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Post by fatman on Mar 17, 2008 5:44:26 GMT
The show I saw in November, at the New Jersey Pac Center in Newark, was, quite frankly, the worst Tull show I've ever seen, and I've seen about 85 dating back to 1977. Eighty percent of the show was instrumental. Two or three songs were not even Tull songs, an annoying recent trend. The humour was recycled, the band was flat, the volume was turned down way too low, Ian's "singing" was abominable, and although I was looking forward to Velvet Green, it had been dropped from the set list. The show was so bad that I had no desire to try to get a ticket for the Hammerstein Ballroom show several days later. I cannot believe what has become of Tull. Just five years ago, during the 2002 U.S. Tour, they could still be considered Tull, and were still capable of blowing the roof off a venue. Not anymore.
Jeff
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Post by silkenmist on Mar 17, 2008 10:42:50 GMT
The show I saw in November, at the New Jersey Pac Center in Newark, was, quite frankly, the worst Tull show I've ever seen, and I've seen about 85 dating back to 1977. Eighty percent of the show was instrumental. Two or three songs were not even Tull songs, an annoying recent trend. The humour was recycled, the band was flat, the volume was turned down way too low, Ian's "singing" was abominable, and although I was looking forward to Velvet Green, it had been dropped from the set list. The show was so bad that I had no desire to try to get a ticket for the Hammerstein Ballroom show several days later. I cannot believe what has become of Tull. Just five years ago, during the 2002 U.S. Tour, they could still be considered Tull, and were still capable of blowing the roof off a venue. Not anymore. Jeff Hi Jeff: Although it saddens me to hear your review of this concert, I must confess that the last Tull show I went to a few years back was just as you had described it. It would have been nice to see Tull, as the band we all remember them to be even from a few years back, to bow out gracefully and retire. Since that concert I decided I will no longer taint my memory of how I recall this elusive band once was. Silken...
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Post by geoffcb on Mar 17, 2008 14:12:11 GMT
The show I saw in November, at the New Jersey Pac Center in Newark, was, quite frankly, the worst Tull show I've ever seen, and I've seen about 85 dating back to 1977. Eighty percent of the show was instrumental. Two or three songs were not even Tull songs, an annoying recent trend. The humour was recycled, the band was flat, the volume was turned down way too low, Ian's "singing" was abominable, and although I was looking forward to Velvet Green, it had been dropped from the set list. The show was so bad that I had no desire to try to get a ticket for the Hammerstein Ballroom show several days later. I cannot believe what has become of Tull. Just five years ago, during the 2002 U.S. Tour, they could still be considered Tull, and were still capable of blowing the roof off a venue. Not anymore. Jeff Bummer, Jeff. If Ian had taken that break so badly needed a few years ago, we might have a band and an album... Say it ain't so! Geoff B.
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Post by admin on Mar 17, 2008 19:37:53 GMT
Oh dear, not a great way to start the gig reviews but I guess you gotta tell it like you see it. The recent Tull shows I have attended have all been pretty good (with allowances for Ian's voice and general wear and tear on the old boys!) but maybe that's because the London shows are fairly big dates on the schedule so they make a bigger effort for those.
This coming UK tour I have gone a bit bonkers and I'm off roving the provinces too for three more dates as well as London so it will be interesting to see how the shows compare. I will pull no punches when I let you know how it goes!
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Post by störmwatch on Mar 21, 2008 20:35:19 GMT
Remember the Aqualung tour a few years back was one of the best tull shows I have been to. Col you be going to basingstoke by any chance.
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Post by admin on Mar 21, 2008 22:05:50 GMT
Remember the Aqualung tour a few years back was one of the best tull shows I have been to. Col you be going to basingstoke by any chance. No mate, not doing that one. We'll be at Cambridge, Ipswich, London at that acoustic festival of Great Britain thing...wherever that is!
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Post by fatman on Mar 22, 2008 18:14:02 GMT
Remember the Aqualung tour a few years back was one of the best tull shows I have been to. Col you be going to basingstoke by any chance. I saw that show twice at Carnegie Hall. The first night there were problems with the sound, but the second night was much better. I liked Lucia, but I don't think there is any place in a Tull show for Tull to be performing Lucia's material, especially so much of it, nor is there any place in a Tull show for Queen and Led Zep covers. It was that tour that started this unfortunate trend. There are tons of Tull songs which have violin parts that would be suitable for Lucia to play at a Tull show. The latest tour was literally 80% instrumental. The vocals were so bad, and even though we have been accustomed to Ian's strained vocals for many years, his vocals were painful to listen to at the show I saw, and I had no desire to see Tull again four days later. Jeff
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Post by fatman on Mar 22, 2008 18:20:43 GMT
Oh dear, not a great way to start the gig reviews but I guess you gotta tell it like you see it. The recent Tull shows I have attended have all been pretty good (with allowances for Ian's voice and general wear and tear on the old boys!) but maybe that's because the London shows are fairly big dates on the schedule so they make a bigger effort for those. This coming UK tour I have gone a bit bonkers and I'm off roving the provinces too for three more dates as well as London so it will be interesting to see how the shows compare. I will pull no punches when I let you know how it goes! The most disappointing aspects of the Newark New Jersey show that I saw were the fact that it was almost entirely instrumental, the painfully bad singing and the cover versions. Ian sang bits and pieces of many songs, and the singing this time around was just dreadful, worse than I've ever heard before. I also object to non-Tull songs being included in a Tull set, such as America which I guess is a Keith Emerson song. I also did not like to see a string quartet perform their own cover version of SFTW and Heavy Horses, with Ian popping out to play a few flute lines. It's taken me a long time, but I've finally begun to feel as though I don't really have a desire to see them anymore, certainly not more than once per tour, as opposed to seeing multiple shows. Jeff
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Post by fatman on Mar 22, 2008 18:23:36 GMT
The show I saw in November, at the New Jersey Pac Center in Newark, was, quite frankly, the worst Tull show I've ever seen, and I've seen about 85 dating back to 1977. Eighty percent of the show was instrumental. Two or three songs were not even Tull songs, an annoying recent trend. The humour was recycled, the band was flat, the volume was turned down way too low, Ian's "singing" was abominable, and although I was looking forward to Velvet Green, it had been dropped from the set list. The show was so bad that I had no desire to try to get a ticket for the Hammerstein Ballroom show several days later. I cannot believe what has become of Tull. Just five years ago, during the 2002 U.S. Tour, they could still be considered Tull, and were still capable of blowing the roof off a venue. Not anymore. Jeff Bummer, Jeff. If Ian had taken that break so badly needed a few years ago, we might have a band and an album... Say it ain't so! Geoff B. Hey, Geoff, nice to see you again. You are right of course about the non-stop touring and the lack of any new material. At this point the only way I think I would be motivated to see Tull is if they were to come back with a strong album rather than all these nostalgia/instrumental/orchestral tours. Jeff
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Post by fatman on Mar 22, 2008 18:28:33 GMT
The show I saw in November, at the New Jersey Pac Center in Newark, was, quite frankly, the worst Tull show I've ever seen, and I've seen about 85 dating back to 1977. Eighty percent of the show was instrumental. Two or three songs were not even Tull songs, an annoying recent trend. The humour was recycled, the band was flat, the volume was turned down way too low, Ian's "singing" was abominable, and although I was looking forward to Velvet Green, it had been dropped from the set list. The show was so bad that I had no desire to try to get a ticket for the Hammerstein Ballroom show several days later. I cannot believe what has become of Tull. Just five years ago, during the 2002 U.S. Tour, they could still be considered Tull, and were still capable of blowing the roof off a venue. Not anymore. Jeff Hi Jeff: Although it saddens me to hear your review of this concert, I must confess that the last Tull show I went to a few years back was just as you had described it. It would have been nice to see Tull, as the band we all remember them to be even from a few years back, to bow out gracefully and retire. Since that concert I decided I will no longer taint my memory of how I recall this elusive band once was. Silken... Hi, Silken, good to see you and others again on this board now that the official board is dead. I know what you mean about the current state of Tull. Just a few years back, in 2002, they were still blowing me away most nights, but Ian has now decided to embrace this new orchestral/instrumental approach, along with playing other people's material which I don't really want to hear at a Tull show. Also, I do not care much for the two new band members; I wish Andy and Jon were back, or if they were going to be replaced, at least their replacements should be exciting rather than dull. Jeff
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Post by admin on Mar 22, 2008 22:36:57 GMT
Also, I do not care much for the two new band members; I wish Andy and Jon were back, or if they were going to be replaced, at least their replacements should be exciting rather than dull. Jeff I hear what your saying mate but on the positive side it did take me a while to warm to Andy Giddings & to be really honest a bit longer still to warm to Jon too so maybe it will just take a while for them to become part of whatever the Tull 'thing' is?
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Post by geoffcb on Mar 23, 2008 11:51:47 GMT
Bummer, Jeff. If Ian had taken that break so badly needed a few years ago, we might have a band and an album... Say it ain't so! Geoff B. Hey, Geoff, nice to see you again. You are right of course about the non-stop touring and the lack of any new material. At this point the only way I think I would be motivated to see Tull is if they were to come back with a strong album rather than all these nostalgia/instrumental/orchestral tours. Jeff Yeah Hi, Jeff! I haven't listened to tull in quite a while, so today I dragged out my CD selection of Nightcap that I made for the car, before I had an MP3 player. I still think a lot of that stuff is pretty good, and it made me think that I wish Ian had just got himself a regular producer to collaborate with over the last (gasp) 20 years. We might not have what appears as a burnt out shell of Ian now. I fantasized today that a modern producer could step in and rescue the Tull, but it's just a fantasy, isn't it. G E O F F
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Post by TullSkull on Mar 30, 2008 22:51:05 GMT
I too saw the Nov tour and thought it was weak, or was it that I missed the loud drive they always had? Well that too. I have seen them 20 times and also thought this was the weakest show I have seen, even the 1/2 unpluged Aqualung Tour was a rockin' show. This last tour was a bit bland .... Time to change the set list too Ian ...
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Post by tullistray on Apr 17, 2008 14:38:39 GMT
I think the proper place to hear the last Tull tour was right outside the stage door. Had not missed a Tull tour since 71 and come the night of one of their Chicago area shows I geeked and decided to go, figured I could find a ticket outside as normal but did not quite get there in time, great weather, sound was not that bad, and oddly I really enjoyed it. But had I become exposed to Tull any later than I did, let alone in the past 25 or 30 years they would be a casual interest, not an obsession.
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Post by warchild on Apr 30, 2008 21:51:17 GMT
I saw this tour, in Nov. Thought it was great. Maybe not the best. But it was my first show. Saw them in Albany NY. Was a great show I thought. MY GOD was a highlight, Donkey and Drum I liked a lot. And no matter what anyone says I loved the rendition of Aqualung. It was a big movement of music, and liked America as well, a very whimsical piece. So, I am looking forward to this years tour!
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Post by admin on May 1, 2008 11:28:31 GMT
Donkey and Drum I liked a lot. And no matter what anyone says I loved the rendition of Aqualung. ! me too, I know alot of Tull folks didn't take to it but I thought the arrangement was really good. I never got to hear the donkey and the Drum. What it a song or an instrumental piece?
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Post by fatman on May 1, 2008 15:56:10 GMT
Donkey and Drum I liked a lot. And no matter what anyone says I loved the rendition of Aqualung. ! me too, I know alot of Tull folks didn't take to it but I thought the arrangement was really good. I never got to hear the donkey and the Drum. What it a song or an instrumental piece? I liked this version of Aqualung too, but it was not new. It's the same Aqualung that was played during the Divinities tour. That's what I did not like about the 2007 shows, i.e., the fact that much of it was recycled from prior tours, even the jokes and banter were old. Although it was billed as Jethro Tull it was actually pieced together from the Little Light Music tour, the Divinities tour, the Living with the Past tour, the Rubbing Elbows tour, and the 2006 IA plays the orchestral music of Tull tour. The current 2008 set list looks similar, with stuff like Someday the Sun Won't Shine on You, LITP, Reasons for Waiting/Sossity medley, etc. All of this is pieced together from prior tours, and there's nothing really new in what they are playing. I felt they should have dug deeper for this tour. Jeff
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Dan
Journeyman
Posts: 115
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Post by Dan on May 1, 2008 18:30:37 GMT
Donkey and Drum I liked a lot. And no matter what anyone says I loved the rendition of Aqualung. ! me too, I know alot of Tull folks didn't take to it but I thought the arrangement was really good. I never got to hear the donkey and the Drum. What it a song or an instrumental piece? www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rlQHkiCur4
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Post by tullistray on May 2, 2008 0:37:04 GMT
me too, I know alot of Tull folks didn't take to it but I thought the arrangement was really good. I never got to hear the donkey and the Drum. What it a song or an instrumental piece? www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rlQHkiCur4Ditto Dan, there have been doubters at every turn in Tull's career, in my memory going back to Aqualung, I can remember several people only liking their first 3 records, and as I have heard, some jumped off ship when Mick Abrahams left. To me they have missed the richest musical document in rock history, there has been beauty, sometimes very great, to be found at literally every turn, does require patience, and never never never painting Tull into a personal box. They are not a prog band, folk band, blues band, hard rock band, they are our beautiful and utterly unique Jethro Tull. While there have been very popular records at some points very long ago,(although as I was rude enough to say to his face outside his home in 83, and I believe speaks specifically to Aqualung and TAAB, they would have not even got on the radio at any point in the last 30 years at least, let alone been best sellers) Ian has never sold out his muse, such as I percieve Genesis,ELP, Pink Floyd, Yes and others who I never felt to have born any resemblance to Tull to have done. Had his concerns been to have been for instance a prog band they would have ceased to exist over thirty years ago. Be very proud of your Tull and always give him all the rope he needs, trust Ian he won't hang himself, he's a good boy. He has yet to go and play the endgame, so very grateful.
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