Young Dubliners/Jethro Tull 8/17/08 Greek Theater

 

But, hey, no harm no foul. How could you NOT drink with an opening band like the Young Dubliners? They were nice lads...not terribly young at this point perhaps, but still kinda Dublin-ish I reckon. They played some solid, if not remarkable, hard Irish rock. Good fun, eh what?

 

Of course, the lads were there because they have long since been cronies of I. Anderson (who added some flute parts onto a song of theirs, "Banshee," off...some album or other. What? I can't keep track of EVERYTHING. In fact, barring "Banshee" and some olde Irish ditties know from personal experience, I couldn't name a thing they did (but I think a Pogues cover was there)). So, all in all, good band, like 'em, but I bought my tickets for Jethro And, naturally, that's the part of the review that you'll want me to focus on, eh?

 

Well, since it was the big four-O, the band played stuff from the good ole days. I mean, some Aqualung material was natural, and since when does a live Tull performance get away without "Bouree" or "New Day Yesterday," but there were some dusted down diamonds there too. The medley of "We Used to Know/With You There to Help Me" was a nice touch, but the song was definitely overshadowed by the Eagles/"Hotel California" referencing introduction (Ian: "But we weren't mad when the Eagles took some chords from our song to create theirs. We thought of it as a kind of tribute...just like I'm wearing a tribute Rolex watch").

 

A real highlight was "A Song For Jeffrey," complete with heavy metal slide guitar and cool encoded vocals. Doanne Perry's "Dharma For One" was also played (with a glorious, drum solo-mocking intro from Ian ("You REALLY want to hear a drum solo? Oh...alright. But it'll be very small. And I PROMISE that Martin will play a seventeen minute guitar solo to make up for it")), but at that point I was, like Ian, offstage taking a well deserved piss. Oh, and, "Nursie" was given a go, very much like the Little Light Music version. Well, of course, the concert kicked off with "My Sunday Feeling" (haven't I written that sentence a couple times before?), which was fun too.

 

Otherwise, there was a "Too Old to Rock 'n Roll" rendition with a nice Mick Jagger introduction (you can figure that one out) and our previously mentioned "Bouree" (with Ian crawling across the stage whilst soloing) and "New Day Yesterday" (with, uh, the Irish flute part in tact). Also, "Farm on the Freeway," the lvie version of which was just as pleasant but unremarkable as the original.

 

But the big numbers were stacked at the end, with a load of epics crammed in a row. First off was "Heavy Horses," a person fave, and very nicely done and re-tooled for stage. Really a treat to hear it live. Up next was, of course, the number that got all the old Tullers on their feet. "Back in 72 we recorded some kind of a 'prog rock' album mess, and I didn't have to handle all the lyrics for a change. Wonderful lad that little Gerald Bostock. He's never asked for any royalties."

 

"Thick" went off without a hitch, the modern standard of the opening movement, as well as "See There, a Son is Born" and "Come Down From the Upper Class." I made damn sure to howl out "BRICK!" in response to Ian's gentle "You're as thick...as a...?" along with all the other messed up proggers in the audience.

 

"Aqualung" pretty much rocked hard, as it should. I mean, it's one thing to hear the lads do it on stage or off, but to hear a Barre solo in person is something I cannot stress the importance of enough. A bit more glam-metal, as is his want, but still, the man knows what he's doing.

 

The encore was, of course, "Locomotive Breath," and it is here that I hang up my hat. There were highlights within and throughout, and the last three songs were fantastic, but "Breath" was something that not even my alcohol addled brain can forget. If you don't consider it an epic, it became one there. The piano opening was hitchless, the song proceeded to rock the crowd to bits. And, rather than finish the song outright, the ending was stretched out into an initially quiet, then massive, flute build up. Just all around great.

 

Oh, and, if "Locomotive Breath" was the biggest musical highlight, then Ian's intro to "Bouree" was the prose highlight (something along the lines of): "In the good old days, when men were men, J. S. Bach kicked back and drank cold ones with Mr. Martin Lancelot Barre, and taught him this song! Now, three hundred years later, Martin Lancelot taught it to me, and we turned it into a disgusting piece of cocktail jazz!"

 

Dunno if comes through in print, but trust me, it was hilarious.

 

So how did the Tull concert compare to the Ian solo? Apples and organs my man. The solo concert was certainly more intimate, and the selection was more varied and interesting, but the Tuller concert wins out in balls to the wall, sweaty metallic glory. I mean, Ian's hired hands for the solo tour were good, but the guitarist was no Martin Barre, and to hear the two of them exchange notes was gold.

 

But, c'mon? A Tull concert with alcohol? How did you THINK I was going to react?