Ian Anderson - Bristol Review

I was a relative latecomer to Jethro Tull. Folk music generally does not do a lot for me, but after giving a proper listen to the band's 1971 opus Aqualung on a train journey sometime in 2012 I slowly became hooked. It is always fun to get into a band with such a vast and varied discography, and there are still Jethro Tull albums I am yet to hear, but they have become one of my most-listened to acts over the past couple of years during which my Jethro Tull fandom has increased hugely. Jethro Tull have not been active since I began properly listening to them, but the band's founding member and principle songwriter Ian Anderson (vocals/guitar/flute/harmonica) has been busy touring his new solo albums alongside Jethro Tull classics. While his recent solo albums have been very well-received, and have no doubt sold well, I would imagine it is the classic Jethro Tull material in the sets that continue to attract people to his concerts. Not long after the official disillusion of Jethro Tull in 2012, it seemed that Anderson wanted to distance himself somewhat from the Jethro Tull name. I remember and interview from around the time in which he stated that everything he did from that point on would be under his own name, and even hinted that he never liked the name Jethro Tull for a band anyway. He seemed to slowly renege on this over the years, with 'Jethro Tull' often creeping to the marketing for his albums and tours. This culminated in a fairly ludicrous concept to rearrange classics from the Jethro Tull catalogue into a rock opera celebrating the life of the real-life Jethro Tull, an 18th century agriculturist. I did not attend of the shows on that tour, so I cannot attest to its quality, but I always found the idea ridiculous, and nothing more than a shoe-horning in of the Jethro Tull name in order to shift tickets. 2018, however, seems to find Anderson willing to finally re-embrace the Jethro Tull name fully once again to undertake a world tour in celebration of the band's 50th anniversary. This tour contained a healthy amount of UK shows, and I opted to buy tickets for the one at Bristol's Colston Hall - a new venue for me. I had not seen Anderson before, so was looking forward to the show immensely - despite reading plenty of negative reviews of recent shows that heavily criticised his current vocal powers. Whether the five men on stage in Bristol yesterday are now 'Jethro Tull', or whether they simply remain Ian Anderson and his backing band as they have since convening in 2012, is unclear - Anderson himself has not really give any clear answers. It could easily be argued however that Anderson is Jethro Tull, so it hardly seems to matter.

Anderson and his band hit the Colston Hall stage at 7:30pm on the dot and immediately started playing My Sunday Feeling - the first song from Jethro Tull's 1968 debut album This Was. Given the reports I had read regarding Anderson's voice, I was fearing I would have to open this review a probably ill-advised pun about him being 'too old to rock 'n' roll' after all. Thankfully, that was not to be the case as Anderson sounded fairly strong throughout the first half of the set. The show was split into two, with the first half mostly covering the band's first three albums, associated stand-alone singles, with a couple of numbers from Aqualung thrown in at the end. This early, blues-based period of Jethro Tull has never been my favourite era of the band, but it seemed to suit Anderson's limited vocals the best. The band, who certainly created a tougher sound than was found on those early albums, also shone during these early numbers. Florian Opahle (guitar) in particular stood out, as he churned out those bluesy riffs with ease and jammed with Anderson's playful flute lines. Throughout the evening, former band members and musical peers were shown on the big screen, often 'introducing' the next song in the set. Former bassist Jeffery Hammond-Hammond introduced, appropriately, A Song for Jeffrey, and founding guitarist Mick Abrahams made it known that he thought that This Was was the definitive Jethro Tull album - which brought a laugh from the sold-out crowd. An early highlight was the explosive instrumental piece Dharma for One which contained a drum solo from Scott Hammond. While Anderson's voice is quite weak these days, his skills as a performer and a flautist have not diminished. He is still the best flute player in rock, and often danced around the stage, flute in hand, ready to peel off the next folky melody. His between-song chats were entertaining too, his legendary wit still very much intact. The tough blues rock of A New Day Yesterday was another highlight, with Opahle nailing the iconic riff and Anderson just about getting away with it vocally. A medley of With You There to Help Me and The Witch's Promise fared less well however, with Anderson's voice really letting him down on the latter which was not helped by some poor harmony vocals from the band. The two Aqualung songs that finished the first set off, My God and Cross-Eyed Mary, were somewhat better however - with John O'Hara's (keyboards/vocals) growling organ mixing in well with the heavy guitars and breathy flute melodies.

A fifteen minute interval followed, before the band trooped back onto the stage for the second set - which focused on the 1970s and 1980s Jethro Tull output, which could be described as the band's 'golden' period. While many of the songs performed during this part of the show were real favourites of mine, it was also this part of the night which really put Anderson's voice under the spotlight. To his credit, at times he sounded rather good - such as during an excerpt from 1973's excessive concept album A Passion Play; but elsewhere he sounded rather poor indeed. An excerpt from the better-of-the-two concept albums, 1972's Thick as a Brick, got the second half off to a strong start. O'Hara particularly shone here, with a stunning organ solo part way through the piece, and Anderson showed he still knows his way around an acoustic guitar. A Passion Play was an unexpectedly strong moment too, as was the anthemic Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die! with its snaking guitar leads. Sadly however, the following Songs from the Wood was a bit of a mess. The song relies on tight vocal harmonies, and neither Anderson or his band seem capable of this. The flute solo was performed to perfection however, which helped save the song from falling flat on its face. The slower Ring Out, Solstice Bells fared better, but the real highlights of the second set were the two numbers that followed. Heavy Horses, a personal favourite from the Jethro Tull catalogue, sounded remarkably good. The choruses featured a lady on vocals, which was played over the PA and shown on the screen, which was somewhat odd but I believe it was a hangover from the rock opera that told the story of the inventor of the seed drill. This strange theatrical element did make the song stand out, but what also made it standout was just how good it sounded. After a couple of weaker numbers, it really put the set back on track and received a big cheer as it finished. The other highlight was the atmospheric 1980s folk of Farm on the Freeway, the newest song in the set being culled from 1987's Grammy-winning Crest of a Knave. There was plenty of flute to enjoy here, and Anderson (who sounded vocally strange on the original anyway after throat surgery) almost nailed the vocals. There was a final number before the band left the stage, and that was Aqualung - probably their best-known song. The version played was nice and heavy with plenty of excellent guitar work from Opahle, include the famous guitar solo. The song also featured vocals (again, virtually) from Ryan O'Donnell who toured with Anderson on his Thick as a Brick 2 and Homo Erraticus tours. O'Donnell's virtual presence only highlighted just how much Anderson needs his vocal support these days however, and it was a shame that he was not part of the band for this tour as I thought he and Anderson showed great chemistry on a recent live DVD. Despite the negatives, the band left the stage to huge cheers before coming back for one final number, Locomotive Breath. O'Hara nailed the classically-influenced piano intro, and the band and Anderson rocked out one last time to strong results. The setlist was (N.B. all of the below, unless otherwise stated, are Jethro Tull songs):

My Sunday Feeling
Love Story
A Song for Jeffrey
Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You
Dharma for One
Living in the Past
A New Day Yesterday
Bourée [Johann Sebastian Bach cover]
With You There to Help Me/The Witch's Promise
My God
Cross-Eyed Mary
-
Thick as a Brick
A Passion Play
Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!
Songs from the Wood
Ring Out, Solstice Bells
Heavy Horses
Farm on the Freeway
Aqualung
-
Locomotive Breath

It would be extremely easy to be overly-negative about this show, but that would be unfair to a man who, despite his painfully obvious vocal limitations now, is still a great performer and musician. There were a couple of songs during the evening that were pretty bad, but there were plenty of other moments that were truly excellent. While it was sad to see his voice fail him so miserably at times, it was also great to see him jump across the stage as if it was 1978 again playing his flute. I am very glad that I went to this show, despite the negatives, as I got to see one of my current favourite musicians celebrate 50 years of his unique brand of music.