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2010
Mar 18, 2010 16:39:46 GMT -5
Post by tootull on Mar 18, 2010 16:39:46 GMT -5
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/live_reviews/article7067377.eceFrom The Times March 19, 2010 Jethro Tull at Union Chapel, N1 Ian Anderson and his band may not be fashionable any more, but that’s not going to put them off a folk-rock exploration John Bungey There are two approaches to a live show for the seasoned touring musician: one is the Rolling Stones’ human jukebox routine, bashing out the old hits; the other is the John Coltrane/Miles Davis stance, which is roughly: “I’m a slave to my muse, not you lot, so I’ll play what I like.” The latter path requires a lot of talent and a blithe disregard for the box office to work for long. Ian Anderson and his band plough a middle course, which may explain their continued vitality approximately 35 years after the pop press last deemed them fashionable. If their 40th anniversary tour in 2008 was the nearest they have recently got to a “greatest hits” tour, their current gigs are more “B-sides and rarities”. Rootling near the bottom of his song drawer, Anderson had found March the Mad Scientist, an ancient album bonus track, and the seasonally dislocated Birthday Card at Christmas. Neither quite matched the brio of Life is a Long Song, Songs from the Wood or other more familiar fare. Still, when the soundman masters its boomy acoustic, the Union Chapel is quite the loveliest rock venue in London, with its vaulted heights bathed in pink and gold light and the band emitting a pleasingly woody sound. Mandolin, acoustic guitar and bass, accordion and, of course, flute dominated. The lead guitarist Martin Barre’s crashing blues-rock of old was tamed and the drummer Doane Perry tickled rather than pummelled. As the group investigated its folk- rock side, it was hard to credit that this was the troupe that once beat Metallica to a heavy-metal Grammy. Anderson, as ever, played the genial, self- deprecating host, making jokes about his age and waist size and introducing their Bach-lite Bourée as “cruise-ship cocktail-lounge jazz”. Barre’s sprightly gypsy- jazz solo feature, Empty Café, was so called, Anderson said, because all the attractive women walked out when he walked in. The venerable Barre smiled wanly. There were Eastern influences, too, in more recent material, the perky instrumental Eurology and Tea with the Princess, written about the sitar player Anoushka Shankar while in India — Jethro Tull often stray from the tried-and-tested touring circuit. But as Anderson huffed and mugged through yet another flute solo, the dustier corners of the repertoire did not always yield gems. Surer ground was finally reached with the climactic Aqualung, this time preceded by a clever, folkie Aqualung overture, and then an encore of a similarly reworked Locomotive Breath. The sold-out crowd duly rose to its feet. Ian Anderson once told me that after a couple of hit albums it was easy to keep a band touring successfully. It isn’t, of course, but the wily gents of Tull make it seem so. Tonight, Fairfield Halls, Croydon. Full tour details at jethrotull.com
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2010
Mar 18, 2010 20:45:27 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2010 20:45:27 GMT -5
thanks for the article
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2010
Mar 18, 2010 21:29:04 GMT -5
Post by TM on Mar 18, 2010 21:29:04 GMT -5
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2010
Mar 21, 2010 21:58:29 GMT -5
Post by Nonfatman on Mar 21, 2010 21:58:29 GMT -5
Word from the TalkTull folks is that Songs From the Wood, TOTRNR, Birthday Card at Christmas and Life's a Long Song have now been dropped from the set, and replaced by Serenade to a Cuckoo and an instrumental version of Tea with the Princess.
So that's four songs with lyrics replaced by two instrmentals, one of which actually does have words but will not be sung.
Not good.
Jeff
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2010
Mar 22, 2010 8:02:14 GMT -5
Post by Dan on Mar 22, 2010 8:02:14 GMT -5
Word from the TalkTull folks is that Songs From the Wood, TOTRNR, Birthday Card at Christmas and Life's a Long Song have now been dropped from the set, and replaced by Serenade to a Cuckoo and an instrumental version of Tea with the Princess. So that's four songs with lyrics replaced by two instrmentals, one of which actually does have words but will not be sung. Not good. Jeff I actually like the instrumental of 'Tea' better. Didn't care for the lyrics when I first heard it. I believe it's also time to scrap that flippin' accordian.
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2010
Mar 22, 2010 11:23:50 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2010 11:23:50 GMT -5
I had tickets to see Tull at the Croydon gig, but had a conflict on interests as well. It was a milestone birthday for a friend's wife, who wanted to celebrate in a special way by going to Paris for a few days. Anyway, I'm not a great Francophile and so I plumped to see Tull instead.
After seeing some of the early tour you-tube videos, as well as a couple of other reasons, I decided that maybe the time had come where I should finally check out of Hotel Tull, so to speak, having lingered there for some 40 years, and move on alone.
I booked our tickets for Paris and said to the friends who we had planned to go to the Tull gig with, that they could have our tickets, but not to bother trying to sell them, if someone they knew wanted to make up the numbers fine, but I was in no need to recoup my losses.
Normally, I'd see Tull alone or with the Missus, but this time was an exception as some of the people I was going with hadn't seen Tull before and were primarily going to take along an 'old' Tull fan who was now in a wheelchair.
I said that it would be good to guage the views of a couple of Tull newbies and also the opinion of a lapsed Tull fan. One of the newbies being our friends son, a professional musician himself.
Today was the first time I had a chance to get some feed-back and there's a couple of big positives and equally big negatives to garner from their opinions.
First the positives:
"The band were really tight", "Musically, what a great band", " Martin whatsit, what a great guitarist", "Can't get over how good they were musically as a band".
The other positive, is that clearly Ian does have time for the fans, anoraks, trainspotters and nerds, as when I originally arranged the trip to the gig i asked [politely] if we could arrange for our disabled friend to meet the band. It was arranged and Ian and Martin kindly met with him, making the whole trip very worthwhile from his point of view.
The negatives focussed solely on Ian's vocal's:
"strained", "appalling", "Vocals were a let down," "painful" and "spoilt the musicality of the songs".
There was no bias either way or axe to grind from these people.
Paris was good though.
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2010
Mar 22, 2010 12:05:28 GMT -5
Post by Nonfatman on Mar 22, 2010 12:05:28 GMT -5
I had tickets to see Tull at the Croydon gig, but had a conflict on interests as well. It was a milestone birthday for a friend's wife, who wanted to celebrate in a special way by going to Paris for a few days. Anyway, I'm not a great Francophile and I plumped to see Tull instead. After seeing some of the early tour you-tube videos as well as a couple of other reasons I decided that maybe I should finally check out of Hotel Tull, having lingered there for some 40 years, and move on alone so to speak. I booked our tickets for Paris and said to the friends we were going to the Tull gig with that they could have my tickets, but don't bother trying to sell them, if someone wanted to make up the numbers fine, but I was in no need to recoup my losses. Normally, I'd see Tull alone or with the Missus, but this time was an exception as some of the people I was going with hadn't seen Tull before and were primarily going to take along an 'old' Tull fan who was now in a wheelchair. I said that it would be good to guage the views of a couple of Tull newbies and also the opinion of a lapsed Tull fan. Today was the first time I had a chance to get some feed-back and there's a couple of big positives and a equally big negatives to garner from their opinions. First the positives: "The band were really tight", "Musically, what a great band", " Martin whatsit, what a great guitarist", "Can't get over how good they were musically as a band". The other positive, is that clearly Ian does have time for the fans, anoraks, trainspotters and nerds, as when I originally arranged the trip to the gig i asked [politely] if we could arrange for our disabled friend to meet the band. It was arranged and Ian and Martin kindly met with him, making the whole trip very worthwhile from his point of view. The negatives focussed solely on Ian's vocal's: "strained", "appalling", "Vocals were a let down," "painful" and "spoilt the musicality of the songs". There was no bias either way from these people. Paris was good. Very cool of Ian and the band to meet your disabled friend, which was the very point I was trying to make in my "Ian the Good" thread, i.e., that Ian can also be very gracious with fans, so it's not as black and white as in Tommie's view, although Tommie has a point regarding the negative side as well, which I have witnessed myself. Sounds like their assessment was the honest and accurate opinion of two people who were not very familiar with Tull and enjoyed the band but not the singing. But their unfamiliarity also means that, from their perspective, the set list was new and interesting, whereas from ours it is old and rather tiresome....and that is my major complaint, more so even than the strained vocals....especially because it was advertised as something different. Jeff
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2010
Mar 22, 2010 12:22:59 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2010 12:22:59 GMT -5
I had tickets to see Tull at the Croydon gig, but had a conflict on interests as well. It was a milestone birthday for a friend's wife, who wanted to celebrate in a special way by going to Paris for a few days. Anyway, I'm not a great Francophile and I plumped to see Tull instead. After seeing some of the early tour you-tube videos as well as a couple of other reasons I decided that maybe I should finally check out of Hotel Tull, having lingered there for some 40 years, and move on alone so to speak. I booked our tickets for Paris and said to the friends we were going to the Tull gig with that they could have my tickets, but don't bother trying to sell them, if someone wanted to make up the numbers fine, but I was in no need to recoup my losses. Normally, I'd see Tull alone or with the Missus, but this time was an exception as some of the people I was going with hadn't seen Tull before and were primarily going to take along an 'old' Tull fan who was now in a wheelchair. I said that it would be good to guage the views of a couple of Tull newbies and also the opinion of a lapsed Tull fan. Today was the first time I had a chance to get some feed-back and there's a couple of big positives and a equally big negatives to garner from their opinions. First the positives: "The band were really tight", "Musically, what a great band", " Martin whatsit, what a great guitarist", "Can't get over how good they were musically as a band". The other positive, is that clearly Ian does have time for the fans, anoraks, trainspotters and nerds, as when I originally arranged the trip to the gig i asked [politely] if we could arrange for our disabled friend to meet the band. It was arranged and Ian and Martin kindly met with him, making the whole trip very worthwhile from his point of view. The negatives focussed solely on Ian's vocal's: "strained", "appalling", "Vocals were a let down," "painful" and "spoilt the musicality of the songs". There was no bias either way from these people. Paris was good. Very cool of Ian and the band to meet your disabled friend, which was the very point I was trying to make in my "Ian the Good" thread, i.e., that Ian can also be very gracious with fans, so it's not as black and white as in Tommie's view, although Tommie has a point regarding the negative side as well, which I have witnessed myself. Sounds like their assessment was the honest and accurate opinion of two people who were not very familiar with Tull and enjoyed the band but not the singing. But their unfamiliarity also means that, from their perspective, the set list was new and interesting, whereas from ours it is old and rather tiresome....and that is my major complaint, more so even than the strained vocals....especially because it was advertised as something different. Jeff Hi Jeff, Fair point about the set list, in fact all tickets were used in the end, a couple [Mine and the missus'] were given away free, So, there were six people in total, 5 unaquainted with Tull and one 'lapsed' fan. All shared the same positive and negative opinions.
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2010
Mar 22, 2010 12:43:01 GMT -5
Post by TM on Mar 22, 2010 12:43:01 GMT -5
I had tickets to see Tull at the Croydon gig, but had a conflict on interests as well. It was a milestone birthday for a friend's wife, who wanted to celebrate in a special way by going to Paris for a few days. Anyway, I'm not a great Francophile and I plumped to see Tull instead. After seeing some of the early tour you-tube videos as well as a couple of other reasons I decided that maybe I should finally check out of Hotel Tull, having lingered there for some 40 years, and move on alone so to speak. I booked our tickets for Paris and said to the friends we were going to the Tull gig with that they could have my tickets, but don't bother trying to sell them, if someone wanted to make up the numbers fine, but I was in no need to recoup my losses. Normally, I'd see Tull alone or with the Missus, but this time was an exception as some of the people I was going with hadn't seen Tull before and were primarily going to take along an 'old' Tull fan who was now in a wheelchair. I said that it would be good to guage the views of a couple of Tull newbies and also the opinion of a lapsed Tull fan. Today was the first time I had a chance to get some feed-back and there's a couple of big positives and a equally big negatives to garner from their opinions. First the positives: "The band were really tight", "Musically, what a great band", " Martin whatsit, what a great guitarist", "Can't get over how good they were musically as a band". The other positive, is that clearly Ian does have time for the fans, anoraks, trainspotters and nerds, as when I originally arranged the trip to the gig i asked [politely] if we could arrange for our disabled friend to meet the band. It was arranged and Ian and Martin kindly met with him, making the whole trip very worthwhile from his point of view. The negatives focussed solely on Ian's vocal's: "strained", "appalling", "Vocals were a let down," "painful" and "spoilt the musicality of the songs". There was no bias either way from these people. Paris was good. Very cool of Ian and the band to meet your disabled friend, which was the very point I was trying to make in my "Ian the Good" thread, i.e., that Ian can also be very gracious with fans, so it's not as black and white as in Tommie's view, although Tommie has a point regarding the negative side as well, which I have witnessed myself. Sounds like their assessment was the honest and accurate opinion of two people who were not very familiar with Tull and enjoyed the band but not the singing. But their unfamiliarity also means that, from their perspective, the set list was new and interesting, whereas from ours it is old and rather tiresome....and that is my major complaint, more so even than the strained vocals....especially because it was advertised as something different. Jeff Perhaps is his vocals were good we wouldn't mind hearing the same songs over and over?
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2010
Mar 22, 2010 15:04:45 GMT -5
Post by Nonfatman on Mar 22, 2010 15:04:45 GMT -5
Hi Jeff, Fair point about the set list, in fact all tickets were used in the end, a couple [Mine and the missus'] were given away free, So, there were six people in total, 5 unaquainted with Tull and one 'lapsed' fan. All shared the same positive and negative opinions. Sounds like the whole thing worked out perfectly, Pat. They not only enjoyed the show (except for the singing) but they also got to meet the band, while you didn't have to sit through another tedious setlist and got to go to Paris instead! Jeff
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2010
Mar 22, 2010 15:19:14 GMT -5
Post by Nonfatman on Mar 22, 2010 15:19:14 GMT -5
Perhaps is his vocals were good we wouldn't mind hearing the same songs over and over? I don't know. I think at this point, even if he were to sing them well, the set list has just become way too repetitive. I would rather hear Tull do a completely revamped set, along the lines of what I have previously suggested here -- something that is realistic and takes into account that there will always be three instrumentals plus Aqualung, LocoBreath and Bouree -- and then I could much more easily overlook the vocal struggles. But I think if the right songs were chosen, it wouldn't necessarily come down to that choice. I believe there are plenty of seldom or never-before played songs that he could actually still sing...and probably sing well. Jeff
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