Jethro Tull and Ten Years After, 1999

Jethro Tull & Ten Years After @ Jones Beach
Old Favorites Still Rock
by George Gelish

Ian Anderson may not have as much hair as he used to but he plays better than ever!

It was twenty years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play,
They been going in and out of style, but they’re guaranteed to raise a smile…
- Lennon & McCartney

Well gang I hope you’re staying dry today, with the hurricane bearing down on Long Island. Who knows, maybe this will be my last column… HAIL CEASAR! (beats chest) WE ARE ABOUT TO DIE SALUTE YOU!

[Ed. note: Floyd hit the wall and just rained on us. George survived.]

Anyway, I am pleased to report that the weather was a whole lot better two weeks ago when I went to see Jethro Tull at Jones Beach.

This year when I bought my Beach concert tickets, I was thinking of sticking with some newer bands since some of the older bands I’ve seen lately were so disappointing. For instance, last year I saw Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. Bonnie was great as always (I’ve seen her a zillion times), but Jackson Browne is getting kind of long in the tooth. I also saw Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake and Palmer last year. Deep Purple singer Ian Gillian had no voice, no stage presence, flabby body. He really should thinking about hanging em up. Worse yet, ELP still had it but did NO NEW MATERIAL!

Those less-than-stellar experiences were still in my mind this past June, as I tried to get through to TicketMiser on the day Jones Beach tickets went on sale. Although they have been one of my favorite bands for years, I was going to skip Tull. But then at the last minute I changed my mind and bought tickets on impulse. Well, I’m here to say they sure made me glad I did!

Going to the arena, I didn’t know or care who the warm-up band was, so you can imagine how pleased I was when the MC introduced another old favorite – Ten Years After. Some of you old-timers or students of the music may remember their killer performance at Woodstock ’69. Gotta make the distinction nowadays, y’know. I’ve got three words for you kids who are too young to remember the original Woodstock… RENT THE MOVIE!!!

Anyway, guitarist Alvin Lee looks like he’s about 1,000 years old; years of hard living engraved on his face. But damned if he still doesn’t kick it with that old Gibson with the peace sign on it! I couldn’t SWEAR it was the same guitar he played at Woodstock but it sure looked like it. Alvin LOOKED old but can still play his ass off!

The other great thing that unlike so many "classic rock" bands that are still on the road, Ten Years After has ALLTHE ORIGINAL MEMBERS!!! That’s right, Ric Lee, Leo Lyons and Chick Churchill were all in the house, and it was great to see them jamming, and I do mean JAMMING. In an hour-plus set they only played about a half-dozen songs, feeling free to do VERY extended versions of "Walk Like a Man" and "Choo Choo Mama." Although the friend I went with was bored to tears, I loved it. Years of playing together allowed the band to take the song to Andromeda and back again, with no problem whatsoever.

Naturally, they did "I’m Going Home," which was featured in the "Woodstock" movie. Back in the day, this song was the measure of whether someone was a great guitar player. If you could play "I’m Going Home," you were a real hotshot! Unfortunately, that hybrid "blues-a-delic" style of guitar playing has gone out of fashion, but you’d certainly have to name Alvin Lee right as one of its leading (surviving) practitioners. And in case some in the audience were too young to get it (as was the 16 yr old kid who came with his Mom sitting next to me), he introduced one song by saying, "Warning, this song is psychedelic!"

As great as Alvin Lee was, the real surprise was bassist Leo Lyons, who rocked with a overdriven, weaving style that not many play any more. He certainly deserves a mention here, in a column written by a bass player.

Ten Years After was a nice surprise and an enjoyable hour of music. Only one beef – NO ‘’I’D LOVE TO CHANGE THE WORLD?!!!" Guys, c’mon!

Related Links:

http://www.alvinlee.com (official Alvin Lee Fan Club Page)

http://www.execpc.com/~torrey/tya.html Groovy fan page with lotsa TYA links

I can’t say enough good things about Jethro Tull – they’re everything a classic rock band should be. They featured strong new material prominently in their set instead of sneaking it in almost apologetically amongst the old favorites. They were airtight musically but also had intense but controlled bursts of jamming. They played some of the old hits but did some new things with them. They also threw in some unexpected, lesser-known tunes.

Most importantly, Ringleader Ian Anderson and longtime guitarist Martin Barre are both pushing 60 and still on top of their form. Ian especially has never really gotten credit as the instrumental virtuoso he truly is. He was at times Herbie Mann, and others James Galway, but most of the time he played with his own signature style, including breaths and mumbles underneath the notes. I’m not a student of the flute but I don’t know of any other flautists who play like that. I will defer to my better-informed readers to correct me if I’m wrong.

Even if he weren’t a killer instrumentalist, Anderson deserves credit as one of the all-time greats as a performer. He played and sang with intensity that much younger musicians would envy. His only concession to age, it seemed, was the bandana covering his head to hide the baldness. His dry sense of humor was well in evidence in his dialogue between songs, and of course he soloed in his trademark "crane" position, standing one-legged with flute in hand.

Guitarist Martin Barre also deserves mention here. Go ahead and beat me up for saying so, but I think he deserves to be in pantheon of Great Rock Guitarists, right up there with Clapton and Page and the other so-called "guitar gods." With the classic albums he done, the years of popularity, the records sold and everything else, he has had a career that would stand up with almost anybody’s And when the hell is Tull gonna go in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame anyway?

Jethro Tull’s body of work is truly remarkable. Consider that over a twenty-year span they came up with "Stand Up," "Benefit," "Aqualung," "Thick as a Brick." "A Passion Play," "War Child," "Minstrel In the Gallery," "Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die," "Songs from the Wood" "Heavy Horses" and "Bursting Out." That’s a discography that would stand up to anybody’s! Anderson, of course, deserves much praise for having written the lion’s share of the material.

Although the principals are in fine shape, the other band members were superb as well. This incarnation of Jethro Tull included drummer Doane Perry, keyboardist Andrew Giddings and bassist Jonathan Noyce. Happily, they stayed faithful to the familiar parts while putting their own fingerprints on the music; a difficult line to walk. Bassist Noyce was especially noteworthy because he plays the exact same Frenandes 5-string bass I just bought!

Tull’s set was full of surprises, and a lot of fun to watch unfold. They opened with an unexpected choice of "Steel Monkey." They played three songs from their new CD "Dot-Com," which I’m told is in the Billboard Internet Sales Top Ten. It is a strong effort and, unlike some of the latter day offerings from the band, sure to please old fans. The new material is very cerebral and controlled - clearly the work of a "mature" writer. I recommend it highly. They played both of my favorite songs from the album – "AWOL" and "Dot-Com;" the title cut.

The set also featured several songs from "Stand Up," which Ian gleefully announced was celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. Obligingly, the band served up a raucous version of "A New Day Yesterday." threw in a nifty acoustic version of "Fat Man" and an unexpected version of "Jeffrey goes to Leicester Square." They played a reworked "Nothing is Easy" and also dusted off "For a Thousand Mothers." "Aqualung," their most famous LP, was also represented as they finished with the obligatory "Locomotive Breath" and a souped-up, reconfigured "Aqualung."

Jethro Tull put on a stellar show by anyone’s standards. It was too bad Jones Beach Theatre was only 2/3 full to witness it. Let’s hope they will come back next year and play to the packed house they deserve.

Peace, Man.