Jethro Tull
Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre
August 09, 2008
Show - 7:30p

Photos by Wayne Herrschaft

"Oh God no! You're going to make it sound like I'm saying all these horrible things about Ian Anderson," she loudly protested as we were saying goodbye the next morning. It would be easy to excuse her as a beautiful 28 year old who knows nothing about Jethro Tull, and that her criticism comes from youth or ignorance. "But Tull is one of my favorite bands," she pleaded. And I know this to be true. She told me once that in her early 20s she performed much of the Aqualung album live at a coffee shop. I would have like to have been there to see that!

This is not how I planned to begin this review. I wanted to start off with the fact that the first time I saw Jethro Tull live (in 1979 on the Stormwatch tour) she wasn't even alive. I saw them on my 14th birthday at the Sportatorium in Hollywood, Florida. The 2nd time I saw them (in 1982 on the Broadsword and the Beast tour) she was still pooping herself. They were amazing, big, powerful shows. But that sort of got swept aside by "the problem." Ok, there are two problems.

First, there's a health problem.

At some point in the mid-80s, Tull lead-singer, songwriter, and front-man Ian Anderson had a throat problem. The internet seems to have been scrubbed of the details (you're a better googler than I, if you can find the info). I remember reading about it in a Tull book in the late 90s (sitting in the laundry room of a motel in Orange County one afternoon when my band, black tape for a blue girl, had a day off from our tour). Suffice it to say, Ian Anderson has a legitimate health issue that he had to overcome. Tull took years off touring while there were operations (i think) and Ian nursed his voice back to health. He can still hit the high notes, he still has that wonderful raspy vocal quality. But he's lacking power. She describes it as if he's gasping for breath, gasping to hit the notes. I cannot quite pinpoint it, but he's definitely struggling. On the large video screens you could see him forcing out half the words, struggling to get them to where they should be. It made the timing sound a bit odd to me, it makes the vocals you have heard 1000 times on CD and on the radio sound like they are off.

Did anyone else notice? I wonder about that. The audience was primarily in their late 40s to early 60s. I'd guess that 5% of the crowd was younger than my own 42. We've all had health problems, right? We're all survivors of something. God bless Ian for still going out on the road and entertaining the masses, when he's got this obstacle to overcome every moment. He's 61 years old. I'm sure he's still getting publishing money from the continuous classic rock FM radio play on "Aqualung" (though the rumor that he's the biggest Salmon fisherie owner in Scotland does NOT seem to be play out when you read the wiki-info). He plays live because he loves it, and the audience loves it. He's still a strong and energetic performer. His flute playing is impeccable (and nearly every song had flute on it - which I assume is a work-around, to give the audience what they want, but sticking with what Ian CAN give). His band still rocks, and most of the songs were album-perfect.... but still, it begs the question if the rest of the audience was as let down as She was by this vocal matter.

"It was the same last time I saw them," she said, "I decided to go to the show knowing exactly what it was going to be like. I still want to see them live because I think they’re great, even if Ian’s voice, which I love so much, just isn’t what it used to be. Maybe his vocals aren’t the most important thing to other fans, but I really love it and it’s really important to me. Maybe if I could stop comparing it to what I hear on the albums, it wouldn’t be such a huge deal, but I cannot seem to stop myself from doing that and the difference between how he sounds now and how he sounded then is pretty considerable."

For me, there was another problem.

This was Tull's 40th anniversary tour. This anniversary inspired Ian to perform primarily songs from their first three albums (1968-1969-1970). Out of the six hour set (ok, probably more like 90 minutes), I am calculating that more than half the music was from that VERY early period, Ouch!!! Ok, I thought I knew what I was getting myself in for, going to Tull; I thought I'd have to sit through some prog work-outs that would make my teeth chatter.... And as I said, I've been a fan since I was in middle school. However I was a fan of the '72 - '79 era. Just now, I wikied Bursting Out Live (1978 - recorded on the Heavy Horses tour) and note they only performed 5 of the 20 songs from that album. I suppose all of this older material pleased the fans who were in their late teens or early 20s when those original albums came out. Let's do the math. Three songs were from their 1968 debut, This Was. If Mr. Fan was 18 in 1968.... He'd be. Ack!!! 60 today. I've always believed that the first album you hear from a band is usually your favorite; you appreciate the other ones, but the first one has a special place in your heart. So, if we assume that most of this crowd has been there from the beginning, it all sort of makes sense.

I, however, was left waiting for "the hits" which eventually came in the last 1/3 of the evening in the form of "Aqualung," "Locomotive Breath," "Heavy Horses," and "Thick as a Brick." Only two songs from Aqualung!!! Only one song from Songs From the Wood / Heavy Horses!?!?! Yes, the band was really tight and they rocked out in the right moments (it sounded like Doane was doing a black metal double kick drum in "Locomotive Breath" to give it that driving power!); I just never was that big of a fan of the early jazz/blues-infused Tull.

Now, alas, back to my beautiful friend.

I was watching the Living in the Past video the day before the show; there's a brief clip with a fan in a pub talking about meeting his wife through their interest in Tull, "Wow, a girl who not only knows Tull but knows that such and such instrumental was off the Stormwatch album!" And that's kind of the way I felt. You're pretty hard pressed in New York City to find a person under 40 who is willing to see Tull with you, let alone interested in the show for non-ironic reasons. (aside: I went to see The Strawbs last month with a friend, and I forbid him from displaying any ironic smirks during the show. The Strawbs put on a really good show, and 63 year old Dave Cousins hit all the high notes, it was quite good. "Burning for You" was one of the high-points, surprisingly enough! But they didn't do any of the folk-inspired numbers. Which, now that I think about it, was a problem with the Tull set as well.)

But here I am. I'm suppose to write a review of this Jethro Tull show and I really don't want to say bad things about Tull, because they are one of my three or four favorite bands from my first 15 years of life. Ian Anderson is one of the best lyricists rock music has. They were a professional, exacting band who entertained the crowd. It's great that they can pack the Jones Beach Theatre (with Peter Frampton opening, but no beach. I was expecting a beach. With towels, ya know?). But the two problems made the show a bit of a bummer. We all age, we all are degrading. It's the way life goes. (This article is NOT suppose to be about "Too old to rock and roll, too young to die." That's not what I'm trying to say here. I am amazed by how natural older musicians are. As if they could do this in their sleep!) They say you can never go back, and yet Ian and band went back a great deal to 1970, when I wanted 1979. It's hard to say that I would recommend seeing Tull. Yet I don't know if my issues are relevant to your enjoyment of the show. Who can say for sure what YOU are searching for, when you head out for a night of Jethro Tull. With tickets topping $50, I think that it's fair you know what you are getting (youTube some of the videos from 2007 and 2008 for a pretty good representation of what's going on).

It was a fun evening even though I couldn't convince her to wear my 1982 Broadsword and the Beast tour shirt. That's a bummer. A girl will only go so far, I guess, in expressing her love for Jethro Tull. She would have looked sexy in it, however.