Post by admin on Mar 20, 2010 22:29:21 GMT
I don't know what I've done to upset Ian Anderson but prior to this year, he has faithfully booked his London and South East gigs to coincide with my off-shifts. This year, however, I seem to have fallen out of favour because both London and Ipswich gigs which would be my "local" Tull hunting ground, were both shows I couldn't get to. To my relief, he did throw me an olive branch this tour so this review will be called "Thank God for Croydon!", and not many people have ever said that!
So, beer bought, bum in seat, and first up was Saori Jo. I can't really go through her set song by song, as she didn't actually introduce them, and I am a bad and lazy reviewer / researcher but suffice to say, she was excellent. She was joined on stage by all of Tull during different songs. In a nutshell, the Tori Amos comparisons I've seen written about her kind of give you an inkling of where she's coming from but certainly no copyist.
Onto Tull. Setlist was as follows:
Dun Ringill
The Water Carrier
Life's a Long song
Eurology
Nothing is Easy
New Day Yesterday
Tea with the Princess
Serenade to a Cuckoo
Fat Man
Bouree
A Change of Horses
Bug
Budapest
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath
The introduction to Dun Ringill was brilliant and atmospheric. Having read it was the opener on posted setlists I thought it might be a bit of a slow start, but it actually worked very well. The whole first quarter of the set built up really nicely though Water Carrier, Life's a long song and Eurology straight into Nothing is Easy and suddenly we were watching a very different show as the volume went up Tull kicked up into high gear.
This was a night where Tull sounded like they were not on their zillionth tour playing the same old songs to the same old punters but like a band who were still out to prove a point.The whole band were in fine form so it's hard to single out any atand out performances but Martin meant business from the off and played superbly all night and the set seemed well suited for Ian's voice which was strong and held up really well throughout too.
I'd resisted peeking at the two new songs on Youtube prior to the show so I got my first taste of them on the night. Tea with The Pincess is an instrumental piece that wouldn't be out of place on The Secret Language Of Birds. A very fast paced tune that had some great hooks and motifs and some excellent twists and turns but for me maybe it was just maybe missing the sitar it was written to accompany. A good Tull tune but to my my ears a little tweaking of the arrangement would make it a great one, or maybe perhaps adding lyrics & making it into a song. A Change of Horses on the other hand is the real deal. I hope this is given the proper studio treatment sometime, this would sit nicely among the best of the latter day Tull material.
All in all a great night, and as good a Tull gig as I've seen in recent years. For the more cynical amongst us the set list could easily read like a another night in another town going through the motions show but what it can't convey and i probably can't describe is that 110% you get from every Tull show and all the little things that make the night so special.....John O'Hara & Doane's percussion duel during Fat Man, Martins amazing guitar work throughout (and during Soari Jos' set too) Ian's flawless flute, guitar playing plus his vocals which were on a par with anything I've seen in the last 25 years.
Just the whole performance, musicianship and the obvious enthusiasm to be still out there playing from the band made for a really memorable evening with Tull and I realised on the way home that for once, when the the band had left the stage and I was saying goodbye to the people I'd met with Loco Breath still rining in my ears that it never once occured to me that this might be the last Tull show I see. Based on the show I saw last night IA & Tull are showing no signs of slowing down yet!
More photos at www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=330&id=100000891875431&l=c2cfb61ea8
So, beer bought, bum in seat, and first up was Saori Jo. I can't really go through her set song by song, as she didn't actually introduce them, and I am a bad and lazy reviewer / researcher but suffice to say, she was excellent. She was joined on stage by all of Tull during different songs. In a nutshell, the Tori Amos comparisons I've seen written about her kind of give you an inkling of where she's coming from but certainly no copyist.
Onto Tull. Setlist was as follows:
Dun Ringill
The Water Carrier
Life's a Long song
Eurology
Nothing is Easy
New Day Yesterday
Tea with the Princess
Serenade to a Cuckoo
Fat Man
Bouree
A Change of Horses
Bug
Budapest
Aqualung
Locomotive Breath
The introduction to Dun Ringill was brilliant and atmospheric. Having read it was the opener on posted setlists I thought it might be a bit of a slow start, but it actually worked very well. The whole first quarter of the set built up really nicely though Water Carrier, Life's a long song and Eurology straight into Nothing is Easy and suddenly we were watching a very different show as the volume went up Tull kicked up into high gear.
This was a night where Tull sounded like they were not on their zillionth tour playing the same old songs to the same old punters but like a band who were still out to prove a point.The whole band were in fine form so it's hard to single out any atand out performances but Martin meant business from the off and played superbly all night and the set seemed well suited for Ian's voice which was strong and held up really well throughout too.
I'd resisted peeking at the two new songs on Youtube prior to the show so I got my first taste of them on the night. Tea with The Pincess is an instrumental piece that wouldn't be out of place on The Secret Language Of Birds. A very fast paced tune that had some great hooks and motifs and some excellent twists and turns but for me maybe it was just maybe missing the sitar it was written to accompany. A good Tull tune but to my my ears a little tweaking of the arrangement would make it a great one, or maybe perhaps adding lyrics & making it into a song. A Change of Horses on the other hand is the real deal. I hope this is given the proper studio treatment sometime, this would sit nicely among the best of the latter day Tull material.
All in all a great night, and as good a Tull gig as I've seen in recent years. For the more cynical amongst us the set list could easily read like a another night in another town going through the motions show but what it can't convey and i probably can't describe is that 110% you get from every Tull show and all the little things that make the night so special.....John O'Hara & Doane's percussion duel during Fat Man, Martins amazing guitar work throughout (and during Soari Jos' set too) Ian's flawless flute, guitar playing plus his vocals which were on a par with anything I've seen in the last 25 years.
Just the whole performance, musicianship and the obvious enthusiasm to be still out there playing from the band made for a really memorable evening with Tull and I realised on the way home that for once, when the the band had left the stage and I was saying goodbye to the people I'd met with Loco Breath still rining in my ears that it never once occured to me that this might be the last Tull show I see. Based on the show I saw last night IA & Tull are showing no signs of slowing down yet!
More photos at www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=330&id=100000891875431&l=c2cfb61ea8