Jethro Tull

Apollo Theatre, Manchester

Tuesday 23 March 2010

My second sighting of Jethro Tull (see 15.05.08) was an enjoyable but decidedly mixed affair.

On the one hand here was an entirely credible group from the classic days of hard rock and prog rock playing some of their greatest material, in expert fashion.

On the other hand – and it pains me to say it as they are one of my favourite groups – but here was a performance so practised, polished and antiseptic that it could have been given in a hospital operating theatre for all the spunk and gritty rock and roll attitude that it had.

See my essay on “The Rise and Fall of Progressive Rock” and my previous concert review for the background to my liking for Jethro Tull. I came to them late, so to speak, but when I did, I became greatly engrossed in their back catalogue. Since the last concert I have listened to more of their albums with great pleasure and was therefore expecting more of the evening.

On the positive side, they played very well and played a good selection of excellent material from all phases of their career. There was less emphasis on the early “blues/folk” material than last time, which was good, and the “Dire Straits” era tack “One Night In Budapest” was a particularly brilliant tour de force. It was quite sad not to hear classics like  “Living In The Past” and my favourite  “We Used To Know", but there is only so much that can be played – but I thought they got the balance wrong - see below.

The musical expertise of the group is second to none, and of course they boast the virtuoso flute playing of Ian Anderson. The sound quality though just cannot begin to compete with Yes, who are the past masters. Martin Barre is surely rock's most widely underrated guitarist, with great all round playing and some scorching solos. Ian Anderson (as well befits a former pupil of Thomas Baines Grammar, Poulton Le Fylde) is surely a man of many exceptional talents, including communicating with the audience, even if his singing voice is not up to much these days. He can still do all the standing on one leg playing the flute stuff, which is not bad for a man in his mid sixties. As for the rest of the band, even though they may have been members for twenty years or so, they are only really "employees" and cannot be expected to present much other than first rate playing. The old prog rock values of band democracy were faithfully adhered to, but drum, bass and keyboard solos were thankfully kept short. It must be said above all else, that although Ian Anderson has for decades been the only surviving original member, there is absolutely no credibility gap whatsoever with the line up - mainly thanks to Martin Barre's continued presence, it works brilliantly well. Indeed, it was pointed out to me recently that most people who have heard of Jethro Tull think that it is Ian Anderson's name anyway!!   

I admired them for being brave and playing quite a lot of music from “recent” albums, “solo” albums and completely new stuff. What I didn't like was that this was played with a degree of po-faced seriousness that belied what should have been a “fun” night, and that too much of it was played, at the expense of what I would regard as essential stuff (see above). In this regard the concert reminded me very forcefully of the Robert Plant gig (20.10.02) which I thought a complete disaster. I don't doubt that people like Robert Plant and Ian Anderson see themselves as serious musical artistes who wish to continue developing their talents even into old age, but they should also understand that their fans are, on the whole, not exactly in the first flush of youth either, and that when they pay a large wadge of cash for the tickets and venture out on a shitty midweek evening, they would rather be "entertained" just a little more.  

None of the above should be taken as implying that I didn't enjoy the concert: I certainly did, and I am capable of enjoying serious type music when I need to. The upshot is simply that although there was much great music, it was more like watching the Halle Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall than a rock concert. Perhaps I am guilty of forgetting one of the main precepts of prog rock - it has always meant to be taken seriously to some extent, and on the evidence of tonight it is still as true in 2010 as it was in 1973.