Tull launch world tour at Royal and Derngate
Anderson forgets Living in the Past but is never Too Old to Rock and Roll for fans.
IT all started back in 1968 when art student Ian Anderson decided to launch a music career from his bedsit in a Luton back street.
He formed a group with three other budding young musicians from various failed bands who had gathered together in hunger, destitution and optimism.
They decided to call themselves Jethro Tull after the 18th century British agriculturalist who invented the seed drill.
Humble beginnings indeed, with Anderson working as a cleaner at the local ABC cinema to support himself.
But more than 40 years, 2,500 concerts in 40 countries and 30 albums selling 60 million copies later, Jethro Tull are still going strong.
They may no longer be performing to 600,000 people on the Isle of Wight or in major venues like New York's Madison Square Garden, but they're still packing out theatres and halls across the world.
Tull opened their latest UK tour in front of a sell-out audience at the Royal & Derngate, Northampton, on Friday. They have 22 other concerts lined up in England and Scotland this month before dates in Germany, Denmark and Sweden in April and Italy, Switzerland, Holland and Luxembourg in May.
A tour of the United States and Canada follows in June before it's back to Europe for gigs in Hungary, Norway, Germany and Greece in July and two gigs in Israel in August.
It's a tiring schedule, but the old folk rockers, although thicker of waist and thinner of hair than in their heyday - as were the predominantly male audience - showed they can still bring a crowd to its feet.
Tull members provided musical accompaniment during the first half of the show to guest act Saori Jo, a waif-like French singer/keyboard player with big hair and a big voice, partnered with her talented Spanish guitarist Miguel.
Then Tull completed a 90-minute set after the interval with classics like Aqualung, Life's A Long Song, Nothing Is Easy, Songs From The Wood, Too Old To Rock And Roll, the Bach instrumental Bouree and the politically incorrect Fat Man, interspersed with some lesser-known pieces.
The legendary band's personnel has changed considerably over the decades, but there are always two constants - frontman Anderson and lead guitarist Martin Barre.
Anderson is 63 this year and hitting the high notes, cavorting around the stage and his trademark one-legged, flute-playing pose take more of an effort these days.
But he's still a superb flautist (he also plays guitar, bouzouki, mandolin and harmonica) and has lost none of his charisma. The banter with fellow band members and the audience between songs is as sharp and witty as ever.
Meanwhile, Barre, who joined Tull in the very early days - replacing Mick Abraham - after his band Gethsemane supported them at a concert, is as brilliant as ever and is still considered one of rock music's most influential electric guitarists.
They are joined by American drummer Doane Perry, a Tull veteran of 24 years, David Goodier on bass guitar and John O'Hara (piano, keyboards, accordion).
The only surprise on the playlist was that we didn't get to hear the group's most famous song and biggest hit single, Living In The Past. But no matter, as a rousing encore performance of Locomotive Breath and the appearance of the giant white balloons - a regular feature at the end of Tull gigs - sent everyone home happy.
Now the question they're all asking is whether Tull will continue to tour as they approach the age when they qualify for a bus pass.
Anderson recently declared a lifelong commitment to music as a profession, being far too young to hang up his flute.
There's no reason why he would go back on his word, although he did admit that the tights and codpiece have long since been consigned to some forgotten bottom drawer.
TULL FACTS:
>> In the band's early days in Luton, Ian Anderson gained a reputation as a local eccentric by walking around town with a lampshade on his head. His drummer. Clive Bunker came from Stanbridge.
>> Unlike most rock stars, Anderson doesn't own fast cars. He's never taken a driving test, but still keeps a couple of off-road competition motorbikes.
>> Anderson's hobbies include the growing of many varieties of hot chilli peppers, the study and conservation of the 26 species of small wildcats of the world, and collecting vintage watches and cameras.
>> Married to Sona, a director of their music and other companies, multi-millionaire Anderson lives on a farm in South West England where he has a recording studio. The couple's children, James and Gael, work in the music and TV/film industries respectively.
>> Anderson was awarded the MBE in the 2008 New Year's Honours List for services to music.
>> Jethro Tull held a concert in Mumbai just after the 2008 terrorist attack and donated their fee to fund and equip a new ambulance serving rail passengers. Many of the victims had bled to death because of sparse ambulance and emergency care available for rail commuters.
More recently, band members made a sizeable donation to the Haiti earthquake appeal fund.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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