Ian September 2011 shows

[Deleted]

After hearing the September 4 show, Ian's voice sounds very tired. I my opinion the show does not work as trio, to many "empty spots" where drums and bass should be. It just does not sound right. With that said Ian, Florian and Dave are musical strong as always. The song selection is very similar to Ian shows in 2010. I think his best performance was on A Change of Horses.
here is the set list
Boris Dancing
Just Trying To Be
Slipstream
Up To Me
Set Aside
Overture
Wondering Again
Andantino
Hare In The Winecup
Bach's Prelude in C Major
Bouree
Set 2
Up The Pool
The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles
Thick As A Brick (The Poet & The Painter Sequence)
Adrift And Dumbfounded
A Change Of Horses
Bach's Toccata And Fugue
Budapest
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath

[Preston Platform]

Derek you have put into words exactly what I felt about the Shrewsbury show. I would love to hear the 4th September show though

[pamelasews]

Well, Quiz, if you London folk are as lucky tonight as I was, you will enjoy the addition of Violist Natalie Holt to the stage. She played one original celtic composition with the backing of the boys, before going to to play along with a number of pieces. It was a good show, even if no one actually stood up. I have to say it is bizarre after all the standing ovations on the nearly identical Fall solo tour, to see no one standing at all. I don't think serving pies prior to the show in Bristol helped. Myself, I am generally too excited to eat, and hopefully have a Subway sandwich waiting in the fridge back in the hotel room. Or a salad from Tesco.

Will be looking forward to a review. Oh, so far the set list has remained the same since the removal of Just trying to be and Slipstream, replaced by Cheap Day return. Ah, the viola on A Change of Horses!

[Preston Platform]

Thanks for keeping us updated

[Deleted]

Sept 10, 2011 12:14:59 GMT -5 pamelasews said:

Well, Quiz, if you London folk are as lucky tonight as I was, you will enjoy the addition of Violist Natalie Holt to the stage. She played one original celtic composition with the backing of the boys, before going to to play along with a number of pieces. It was a good show, even if no one actually stood up. I have to say it is bizarre after all the standing ovations on the nearly identical Fall solo tour, to see no one standing at all. I don't think serving pies prior to the show in Bristol helped. Myself, I am generally too excited to eat, and hopefully have a Subway sandwich waiting in the fridge back in the hotel room. Or a salad from Tesco.

Will be looking forward to a review. Oh, so far the set list has remained the same since the removal of Just trying to be and Slipstream, replaced by Cheap Day return.

Ah, the viola on A Change of Horses!

Just got back.

Set list
Boris Dancing
Mother Goose
Up to me
Set aside
Overture
Wond'ring Again
Florian's solo piece - Adentino
Hare in the wine cup
Natalie Holt solo piece - Nightingale
John O'Hara - Prelude in C Major
Bouree
INTERMISSION
Up the 'Pool
Reading - The Hare who lost his spectacles
Adrift & Dumbfounded
The Poet and the Painter excerpt from TaaB
A change of horses
Florian solo - Toccata and Fugue
Budapest
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath

A brief review might follow, but I'm cognisant of a old maxim my Mum used to say to me, which was;
"If you haven't got anything good to say, maybe its best if you don't say it".

[pamelasews]

Sept 10, 2011 18:46:26 GMT -5 @quizzkid said:

A brief review might follow, but I'm cognisant of a old maxim my Mum used to say to me, which was;
"If you haven't got anything good to say, maybe its best if you don't say it".

I am surprised. I wonder if being in the front row makes the difference. How did the rest of the audience react? Some are too familiar with the band, perhaps. The difference caused by time and years is far more noticeable. I also think some people are having problems with the fact that the band is not immortal and can not go on forever.

[Deleted]

Sept 11, 2011 3:50:14 GMT -5 pamelasews said:

Sept 10, 2011 18:46:26 GMT -5 @quizzkid said:

A brief review might follow, but I'm cognisant of a old maxim my Mum used to say to me, which was;
"If you haven't got anything good to say, maybe its best if you don't say it".

I am surprised. I wonder if being in the front row makes the difference. How did the rest of the audience react? Some are too familiar with the band, perhaps. The difference caused by time and years is far more noticeable. I also think some people are having problems with the fact that the band is not immortal and can not go on
forever.

Hi Pam

Only a quick reply. And let me start by saying this is not a critique in any way of the superb musicianship of any on who stood on that stage. That is unquestionable.

Let me also say that in no way am I intending to do down your opinion of the shows, or anyone else's. It was merely my opinion of one night. Sure there were people who applauded and gave the standing ovation but then again there was the crowd of 50 year old blokes (of which I am one) who whooped and hollered at Ian's mention of 'prog', 'ELP' and the word 'fuck' (a group that I am not part of).

It wasn't the most enjoyable show I have seen, it had some good moments, but it wasn't quite the worst (that honour goes to Van Morrison).

As you know we don't go in for the all 'glowing' reviews here, hopefully everyone expressing their opinions honestly, for me last night was a missed opportunity. Maybe "Ian Anderson plays Jethro Tull, and Bach and others playing their solo stuff" might have been more apt. I went, as I do with any Tull gig, with high expectations, maybe too high, it didn't live up to it for me, clearly many others did enjoy it.

I found the keyboard infills for the missing bass and drums to be a distraction, plodding and over laborious, I found the variations and eastern/Indian themes inserted into Aqualung, which had worked well during the divinities tour, now to be a distraction to the theme of a song, which originally had a certain degree of menace to it.

I'm glad others liked it. But the lack of drums, bass and overall cohesion to the gig left me a little perplexed as to what the point of it was, as it wasn't quite what I had expected given the talk of something a little more radical.

[jethrogenerator]

I'm a bit concerned about the comments made about Anderson's show..... I have never been to a solo gig before....... Go to my first one next Monday......and was looking forward to it.... I certainly hope it turns out to be a lot better than is suggested here! Mind, if it is crap. I won't be bothering with the thick as a brick solo tour next year!

Dave

[Deleted]

Sept 12, 2011 6:38:46 GMT -5 jethrogenerator said:

I'm a bit concerned about the comments made about Anderson's show..... I have never been to a solo gig before....... Go to my first one next Monday......and was looking forward to it.... I certainly hope it turns out to be a lot better than is suggested here! Mind, if it is crap. I won't be bothering with the thick as a brick solo tour next year!

Dave

Dave,

Each to his own and all that, I wouldn't want a review ot put anyone off, it's all too personal and I'm not a professional reviewer anyway. If we all paid attention to reviews we would have all given up after A Passion Play.

There were plenty of people there whooping it up [mind you I suspect some of them would have even been whooping on sight of a bedpan].

In the bar afterwards feelings were definetly mixed, but no-one tagged it as an exceptional show. But, then again it's small sample and it's not the greatest venue in the world, the uncomforatble seating is on church pews with poor acoustics in certain quarters as well.

I wouldn't write the old man off yet on my experience but it'll be good to hear what you think.

Pat

[Deleted]

Hi Dave as Quizz said each to his own, I was making my opinion on a recording, there are a lot of things that can not be judge fairly in that setting. Ian and the other are fantastic musicians and that alone I would want to see. So please do not take what I said as determining factor.

I think if you have never seen Ian solo you will like the show just because it is Ian solo.

Enjoy the the show

[gazbolok]

saw the show on Friday 9th and was blown away by the fact that just three and occasionally four people; and on occasion one person could make such a fantastic sound. I'm in no way an officiaonardo of the Great Tull, but i did totally and utterly enjoy every minute of the performance. The only downside to the night was the rush for the doors when the house lights went up, I'm sure if we had stood are ground and make a lot of noise he would have come back for a second encore

[Nonfatman]

Sept 12, 2011 10:17:06 GMT -5 gazbolok said:

saw the show on Friday 9th and was blown away by the fact that just three and occasionally four people; and on occasion one person could make such a fantastic sound. I'm in no way an officiaonardo of the Great Tull, but i did totally and utterly enjoy every minute of the performance. The only downside to the night was the rush for the doors when the house lights went up, I'm sure if we had stood are ground and make a lot of noise he would have come back for a second encore

Welcome to The Jethro Tull Board, Gary. Glad you enjoyed the show the other night.

The reviews at this point are somewhat mixed. From what I understand, venue and sound quality has had something to do with that, and also the unusual aspect of Tull songs being played without any bass or drums.

I don't think that the Ian Band will be able to pull off the same feat next year, when they will be playing the entire TAAB live in concert for the first time in 42 years, so I am sure you will want to see that one too!

Make yourself at home here....we look forward to your participation on the board.



Jeff

[Nonfatman]

Sept 12, 2011 6:38:46 GMT -5 jethrogenerator said:

I'm a bit concerned about the comments made about Anderson's show..... I have never been to a solo gig before....... Go to my first one next Monday......and was looking forward to it.... I certainly hope it turns out to be a lot better than is suggested here! Mind, if it is crap. I won't be bothering with the thick as a brick solo tour next year!

Dave

Dave, I'm sure you will enjoy it. Even the more negative reviews state that the show was still enjoyable, and it is rare that any Tull or Ian show is actually bad. (Although I have been to a few).

Let us know what you think of the show next week!

Jeff

[Preston Platform]

I guess I was disappointed with the show I saw for the reasons I stated ..nevertheless I enjoyed it and am still looking forward to the shows I will be attending in the next week or so.... hope you enjoy the show I just got abit too cynical too many Tull gigs you know

[Beastie]

i go to see the solo show at gateshead next monday, how ever good or bad it is after resent events it will be my last anderson, tull gig, this ones my 61st , and until martins back thats it

[Mix]

Here is the first video I've seen of the tour from Sunday night.



Ian's vox sound better than I was expecting.
The stripped down sound doesn't bother me and is to be expected.
But the arrangements seem almost identical from the full band arrangements. A little tinkering here and there but overall very little thought/work has gone into them judging from this video.

When you strip a band down like this you really need to approach the music quite differently in my opinion. Radically changing the arrangements. This of course takes a lot of time and rehearsing, something Ian doesn't seem prepared to do these days which is why we never get any new music anymore.

He just wants to keep doing what he does and to be honest there is no reason why he shouldn't. He has given more than enough amazing music in the past to last a life time and it is great that he still plays at least, he's a wonderful musician. But I'm continually disappointed because I believe he could be doing much more musically interesting things. But there you go.

[jtul07]

Sept 13, 2011 8:51:04 GMT -5 Mix said:

Here is the first video I've seen of the tour from Sunday night.

Ian's vox sound better than I was expecting.
The stripped down sound doesn't bother me and is to be expected.
But the arrangements seem almost identical from the full band arrangements. A little tinkering here and there but overall very little thought/work has gone into them judging from this video.

When you strip a band down like this you really need to approach the music quite differently in my opinion. Radically changing the arrangements. This of course takes a lot of time and rehearsing, something Ian doesn't seem prepared to do these days which is why we never get any new music anymore.

He just wants to keep doing what he does and to be honest there is no reason why he shouldn't. He has given more than enough amazing music in the past to last a life time and it is great that he still plays at least, he's a wonderful musician. But I'm continually disappointed because I believe he could be doing much more musically interesting things. But there you go.

I like this arrangement for 2 reasons.
1- It Rocks.
2- The violinist... She Rocks.

[TM]

Sept 13, 2011 8:51:04 GMT -5 Mix said:

Here is the first video I've seen of the tour from Sunday night.



Ian's vox sound better than I was expecting.
The stripped down sound doesn't bother me and is to be expected.
But the arrangements seem almost identical from the full band arrangements. A little tinkering here and there but overall very little thought/work has gone into them judging from this video.

When you strip a band down like this you really need to approach the music quite differently in my opinion. Radically changing the arrangements. This of course takes a lot of time and rehearsing, something Ian doesn't seem prepared to do these days which is why we never get any new music anymore.

He just wants to keep doing what he does and to be honest there is no reason why he shouldn't. He has given more than enough amazing music in the past to last a life time and it is great that he still plays at least, he's a wonderful musician. But I'm continually disappointed because I believe he could be doing much more musically interesting things. But there you go.

I totally agree that the arrangements are too similar to the original songs. The music should not "lend itself" to the bass & drums missing.

[pamelasews]

Sept 13, 2011 16:03:49 GMT -5 TM said:

Sept 13, 2011 8:51:04 GMT -5 Mix said:

Here is the first video I've seen of the tour from Sunday night.



Ian's vox sound better than I was expecting.
The stripped down sound doesn't bother me and is to be expected.
But the arrangements seem almost identical from the full band arrangements. A little tinkering here and there but overall very little thought/work has gone into them judging from this video.

When you strip a band down like this you really need to approach the music quite differently in my opinion. Radically changing the arrangements. This of course takes a lot of time and rehearsing, something Ian doesn't seem prepared to do these days which is why we never get any new music anymore.

He just wants to keep doing what he does and to be honest there is no reason why he shouldn't. He has given more than enough amazing music in the past to last a life time and it is great that he still plays at least, he's a wonderful musician. But I'm continually disappointed because I believe he could be doing much more musically interesting things. But there you go.

I totally agree that the arrangements are too similar to the original songs. The music should not "lend itself" to the bass & drums missing.

Actually, the shows were basically the same as the US fall solo tour. I honestly think that when the tour was announced, Ian fully intended to strip down things more and add a few new pieces. But life just sort of got in the way. And while Ian and Martin are both doing what they want to do musically, I suspect it has still been an emotional and stressful time for both of them. As well as the band members, and road crew as well.

[pamelasews]

Sept 13, 2011 9:55:05 GMT -5 jtul07 said:

Sept 13, 2011 8:51:04 GMT -5 Mix said:

Here is the first video I've seen of the tour from Sunday night.

Ian's vox sound better than I was expecting.
The stripped down sound doesn't bother me and is to be expected. I like this arrangement for 2 reasons.
1- It Rocks.
2- The violinist... She Rocks.

Natalie Holt was indeed good. I saw her in both Hayes and Camberley, though I have got the impression that perhaps she wasn't in London. Her own original composition, basically Celtic in nature, was indeed spell binding. She is part of a group called Raven, and played on nearly all the songs, starting with the Bach pieces.

[jtul07]

Sept 14, 2011 6:33:06 GMT -5 pamelasews said:

Sept 13, 2011 9:55:05 GMT -5 jtul07 said:

Sept 13, 2011 8:51:04 GMT -5 Mix said:

Here is the first video I've seen of the tour from Sunday night.

Ian's vox sound better than I was expecting.
The stripped down sound doesn't bother me and is to be expected. I like this arrangement for 2 reasons.
1- It Rocks.
2- The violinist... She Rocks.

Natalie Holt was indeed good. I saw her in both Hayes and Camberley, though I have got the impression that perhaps she wasn't in London. Her own original composition, basically Celtic in nature, was indeed spell binding. She is part of a group called Raven, and played on nearly all the songs, starting with the Bach pieces.

Chicks with strings. No wonder I liked Natalie Holt.




Uploaded with ImageShack.us This would be the best idea Ian had in years.
Bring these ladies from Raven with the Ian Anderson Thick as a Brick tour.
It would make a world tour look even bigger.
True story: My wife of 33 years is getting ready to take violin lessons. She knows how to make me smile.

[pamelasews]

Sept 14, 2011 8:55:01 GMT -5 jtul07 said:

Uploaded with ImageShack.us This would be the best idea Ian had in years.
Bring these ladies from Raven with the Ian Anderson Thick as a Brick tour.
It would make a world tour look even bigger.
True story: My wife of 33 years is getting ready to take violin lessons. She knows how to make me smile.

Himmm. Did you miss Lucia Micarelli, Anna Phoebe (not quite the best choice for stage but musically excellent), the other Ann Marie Calhoun, Meena Basin, and of course in India with Anoushka Shankar. I probably misspelled half of them. From 2006 on wards there have been a string of brilliant female guests on stage with Tull.

[pamelasews]

Oh, and yes I suspect Ian is already planning on the female string players for the TAAB tours. I doubt he will manage to get them into costume, though. It was all he could do to keep the barefoot Lucia on a rug on the stage.

[jtul07]

Sept 14, 2011 15:29:36 GMT -5 pamelasews said:

Oh, and yes I suspect Ian is already planning on the female string players for the TAAB tours. I doubt he will manage to get them into costume, though. It was all he could do to keep the barefoot Lucia on a rug on the stage.

I have only seen Chris Leslie during the "Divinities" shows in '95 other than the '75 War Child strings. I have noticed most of the other ladies on video and it really makes a difference. If any of these wonderful ladies would tour again, I would be very happy. Women and Tull do mix.

[Preston Platform]

Really good show at Buxton tonight ..much better than shrewsbury.... Just trying to be and Slipstream dropped in favour of Mother goose

Ian very relaxed and talkative ...voice much better . band really tight and gave it all ..standing ovation received by warm and appreciative crowd