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Alas, Ian's voice does show the weathering of more than thirty years of performing, but I was certainly not diappointed. Not in the least! With just as much fervour and energy as I remember from any concert video I had seen, Jethro Tull hammered out a solid, entertaining, and thoroughly enjoyable performance.

With just less than 1600 packed seats, the Palace Theatre, in Stamford, CT, was the perfect venue for my first Tull experience. Still intimate, yet large enough for an enthusiastic crowd to make a lot of noise, I can't think there was a bad seat in the house.

The show kicked off with an entirely acoustic set for which Doane Perry had a separate, wee drum kit laid out on stage right up next to the rest of band. According to Anderson, this is the first tour to feature the entirely acoustic block of music which began, at the Palace, with Life's A Long Song, Skating Away, and Eurology.

Although the band seemed at first like they were guaging the audience, they quickly warmed up and delivered a confident show.

The Palace concessions were apparently serving up a lot of wine that night, and Ian thought it necessary to offer the disclaimer that we should all blame the hadaches on the Chardonnay, not the music. However, the head-pounding, gut-wrenching decibles were obviously avoided in favour of a more humane audio level that neither left one's ears ringing, nor failed to deliver a well-balanced, well-mixed wall of sound. I was earnestly warned about bringing ear plugs, but despite my 10th row seat I had no use for them.

The only tune played from the Christmas album was the re-make of Bourée which Ian lovingly describes as mixture of "Bing Crosby with a flute, and the grumpiness of Jethro Tull". The show also included two instrumental pieces by guitarist, Martin Barre.

During the interval, Doane's wee drum kit was removed in preparation for the heavy-hitting electrical half of the show, opening with a hard and gritty Aqualung, followed by a mildly-Flamenco Pavane/Opus 50, and the more folky Weathercock. Beggars Farm then brought a rather spiritual and romantic air to the theatre. The second set closed with an even heavier reprise of Aqualung.

True to form, the band members told stories between songs, and played jokes on each other during the performance. While the antics of the band members may now seem a little rehearsed, and some of the monologue may have been heard before, still, Jethro Tull enjoyed several standing ovations--the last of which endured the entire three songs of the encore through to the tossing of the balloons at the close of the show.

Ian's voice was a topic audience members were talking about during the interval, but I feel he fared very well during the acoustic half of the show. It was during the electric set the high notes seemed a bit difficult for Ian to reach--almost as though he was competing against the volume of the instruments. That considered, and though the show was on a Monday night, and I probably would have enjoyed a slightly longer performance, it was most definitely worth the long wait to finally see Jethro Tull live.

...And, absolutely--no questions asked--rock flute still must be played standing on one leg.







Greg Stewart