A New Day Yesterday, but an Old Day Now!
I caught Jethro Tull two nights ago at the Hard Rock in Hollywood. This one was no freebie as my friend Rich hasn’t been getting any comp tickets from the casino for over six months. We shelled out about $125 for two tickets and had dinner at Renegade barbeque before the show.
The concert was advertised as having an acoustic set followed by an electric set, but this was not the case. Tull played for about one hour and fourty five minutes and Matin Barre played electric guitar all night. The opening few numbers were somewhat acoustic as Ian Anderson and company reached back as early as 1968 for a number from their first album to open the show (the title escapes me at the moment and my 8 track tape of This Was disappeared decades ago). The second song went all the way back to the 16th Century with another English folk number written by Henry VIII and arranged for flute and rock band. Ian broke out the mandolin for “Fat Man” and Martin played the flute part to this “politcally incorrect song.”
Ian’s one legged flute was in fine form as he broke out many rock numbers like “Living in the Past.” The Bach instrumental “Bouree” went way back in time. A long somewhat jazzy instrumental variation introduced as “Stairway to Aqualung” finally broke into the classic rock staple itself.
A hightlight of the show was an extended “Thick as a Brick” which to my ears was the entire side one of the vinyl version. “My God” had some marvelous acoustic guitar by Ian Anderson, even though the anti-Christian lyrics are a bit disturbing. Finally, Tull came out for a one song encore for a rocking “Locomotive Breath.”
I rather enjoyed the night, although it was a bit short and I would have liked to have seen the promised acoustic and electric sets. One final comment, the sound was the best I’ve heard at the Hard Rock’s fifteen or more shows I’ve seen. The flute, acoustic guitar and electric guitar were crystal clear and the band was tight as a drum.