Thick As A Brick tour, no reviews yet?

They are not coming to Belgium until November so I'l have to wait but I've read a spanish review from their concert in Madrid a few days ago (July 12th) and it seems like a great show, so to whet the appetite I will summarize some of the main comments. I refrain from posting a direct translation from that review as i do not have the author's permission (even if it's not a press review, just a review posted in a personal blog).

 

Good scenification with many theatrical and humourous elements. The show starts with the band in disguise sweeping the stage, then a video shows Gerald Bostock entering a psychiatrist consultation. The psychiatrist (Anderson in disguise) asks Gerald to tell his story and the music begins.

 

Anderson's voice is too deteriorated for TAAB1 so he delegates most of the singing to supporting musicals singer Ryan O'Donnell who also puts in some acting along the story. His voice is a bit different from Ian's but he sings very well.

Anderson is absolutely fantastic at the flute and acoustic guitar.

 

Florian Opahl does a good job at the guitar but Martin Barre is missed. No complains about the other musicians and the sound is very good.

 

TAAB1 is faithfully reproduced, at some point a video shows a supposed Skype call through which violinist Anna Phoebe plays along with the band.

 

TAAB2 is introduced via a YouTube video by "St Cleve TV presenter Archibald Parrit" (again Anderson in disguise).

The sequel is more adapted to Ian's current voice capabilities so he sings much more on it. His voice is clearly not in good form but he is more than forgiven by his excellent flute performances. O'Donnell still supports the vocals though.

 

TAAB2 is also faithfully reproduced in its entirety. At the end Parrit appears again on video to introduce the band members and they leave the stage.

 

Many people were expecting Aqualung as the encore but they played Locomotive Breath which obviously caused no complains!

 

 

With forgiveness for Ian's vocal condition, for the rest it sounds like a great show.