Tull in Edmonton

[Magus Perde]

Edmonton Sun

Wed, September 26, 2007

Jethro Tull rocks the Jube
By MIKE ROSS, SPECIAL TO THE SUN

After antique guitars are brought out to play a 16th Century song written by King Henry VIII, followed by a scatalogical joke used to segue into a tune designed to “warm the cockles of William Shakespeare’s heart,” there is only one thing you can say.
“What?! No real harpsichord?” People will always find something to complain about.
But in the end, there was a lot to love about Jethro Tull’s flawed but valiant concert at the Jubilee Auditorium last night.
There were a few too many Olde English madrigals, a bit too much spitting in the flute solos, at least one too many songs from guitarist Martin Barre’s solo album (yecch) and a tragic mangling of Aqualung.
Moreover, it was clear that Ian Anderson simply can’t sing very well anymore. All his voice seems to be in his neck, which he stretched to choke off the high notes. It was painful. No wonder he’s doing more instrumentals these days. They introduced a new song last night called The Donkey and the Drum that was basically just a long, wailing flute solo over a modal jazz thing in bizarre time signatures.
You know the past. This is the future of Jethro Tull.
But even with the apparently fatal flaw of a lead singer who couldn’t sing, there was something about this show that, words fail me, “warmed the cockles of the heart.”
It’s the band, man.
More than just its flamboyant flautist, Jethro Tull is a real band from the old school when men were men and rock bands rocked, not some thrown-together group of studio cats to back up the latest lip-syncing starlet of the moment.
Tull’s semi-rotating lineup of musicians have been playing together a long time. They’re as tight as a band can get.
You can sense how easily they communicate.
They’ve obviously tinkered with arrangements of the old hits again and again, perhaps changing only one note a week here or there. Sometimes the results were amazing, as in the opener Living in the Past, sometimes it was a train wreck, as in the aforementioned Aqualung, which sounded like an awkward number from a Broadway musical based on Aqualung (don‘t give them ideas).
But hey, at least they’re trying.
Having a great time
Besides, it keeps them from going insane playing the songs the same way night after night. You want note perfect memories? Then you might not get the spark and spontaneity.
And most important of all, these guys sounded and looked like they were having a great time. Ultimately, this is what saves the show.
Sold-out show
It was a sold-out event, much anticipated by area Tull fans. Pony-tailed old guys reeking of scotch mingled with teenage hippies reeking of marijuana in this curious cross-section of rock fandom.
Jethro Tull – along with Procol Harum, the Moody Blues and the Godfathers, Emerson Lake and Palmer – belongs to a select group of rock musicians who dared to tinker with the classical masters. They rocked up Stravinsky, turned Mozart on his head, made grand attempts to replicate the classical era with modern instruments and complicated arrangements that few humans could actually perform live.
(Even ELP failed to pull off their own stuff convincingly in concert.)
For this they were vilified. They were called “pompous,” cast into the pit of progs. And for what? For merely attempting to elevate rock ‘n’ roll to greater heights than three chords and a drum beat? What crime is there in that?
Laid it on thick
In any case, Tull laid it on thick last night. From a strong opening in the first set, the deployment of the bouzouki and arab drum signaled a slight wandering into merry olde malarkey.
Just when one could almost see hobbits dancing around Stonehenge, Anderson uttered the words “Moving on now to the 17th Century …” but it was no joke, and J.S. Bach was soon centre stage in Tull’s classically swingin’ Bouree.
This sounded like Bach on 45, but was redeemed by an entertaining flute solo where Anderson duck-walked across the stage.
Leonard Bernstein came later.
This concert may have had some very silly moments, but it was rarely boring.