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The 1998 Jethro Tull Convention in
germany was held at the 'Gemeinschaftshalle Rheinische Landesklinik' in
Bedburg-Hau on April 18. It was the second time ever (after the event last
year in the U.S.) that the top of the bill was none other than ... Jethro
Tull !
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The day began very nice for me, I
made the trip with my tullish buddy Albert and we arrived in the afternoon
at the quite beautiful place. The organisers also offered a non-expensive
bed and breakfast, which made it easy to party around and enjoy the evening.
After a waiting while at the bar outside and meeting a couple of other
fans and friends, incl. my little big brother Koen from the 'land of instant
beer', Luxemburg, the doors were opened and there was enough time to have
a look at several stalls. There was Dave Rees and the A New Day Team, Harry
Eikermann with the german Fanclub Beggar's Farm and some record and photograph
dealers. Luckily I found no expensive records for the collection, so I
could save my money for the bar ...
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A while later, the concert part began
with a schoolband that played ...Tull covers ! I can't say that I hate
covers, but at least they should have an own note and ... play the right
chords. This school band was worth a look, as it's always ok to support
youngsters, they are the future !
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The next part was one of the highlights
-at least for me- of the whole evening. Tull went on stage to do a raffle
and answer (prepared) questions. The band had some very nice memorabilia
for the raffle, including a Heavy Horses mirror, signed shirts and posters
and ... a Platinum Award of Aqualung ! Winners for the raffle were drawn
by the numbers of the ticket stubs, but a very strange thing happened:
about half of the prizes couldn't be given away, as no one showed hands
for the numbers, incl. ... the Platinum Award ! Damn, I prayed '1400, 1400,
1400', which was my number, but ... no smiley face went onstage to get
the award off Ians hands, nor me neither another Tullie ... seemed that
a lot of people were sitting at the bar knowing about nothing during the
raffle (which made Doane ask 'Hey guys, did you all really BUY your tickets?').
Anyway, the Platinum Award has been gone were maybe all Awards go after
a raffle where no one wants them ...the platinum award heaven ? ... who
knows ?
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But, the next thing went better, at
least for me. Ian held a selfmade strange thing in his hand, which he pronounced
'Claghorn' and said: 'well, that guy that tells me on which song we used
this Claghorn, will get it'. 'Fat Man' was what my mouth shouted out (without
my brain thinking about it), and ... I got it !!! Believe me, this was
really great, Ian gave me the Claghorn, I tried the sound directly (as
a sign of my happiness, of course) and all of my friends were happy and
a bit proud with me ! It's a really weird thing, signed by Ian and Martin
and will surely get a shrine in my rooms. Think about it: a Platinum Award
just hangs on the wall, but a Claghorn you can use and test the nerves
of all your neighbours! Btw, this is not the Claghorn that Ian played in
the early seventies (the 'real one'), but Ian clearly announced it as 'Claghorn'
(maybe he does this with all weird instruments Tull used on stage ?). You
can hear it's original sound on several version of 'Fat Man' (already compared)
and I'll surely do a special Claghorn section at my homepage, with audio
files, promised ! And for all of you that begged me with a lot of money
at the convention to sell it: No, never, nie, nix, Nein !
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After the raffle, Tull answered the
prepared questions, which were a bit, ...eh ... silly. Ok, they weren't
really silly, but I'd better have known more about a new Tull album than
if Doane cooks at home or if Ian has a problem that he stopped smoking.
Anyway, there was a possibility to post the questions before, but sadly
I didn't know where.
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All this raffle/questions stuff was
really good fun, the boys were in good shape with a lot of jokes, banter,
etc. That's entertainment !
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Then there was the next Tull cover
project on stage: Jurgen Handke, that plays Tulls music with his computer
plus voice, flute, etc. To be honest, I can't find the reason for supporting
TULL with TULL MUSIC, clones before the originals, bits before woods. At
least, I thought, this was a good possibility to find out which songs Tull
definitely wouldn't play at their set ...., but I just thought !
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Next was ... Jethro Tull ! Well, it
started really nice in a kind of Yes-style, as every member had a solo
spot. Ian began with his performance. He used pre-recorded tracks on a
DAT as playbacks and played and sang to them, as he did several times in
the last years at conventions, press conferences and for radio stations.
First song was 'Someday The Sun Won't Shine For Anymore', then 'Bombay
Valentine' from 'Divinities' and 'Living In The Past'. After that he played
a new track, named 'Boris Dancing' (after the russian president dancing
drunken) that is from his new (now finsihed) solo project. It was just
a wonderful song, with some mandolins and accoustic stuff in it. Can't
wait for the record !
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Next spot was on Martin, he played
'Empty Cafe' from 'A Trick Of Memory', including 'variations on Too Old
To Rock And Roll' together with Jonathan Noyce. A wonderful piece and a
slight preview on Martins upcoming solo tour.
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Then Andy Giddings took the stage
and played 'Underwraps'. A lot of this was programmed, but Andy did a nice
version that had nothing to do with the mechanical original version.
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After that it was on Jonathan Noyce
to play an own compostion named 'Like Blood' on a five string bass. While
it is a bit hard to listen to a bass solo piece at a concert (at least
when the snare drum is rumbling in the back), I found this a nice part
of the show, even if John was a bit shy ('hope not to bore you').
The bass player of my favourite band does his own songs and that's worth
a listen! Keep on going John, maybe you try to manage another musician
with a second instrument to get it more interesting for non-bass players
ears.
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Last was Doane and this was the highlight
of the whole convention (you americans know about what's coming, he did
the same at the U.S. convention). Doane's part was called 'spot the tune'.
He played the drum parts of several Tull songs and the audience had to
figure out which one it is. Doane's show was very entertaining and people
shouted out all kind of song titles, only to hear that they were totally
wrong, including me. (ok,ok, 'Purple Rain' is no Tull song, but ... who
cares ?) Grace to Koen who figured out correctly 'The Third Hoorah' (VERY
difficult!), but Doane simply didn't understand him. Best was 'Wondring
Aloud', where Doane simply did nothing, but one guy got it ! We also learned
that you can play every Rolling Stones song with the drum part of Locomotive
Breath.
We later gave the 'John Evan Award' to
Doane for the funniest part of the event, I think he was impressed by this,
as he thought the audience didn't liked 'spot the tune' that much because
of problems with the english language, which wasn't true.
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After very entertaining 30 minutes
or so, the whole band went on stage and played a Jethro Tull gig. They
started with 'My Sunday Feeling', followed by 'Beside Myself' and 'Serenade
To A Cuckoo'. Ian was in VERY good shape, his voice sounded wonderful.
After 'A New Day Yesterday', 'In The Grip Of Stronger Stuff' and 'My God'
(great voice !) I realised that there were no more surprises to follow,
Tull did 'business as usual', a normal concert with the same songs and
the same arrangements that I saw about 6 times on the last tour. I still
hoped for something more special, but Tull simply played an excellent gig
(also good work from Tulls soundman Andy Glass), nothing more. There also
was no banter from Ian (while it started with a lot of jokes and banter
during the raffle). Next was 'Thick As A Brick' (very short) and 'Mother
Goose' (as seen on the Schuerzenjaeger TV-special), then 'Bouree', 'Paparazzi'
(instr.) and 'Dangerous Veils', followed by 'Locomotive Breath'. After
that they played the encore 'Aquadiddle/Dogs/Brick Reprise' and that was
it, the end of the convention, at least of the concert part.
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Later there was an after-show party
where not everybody could go, but I was one of the lucky guys (some of
my friends too, as it was no problem to smuggle some collected tickets
outside the bar to get them in ...). The whole band was there and there
was the usual signing/photograph action. Later it went very nice and I
remembered what a convention is about: chatting with other Tullies and
...eh... getting drunk. I found my bed at 4 in the morning after having
a lot of simple good fun.
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To resume the event, it was great,
of course, but it could have been better. I really didn't liked the Tull
covers before Tull, why should I hear 'Dangerous Veils' or 'My God' from
someone else when I hear it from Tull 2 hours later ? (Even Ian mentioned
that 'next song you hear for the third time today') Bands like Blodwyn
Pig or Fairport Convention would have been better as supports, as this
always gives the possibility for us fans to see some old Tullers in action
or even jamming with the current line-up, as it happened often in the past.
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But anyway, a big 'thank you' to all
the guys that made this event possible and organised the convention. I
know they had a lot of work and I'm sure that every of the 800 people that
attended the convention was glad that someone did this work. At least I'm
glad that I'm the proud owner of the Claghorn now and that wouldn't have
been possible without you guys !!!
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