Prog Years Tour / München/Nürnberg 2022 (A New Day Magazine)

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Whistling Catfish
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Registriert: Mo Aug 09, 2004 8:59 am
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Prog Years Tour / München/Nürnberg 2022 (A New Day Magazine)

Beitrag von Whistling Catfish »

Moin,

hier mein damaliger Rückblick auf die Prog Years Konzerte im November letzten Jahres, den ich letztes Jahr für das AND Magazin verfasst habe, falls es jemanden interessiert:
JETHRO TULL – The Prog Years Tour 2022
09.11.2022 – Circus Krone, München
10.11.2022 – Meistersingerhalle, Nürnberg

(Joerg-Uwe „Jogi“ Neumann)



It’s been quite a while since I last visited the legendary Circus Krone in the Bavarian capital, Munich. It was on July 31st, 2011 and it was a quite emotional affair that night. Not because the esteemed editor of this fine magazine officially entered the age of old codgerism on that day but more likely because it was supposed to be the last „Jethro Tull“ concert after 43 years of band history. The last show to feature Ian Anderson, Martin Barre and Doane Perry together in one band. The last chapter in the history of the legendary band that went by the name of the 17th century agriculturist „JETHRO TULL“! At least this is what we have thought at the time.


In the eleven years that followed a lot of beer flowed through the taps of Munich’s inns, marriages were divorced, new marriages were formed, children were born, old friends left, new friends were made, great records were released and loads of good and a few of not so good concerts have been played while the FC Bayern Munich – very much to my embarrassment as a Dortmund boy – always won the German Championship. But I digress, please apologize. ;)

In other words, life went on until a virus put almost all public life on hold for over 2 years.

„Names are for tombstones, baby!“ Are they really?

When the tickets for the „Prog Years Tour“ went on sale in 2019 we all could not have guessed what was going to happen in the following two years. The brand name „Jethro Tull“ was no longer the name of a group of musicians but was supposed to merely describe the repertoire of the concert set played by the Ian Anderson band, or at least this is what we were told. And I also have to admit, that when the tour was first announced, my interest in it was – to say the least – rather mild. But all that changed drastically with the arrival of the new Jethro Tull album „The Zealot Gene“ in the early weeks of 2022.

I know that for whatever reason the resurrection of the legendary „Jethro Tull“ banner as the band name has sparked controversy amongst some ..errr….zealots, and even I wasn’t exactly sure how I should feel about it when it was first announced. But after giving it a few listens on its day of release, I immediately fell in love with it. Deeply. I still listen to it regulary. Often actually. And yes – despite what some other fans say, this IS a Jethro Tull album! And a very, very good one, too. Probably the most important new JT release that fell into my 34-year „fan career“. Because it was this album, that revitalized my interest in Ian Andersons current activities, after it had slowly but progressively declined in the years after 2014. And with this I want to end this brief excursion into the more recent past of my personal fan psyche for. The mighty Tull are back. With a vengeance. And I am happy that they are.


„..the long road is a rainbow and a pot of gold lies there!“

After attending a lovely outdoor concert in the lovely town of Loket in the Czech Republic earlier this year (you can find my short review of this show here if you are interested: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tullgro ... 005033335/ ) I spontaneously felt drawn to the long journey to the south of my home country Germany to catch the guys on their full production tour of the often postponed „The Prog Years Tour“ – which now – after the release of the new album - was an official Jethro Tull tour again. Who would have thought. And, boy, it was worth it.
The evening opened with a wonderful version of what used to be possibly Tull’s closest thing to a Punk Rock anthem: „For A Thousand Mothers“. The 2022 version is still a blistering rocker, but much more musical and even slightly jazzy in parts. The accompanying video of old footage of Ian’s parents added depth and meaning. But I wasn’t there to watch videos, I was there to see my favourite music being performed by my favourite artist and his band. And they did not disappoint. After the opener, the band continued a downright high-octane-prog-rock-tour-de-force. Heavy hitters like „Love Story“, the bouncing „Living In (The Slightly More Recent) Past“, the menacing „Hunt By Numbers“ and the powerful „Dharma For One“ left the audience with no doubt that they were actually seeing a proper rock band and that this band was there to deliver a proper rock concert. Powerful and rocking. The new Jethro Tull are a tight-knit musical unit and new boy Joe Parrish does a more than solid job on guitar – although – if I really have to add some criticism – he lacks a bit of on-stage charisma in comparison to his predecessors. But he easily overcomes that slight shortcoming by adding valuable contributions to the overall performance not only with his fresh take on old favourites with his slightly more heavy metal influenced guitar playing but also in form of his backing vocals. Very prominently so in „Clasp“ which again was accompanied by some really thought-provoking visuals on the big video screen.

Talking about vocals – and the elephant in the room: I don’t know what Ian did over the last two years, but I am very happy to report that his vocal performance is much, much better nowadays than it has been in recent years. It’s no longer 1975 or 1982 or even 1989 of course, but it is good. Very good, even if I compare it with 2014 – 2019. Splendid. And as a performer, he has lost nothing of his magic. He’s still able to suck me into his performance, and it was actually hard to keep my eyes off him during the entire performance, even though I have seen him in concert literally hundreds of times. I know that he might hate it when I am saying that but watching him doing his job on this stage made me feel pretty nostalgic in the most positive way. Happy memories of decades past kept revisiting me during the entire performance. Yes – even that tingly feeling of excitement in the stomach which I had in my early days of seeing him and JT in concert returned. And if an artist is able to do that to somebody like me after so many years, I dare to say that this is a quality only the world's top performers have. And Ian Anderson certainly has it. In excess. Still the great entertainer he has always been and definitely not „Too Old To Rock’n’Roll“! Superb!
The first half of the show comprised of the aforementioned „For A Thousand Mothers“, „Love Story“, „Living In (The Slightly More Recent) Past“, a pretty heavy version of „Hunt By Numbers“, „Dharma For One“, a classy version of „Clasp“, the brilliant „Mine Is The Mountain“, a great rendition of one of my favourite „Prog“ tracks „Black Sunday“ and of course the obligatory „Bouree“. All played skill- and powerfully to a very appreciative audience in the packed round of the Circus Krone building.

The second half of the concert opened with thundering motorcycle sounds which lead way to an animated version of „Too Old To Rock’n’Roll; Too Young To Die“, before we all were treated to a very nice surprise:

Good (actually not so) old Florian Opahle was invited onto the stage to perform two songs of the new album. The title track „The Zealot Gene“ and „Mrs. Tibbets“. What a nice surprise, indeed.. Florian is now looking a far cry from his „young, blonde guitar angel look“ of 2004 – he now certainly has that appropriate „Vintage Tull Look“ instead. With bushy beard and all. (Just kiddin‘ Flo, you know I love you!). It was very nice to hear the shredding guitar solo in „Mrs. Tibbets“ by the guy who actually created it for the album. Very nice. He was even given the opportunity to showcase his signature „Toccata and Fugue“ heavy metal extravanganza by J. S. Bach before he left the stage under thunderous applause and Joe Parrish returned to his usual work place to Ian’s right!
Another surprise for me personally followed with an excellent rendition of a piece that I never really liked too much in the context of the Tull live set. Gabriel Faure’s „Pavane“. A piece of music that I never really hated but that I always felt to be a little too „cheesy“ with its synthesized string sounds to fit into the rock concert environment. But this year the new „Jethro Tull“ added quite a large chunk of prog-feel to this classical piece of music, most noteable by the analogue synth sounds by John O’Hara which replaced the synthesized strings. This – at least in my opinion – added a lot more „Rock“ flavour to it, which it lacked in previous years. For the first time I genuinely enjoyed this piece in the Jethro Tull rock concert format.
And funnily enough this also applies to the following „Songs From The Wood“ – albeit for entirely different reasons. But this time - probably for the first time ever – „SFTW“ kicked me where it should do quite successfully. Excellent.

The „regular“ set closed with a long and beautiful rearrangement of „Aqualung“ which was based upon the orchestral arrangement from a few years back and of course Tull’s greatest hit „Locomotive Breath“ – a piece of Rock history which I never get tired of. I must have heard it at least a thousand times at home and live in concert, and as always it brought the house down and the audience up to their feet to rush to the front of the stage to celebrate not only a wonderful concert by one of Rock’n’Roll’s most eclectic and legendary bands but also to celebrate life itself. And as always, I was amongst them – fist pumping and jumping and all. No way to slow down! And it was those words the band left the stage with while the still hungry and energized audience was asking for more. And we were given more with a blistering rendition of Eric Coates‘ „The Dambuster’s March“ – accompanied by touching visuals referring to the world's nations in general, Ukraine and the European Union in particular. I loved that – especially considering the fact that the tune was originally written as the soundtrack of a 1950’s war movie depicting the events of WWII „Operation Chastise“ - which led to thousands of deaths (mainly civilians and POW’s) in Nazi Germany in May 1943 – only a few kilometres away from the place I was born in some 29 years later in 1972. Thank you, Ian, for giving this piece of music an entire new meaning. And it’s a jolly good tune, too. So, cheer up everyone. ;)

And with that the concert ended with standing ovations. A great night was had by all.

The next day we took the short trip to Nuremberg and after the Munich experience I was pretty excited to see the whole show again – this time sitting right down in front centre. And this time I liked it even better – probably because of the much better seat I was having, probably because I kept my intake of the Bavarian beer and heavy food to a bare minimum – but the Nuremberg show was probably the best „Tull“ show I have witnessed since…….well…..2011, maybe? Maybe not – but it was another fine trip that created a whole new set of happy memories. It’s the NOW that counts, doesn’t it. And right now I am a very happy Tull fan.
I am glad that I went. I am glad to have them back. Long live Ian Anderson, long live the mighty „Tull“. No way to slow down. I am certainly looking forward to more. See you all again next year. With a new album and all. I’m almost as excited as I was in the „old“ days. Bring it on, Ian, bring it on.
I wish I was a Catfish, swimmin' in the deep blue sea....
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