius violin concerto excerpt
Mo's Art (Mozart medley)
Cheap Day Return
She's Like the Swallow
Slipstream
Wond'ring Aloud
Mother Goose
Up to Me
Bouree

Intermission

Piano and violin duet intro/Bohemian Rhapsody
Kashmir
Cross-Eyed Mary
Aqualung
Morris Minus
Budapest
Hymn 43
My God

Encore

Wind Up
Locomotive Breath

OH MY GOD.

SO f**kING GOOD.

I was very close up, too. 5th row down in the stalls. The first set was some softer songs, with a bit of electric but not too much. There wasn't any opening act, which Anderson joked about by saying "it's nice to be here again, opening up for Jethro Tull. They'll be on in a while." What I liked about it was that there was a lot of pisstaking and it wasn't all made out to be some serious EVENT like a lot of other prog bands would have done it at the time. Ian liked to joke a lot, (for example, when someone shouted out "when will the new album come out?" he said "let's see... I think ten years ago?"), and the material that was played in general took the piss every now and then. They had this amazing 22-year-old Asian-looking violinist whom they'd picked up at Juilliard and who also happened to be really hot, in a nice long frilly pink skirt. Mmmmmmm. But apart from hot, she also happened to be a ridiculously good musician, doing an excerpt of a Sibelius violin concerto and adding in some all-around violin shredding, adding new possibilities and arrangements to the music. She also did her own arrangement of "She's Like the Swallow" as a duet with Ian and with the keyboardist backing them up.

One of the highlights of the night for me was "Mo's Art." A few months ago Ian was on a TV show in Vienna and they asked him to do some Mozart and he took a bunch of Mozart pieces and just tore them apart and turned them inside out completely, so in the end it came out with 3 or 4 Mozart pieces, some of them in 5/4, some in 3/4, with a blues feel and with improvised solos and the phrasing changed. The band pulled it off amazingly, and it was the 2nd best song of the night for me ("Locomotive Breath" being the best). Ian Anderson is just an amazing flute player. BWT, anyone know if I can get a bootleg of "Mo's Art" somewhere?

The second set started with a piano and violin classical duet that, when Ian came in, quickly followed by the rest of the band, suddenly turned into "Bohemian Rhapsody," with the violinist doing Freddy's part and then playing, note for note, Brian May's solo. After that, Ian talked about how the violinist was "into old men" and that she listened to the classic rockers like Yes, Deep Purple, and "Emerson, Lake and Parker," and they were going to play her arrangement of a classic rock song. And suddenly, they bust out into "Kashmir," with the violinist doing some crazy shredding, then breaking out into the solo from "Whole Lotta Love" before going back into "Kashmir." Then the violinist went off and they proceeded to play two classics: "Cross-Eyed Mary" and "Aqualung," both executed brilliantly, before doing one of Martin Barre's solo songs, "Morris Minus," which Ian said was written to commemorate the castration of Martin's cat Morris. Martin Barre let out some awesome guitar playing all over this one. Then Ian came back on once it was over and they did "Budapest," which I'm not particularly fond of but is brilliant live. They finished off with "My God," with Ian letting rip with some amazing flute work.

They came back on and did "Wind Up" and "Locomotive Breath," both of which were amaizng. "Locomotive Breath" was probably the best song of the night.

Best concert ever.

Codis wrote: I've seen Jethro Tull maybe 10 or 11 times since the Broadsword & The Beast tour in the mid-80's.  While the show is always entertaining, and the band sounds as good as ever, Ian's voice has deteriorated quite steadily.  So much so that I'd personally think twice about seeing them again.  At the last concert, I actually got a piece of the balloon he launches at the end of every show!

I got a whole baloon!! Picture and all!!

I note they are playing 10th and 11th March at Shepherds Bush Empire.Sadly I can't go because I'll be away that weekend.

40wnks wrote: Just saw Tull Friday (11/18) here in KC.  Also saw Ian about 2 years ago here for a solo tour.  Maybe I missed an explanation elsewhere in this forum but I was wondering why Ian rarely or doesn't sing the songs anymore?  Rather, he recites the lyrics as the band plays on.  Is this a personal choice of his or is it governed by a throat history of many infections?  I enjoyed both concerts but the vocals were at times distracting since he bobs his head during the vocals and they tend to fade in and out.  Anyone else know what is going on? Curiouser and Curiouser, Bill

I saw JT back in May in Adelaide and although the concert was great I thought the same thing with  Ians vox.I thought at the time it was a theatre accoustics problem.Obviously not.

Chooks wrote: Just recently saw Jethro Tull for the first time in Melbourne, Australia and I have to say that I was extremely impressed. Being a huge fan for most of my life it was just another one of those bands that I wanted to see but never thought I'd have the chance considering I was born in 1981 and lived in Perth, the most isolated city on Earth, to which no band ever visits. So when I heard JT were touring Oz there was no way I'd be missing it. 5 hour flight there for three nights to see JT with my dad. They played a two hour set with a 5 min break. there was a good selection of mainly their early releases all was pre-too old to rock... The aqualung album featured heavily with nearly the whole album being played throughout the set. A 10-15 min Thick as a Brick was played and I must say that it was flawless. Ian delighted us with some of his solo work as did Martin (Martins solo song was a real highlight). Overall I was glad I forked out airfare, accomidation and all the other costs to see JT because for a bunch of 'old' guys they rocked harder than many of the bands of today, they could take a leaf out of JT's book. If you get a chance to see them and you never have it would be worth your while.

Whoa! I was at that exact same concert!!! (I'm actually wearing the t-shirt I got right now!)
I went with my Mum and her friend, and I have to agree with everything you said; it was the best concert I've been to!!!