It is an astonishing 43 years since Jethro Tull were formed, although their veteran status was easily confirmed by the age of the faithful who filled Perth’s splendid concert hall on Monday.
It was a varied and intriguing set, peppered with some favourites — Aqualung, Life is a Long Song, — as well as some recent work. One of these, Tea with the Princess, was written to be performed with sitar player Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi, during their tour of India last year. It was a hugely enjoyable piece of music, but you couldn’t help wondering how the sitar would have fitted in. Maybe all will be revealed on a future album.
Older offerings included the jazzed-up Bach offering Bouree, A New Day Yesterday and Fat Man from the 1969 Stand Up album, the title track from the Songs From The Wood album (1977), and Budapest from Crest of a Knave (1987), to mention just a few.
Guitarist Martin Barre (almost an original member with 41 years’ service) is a talented guitarist who deserves more recognition. He also demonstrated he’s a talented flautist too, playing with considerable skill when Anderson’s vocal duties took precedence. As you would expect all the other band members-bass player David Goodier, Douane Perry on drums and percussion, and John O’Hara on keyboards, accordion and percussion — contribute in no small measure.AcousticsOne thing that struck me was that the sound balance was absolutely spot-on, and the volume comfortably loud. Whether that was down to whoever does the band’s mixing or the acoustics of the hall or both I have no idea — it was the first (and certainly it won’t be the last) time I’ve been at the venue. But it certainly is a fine place to be for an evening’s entertainment.
Ian Anderson cuts a very different dash these days, the long straggly hair and long raggedy coat long gone. The manic staring is still there, as is the manic prancing about the stage. The voice, not surprisingly, has lost a lot of its power and range, but is still distinctly the heart of Tull.EncoreAnd given the chorus of whistles, clapping and stamping that lured the band back for the obligatory encore, it’s clear that Ian Anderson can still do it standing on one leg.
Saori Jo opened the show, a French female songstress and piano player who looked vaguely like Kate Bush. She also sounded like Ms Bush, in fact a lot like her — not that bad a thing, I suppose, but all her songs were similar sounding and at least three times longer than was comfortable to listen to. It was interesting rather than enthralling, apart from one song where the Tull ensemble joined her on stage and provided some much-needed depth to her rather shallow performance.