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Jethro Tull, Aqualung
Nov. 4th, 2004 08:00 pmAbout three weeks after seeing Martin Barre, Cyn and I saw Jethro Tull at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee. We sat way in the back, but since it's not an extremely large theater, it wasn't too bad. The worst part was probably that the seating was a little cramped.
The first set was acoustic, the second, electric. The acoustic part wasn't exactly acoustic. Andy switched between keyboards (used to mimic acoustic instruments, I guess) and accordion. Jonathan played his usual bass. Martin mostly played acoustic guitars, and a mandolin otherwise.
They opened with "Life's A Long Song." I was blown away. I never expected to hear that song live. It's my favorite Tull song. The second song was "Skating Away." That's my other favorite song. One thing I like about seeing this band is that there is quite a wide variety of songs that they will play. Not so varied with their later material, but they always manage to surprise with some classics. Other songs they did in the acoustic set were "Dun Ringill" (just Ian on guitar and Martin on mandolin), "Slipstream" (which Ian said they hadn't played since 1970), "Cheap Day Return," "Mother Goose" (with an extened instrumental section), "Up the Pool," "Boris Dancing," "Weathercock," "In the Grip of Stronger Stuff," and they ended with the Christmasy version of "Bouree." They played a song from Divinities, but I don't remember which.
One problem with hearing two of my favorites opening the show is that they didn't have the sound dialed in yet. And the audience wasn't dialed in either. I'm glad we didn't have aisle seats, or we wouldn't have been able to see the band. It was a very noisy crowd. There were people talking and yelling and "woo woo"ing. And shouting song titles. Some idiot was yelling "Dr. Bogenbroom!" all the time. I think he thought he was being funny. These two guys in front of us got so excited over all these little things. Like when Ian would make those weird breathy noises on the flute. They'd be high-fiving each other. He's standing on one leg! Orgasm!
Each band member got some mic time, too. Jonathan sounded like Ian had to force him to speak. He looked a bit nervous, and sounded like he was reading cue cards. Doane made joke about not being happy with our elected president - which made up for Ian's pleasure about Bush in office again.
The electric set opened with "My Sunday Feeling." Again, not a song you'd expect to hear live. Second Song was "Cross-eyed Mary" (Doane was thunderous, but Ian's voice is too thin for that one). They also did "Pavane" (by some dead guy) "Beggar's Farm" (dedicated to Mick Abrahams, who is reportedly in poor health), "Weathercock," "A New Day Yesterday" (mostly a slow, heavy blues number mixed with some faster, harder rock, in places. And Ian on harmonica), "Farm On The Freeway," an instrumental of Martin's, "My God," and "Aqualung" to round out the set. They returned with "Wind-Up" and "Locomotive Breath." And giant balloons. I was surprised to hear "My God." That was very cool.
Sometime in the first half of the show I was pondering my favorite Tull songs. Those first two that I mentioned are both songs that while I'm listening to them, I consider them my favorites, forgetting about others. So I was trying to remember if there were others. I came up with "Wind Up," and decided they wouldn't play it. But they did!
I think they only left out two songs from Aqualung.
I wasn't quite happy with the sound. The keyboards were mixed a bit high, and the guitar was a bit low. I was unhappy with the environment, but the band was great.
The first set was acoustic, the second, electric. The acoustic part wasn't exactly acoustic. Andy switched between keyboards (used to mimic acoustic instruments, I guess) and accordion. Jonathan played his usual bass. Martin mostly played acoustic guitars, and a mandolin otherwise.
They opened with "Life's A Long Song." I was blown away. I never expected to hear that song live. It's my favorite Tull song. The second song was "Skating Away." That's my other favorite song. One thing I like about seeing this band is that there is quite a wide variety of songs that they will play. Not so varied with their later material, but they always manage to surprise with some classics. Other songs they did in the acoustic set were "Dun Ringill" (just Ian on guitar and Martin on mandolin), "Slipstream" (which Ian said they hadn't played since 1970), "Cheap Day Return," "Mother Goose" (with an extened instrumental section), "Up the Pool," "Boris Dancing," "Weathercock," "In the Grip of Stronger Stuff," and they ended with the Christmasy version of "Bouree." They played a song from Divinities, but I don't remember which.
One problem with hearing two of my favorites opening the show is that they didn't have the sound dialed in yet. And the audience wasn't dialed in either. I'm glad we didn't have aisle seats, or we wouldn't have been able to see the band. It was a very noisy crowd. There were people talking and yelling and "woo woo"ing. And shouting song titles. Some idiot was yelling "Dr. Bogenbroom!" all the time. I think he thought he was being funny. These two guys in front of us got so excited over all these little things. Like when Ian would make those weird breathy noises on the flute. They'd be high-fiving each other. He's standing on one leg! Orgasm!
Each band member got some mic time, too. Jonathan sounded like Ian had to force him to speak. He looked a bit nervous, and sounded like he was reading cue cards. Doane made joke about not being happy with our elected president - which made up for Ian's pleasure about Bush in office again.
The electric set opened with "My Sunday Feeling." Again, not a song you'd expect to hear live. Second Song was "Cross-eyed Mary" (Doane was thunderous, but Ian's voice is too thin for that one). They also did "Pavane" (by some dead guy) "Beggar's Farm" (dedicated to Mick Abrahams, who is reportedly in poor health), "Weathercock," "A New Day Yesterday" (mostly a slow, heavy blues number mixed with some faster, harder rock, in places. And Ian on harmonica), "Farm On The Freeway," an instrumental of Martin's, "My God," and "Aqualung" to round out the set. They returned with "Wind-Up" and "Locomotive Breath." And giant balloons. I was surprised to hear "My God." That was very cool.
Sometime in the first half of the show I was pondering my favorite Tull songs. Those first two that I mentioned are both songs that while I'm listening to them, I consider them my favorites, forgetting about others. So I was trying to remember if there were others. I came up with "Wind Up," and decided they wouldn't play it. But they did!
I think they only left out two songs from Aqualung.
I wasn't quite happy with the sound. The keyboards were mixed a bit high, and the guitar was a bit low. I was unhappy with the environment, but the band was great.