Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN.

The Ryman Auditorium filled with mostly Baby-boomer hipsters awaiting this legendary music force. My background with Jethro Tull was for the most part the album Aqualung from 1971. Somehow the Thick as a Brick album never found the same sweet place in my music library. That said, Ian Anderson was always a rock god among the few. I was very happy to be waiting for the show.

There appeared several English styled janitorial chaps dressed in long vanilla coats and armed with push brooms. They seemed to be cleaning the instruments and checking connections etc. Then at the same time they lined up and came forward and dropped their coats and took up instruments! It was the band all along.

Of course the crowd went ape shit when Ian danced onto the stage and started playing the first notes. The video in the back of the stage then started showing various images of Boy Scouts handbooks, historical scenes and of course the ever present man in full scuba gear plodding along on a mission to reach the sea! In fact at one point the man in the full scuba gear awkwardly jumped into a small mud puddle with the huge splash.

Ian Anderson spent time between the acoustic guitar and flute. Since he wrote most of TAAB using acoustic guitar, it seemed he spent possibly more time with it but it sure sounded great! I could clearly see Ryan O’Donnell’s expressive eyes from the my balcony seat! Ryan was a visual delight and provided excellent vocals as well as the visual imagery.

Florian Opahle performed the guitar duties with skill and did not disappoint. The rest of the band, David Goodier on bass, Scott Hammond on drums and John O’Hara on keyboards provided the notes that made the entire show a treat.

Blame it on my loss of hearing from a Blood Rock concert in the early 70’s but making out the lyrics to the show was impossible for me. I suppose if I’d read the lyrics during the album listen, I’d have known what they were or at least the general drift and storyline but all I could do was dig the music and production, and that was great in and of itself.

The video at the end included the aqualung geared character finally finding the ocean and making his way in. This seemed to provide a parallel resolution of sorts.

Mostly during his flute playing, Ian spent time perched on one leg. He looked very healthy and fit for a man at least as old as I am (I was an adult during the Aqualung release). I sat next to a man who saw Jethro Tull 40 years ago and it was interesting to hear his comparison the larger orchestra version from then. But he said this version did not disappoint at all.

Of course the encore was eagerly awaited and I really think most everyone (or am I projecting here) thought it would be Aqualung. But second best it was - Locomotive Breath which delighted all. They finished with Ian’s characteristic frozen pose coinciding with the last note of the song.

It was a great show and Ian and company provided a lot of grand entertainment for the evening.