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loquitur · 10-19-2009, 07:52 AM

I realized I couldn't find any good place to post about music shows we have seen and enjoyed (or not). So I started this thread.

This came up because I saw Ian Anderson last night. He is touring without Tull, and billing the concert as "Ian Anderson plays acoustic Jethro Tull." Which actually is a pretty good description of the concert. He picked some acoustic pieces off some old Tull albums, some of them obscure and others not (for instance, the opening song was "Dun Ringill" - how's that for obscure?), and did some really interesting rearrangements of the Tull classics like Aqualung and Locomotive Breath, plus an extended rendition of Bouree.

He had an excellent band. The guitarist was a guy named Florian Opahle, who was absolutely superb. The keyboardist was John O'Hara, and he brought in a viola player from NYC named Dana Bassin who was really amazing. I highly recommend any of these performers - if you have a chance to see them, RUN AND DO IT.

The downside? Well, Ian Anderson is now probably in his mid-60s and his voice is pretty much shot to hell. He does compensate for it, and his flute-playing is still good. But that voice is a dessicated remainder of what it used to be. The other thing is, if your'e like me and you saw Tull in the late 70s-early 80s, you see that he can't jump around and whirl like he used to - the energy level is much lower, and he's much more sedate. But his wry humor was there, and he still knows how to put on a hell of a show. Those who have a chance to see this show should absolutely see it.

10-19-2009, 07:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
loquitur Junkie Location: NYC	Good shows you have seen I realized I couldn't find any good place to post about music shows we have seen and enjoyed (or not). So I started this thread. This came up because I saw Ian Anderson last night. He is touring without Tull, and billing the concert as "Ian Anderson plays acoustic Jethro Tull." Which actually is a pretty good description of the concert. He picked some acoustic pieces off some old Tull albums, some of them obscure and others not (for instance, the opening song was "Dun Ringill" - how's that for obscure?), and did some really interesting rearrangements of the Tull classics like Aqualung and Locomotive Breath, plus an extended rendition of Bouree. He had an excellent band. The guitarist was a guy named Florian Opahle, who was absolutely superb. The keyboardist was John O'Hara, and he brought in a viola player from NYC named Dana Bassin who was really amazing. I highly recommend any of these performers - if you have a chance to see them, RUN AND DO IT. The downside? Well, Ian Anderson is now probably in his mid-60s and his voice is pretty much shot to hell. He does compensate for it, and his flute-playing is still good. But that voice is a dessicated remainder of what it used to be. The other thing is, if your'e like me and you saw Tull in the late 70s-early 80s, you see that he can't jump around and whirl like he used to - the energy level is much lower, and he's much more sedate. But his wry humor was there, and he still knows how to put on a hell of a show. Those who have a chance to see this show should absolutely see it.