Jethro Tull compared to ...

Jethro Tull was the finest band I ever saw in concert.
Their "Thick as a Brick" concert in '72, and the "Passion Play" concert the following year were/are beyond words. I also saw Led Zep in May 1973, and even with really great seats I'd say it was nothing compared to the Tull show. 
Plant, Page & Co. were very predictable - they performed OK, just very predictable.
The only thing that really impressed me about seeing Zep was
1. Bonham's drum solo.
2. Their sound system was MASSIVE...[at least for 1973]

However, with Anderson & Co. , everyone was on the edge of their seat the whole time wondering what they were gonna do next...
At one point, Anderson during a flute solo, starts barking like a dog into the mike which was attached to an echo device. It was soooo cool.
Everyone just cracked up laughing.
They played every note and every gesture to perfection.  Ian Anderson & Co. gave me the impression that he really didn't take this whole rock and roll thing all that seriously.  Well, he did...and yet...he didn't. He had a wonderful sense of humor during the whole performance.

During the "Passion Play" concert in '73; right in the middle of the show - I mean they are in the middle of an intense jam - a projection screen gets lowered down from the ceiling and a movie begins to play [hare lost his spectacles]...I mean the whole audience [1000's strong] just freaked out...
Also, before the show - while all the house lights are still on - the entire band acted as their own roadies...incognito.  They almost got away with it til someone in the audience noticed how strange it was that all these "roadies" were wearing long trench coats with the collars pulled up and broad brim hats covering their heads...

Jethro Tull - as far as I'm concerned - out played any other group I saw from '69 -'75.  Jeff Beck Group, Chicago, Santana, Three Dog Night, Spirit, Alice Cooper, Robin Trower, James Gang, Canned Heat, etc. etc.

Footnote: Black Sabbath was the worst show I ever saw...with the exception that Gentle Giant was the warm up band.  Now they were also a terrific...




Edited by utah_man

That's fantastic!! Sometimes I really regret being only 18

Jethro came to Lima for second time in 1994 (I believe) because of the big success of their first concert.

This time Ian started to jump (as always) and then fell down, the wooden floor had broken and so his leg.

The guy instead of ending the concert (What would be normal and human), asked for a chair and continued playing even when his face showed the pain.

That is being a real Pro.

Iván

oliverstoned wrote: How is Mountain?

Never followed the band very closely.  Lead guitar player was/is Leslie West. 
Nothing outstanding about the concert that I recall.  Hard Rock Blues-Based sound of early 70's

oliverstoned wrote: ok thanks surely not as good as allman brothers

I think I saw them in concert too...Yea, I'd say they are better.  They were popular due to the "twin lead guitar" sound.
Mountain, Allman Bros., Doobie Bros., and CCR, et. al - I think were/are all from the Southern United States. 

almost nine years ago i saw tull in concert, it was a tad dissapointing, but hey they are getting pretty old. Ian's voice had given out by then, sad really.

Some additional comments...

1. Music Critics (I mean professional music critics/reviewers) would most likely not catagorize Zepp as a "Progressive Rock" musical group.

2. My comments in the initial post did not mean to sound as if the band was not any good at all in concert...
However, there is such a thing as "hype" and "overrating" - To a certain extent much (not all) of what has transpired over the past 30+ years regarding Led Zeppelin (as well as many, many other "legendary" groups) can be attributed to this phenomena.

3. The older I've gotten, the more my musical tastes have varied.  When I saw the "Mighty Zepp" live and in person in '73, I thought: "Wow...Led Zeppelin...there they are in the flesh..."
(Looking back, I now wish that they would have had an extra guest guitarist during their live show.  Also, Robert Plant was a wee bit cocky on stage, and somewhat rude to the Salt Lake City audience sitting in front of him....anyway...)
My point is: Your musical tastes will probably change too.  I no longer care for Led Zeppelin as a whole.  Were they my favorite band at one time...sure. 
4. The music created by those bands whom we would all agree are "definitively progressive" are the ones that I liked 35 years ago...and still like today. NOT because of all the "hype", but because of their outstanding musical giftedness, their phenomenal creativity.  And willingness to create extraordinary music even at the expense of making more money and being more popular.

[All you Zepp fans, please don't view this as a Zepp bashing post...OK ?]

One cool thing Jimmy Page did in concert was to twist the tuning key on his Les Paul to get that weird sound you hear on Black Dog during the guitar solo - y'know, where the note seems to bend downwards...

anyway...




Edited by utah_man

ivan_2068 wrote: Jethro came to Lima for second time in 1994 (I believe) because of the big success of their first concert. This time Ian started to jump (as always) and then fell down, the wooden floor had broken and so his leg. The guy instead of ending the concert (What would be normal and human), asked for a chair and continued playing even when his face showed the pain. That is being a real Pro. Iván

Not long after that I saw them in Washington D.C. Ian Anderson performed in a wheel chair. And he still couldn't keep still

Tull have released some duff albums, but they always deliver on stage. I caught them first on the tour that was recorded for 'Bursting Out' and I still don't know just how Ian Anderson managed to engage directly with every single individual in the audience - Peter Gabriel is the only other performer I've seen pull this off at a large scale gig.