Jethro Tull Part the Prog-Rock Heavens Above Ljubljana — Hala Tivoli, 3 June 2023

Jethro Tull
Ljubljana / Hala Tivoli / Slovenia
Sunday, 3 June 2023, 8:00 PM

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The traditionally overcast prog-rock skies above Slovenia have, after a long string of dry years in terms of genre heavyweights showing up at our local venues (not counting jazz rock fusion acts, which visit us far more often by comparison), finally cleared a little this year. Into Ljubljana’s Hala Tivoli rolled the legendary British prog-rock forefathers Jethro Tull, who had only visited our neck of the woods twice before. The first time was way back on 15 April 1975, when they were out promoting “Warchild” (1974). The second visit came in the equally distant year 2000, with “J-Tull Dot Com” (1999) as the current release. Four years later, Jethro Tull’s legendary frontman Ian Anderson performed at Cankarjev dom as a guest of Slovenia’s most celebrated flutist Tinkara Kovač, who subsequently collaborated with him on several joint shows across Europe.

Mr. Anderson — tireless flute innovator, distinctive vocalist, one-of-a-kind composer, sharp social critic/satirist, and charismatic showman — has been the face and driving force of Jethro Tull for over fifty years. His signature one-legged stance while playing the flute has earned him a place among rock’s greatest icons — though his career is refreshingly scandal-free. Rather than sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, he’s known for excellent, mostly pretty complex music that blends elements of hard rock, jazz, classical, and folk, generously ‘seasoned’ with socially critical and satirical lyrics. Ian and Jethro Tull arrived in Ljubljana after two Spanish dates on the current tour, on which they’re also showcasing material from both recently released studio albums — namely “The Zealot Gene” (2022, RockLine review) and “RökFlöte” (2023, RockLine review). After a lengthy, almost twenty-year studio absence, they dropped two new studio efforts in quick succession, proving they’re still capable of crafting excellent music with socially hard-hitting messages.

Ian — who doesn’t like being called a rock legend and is in bed before midnight — along with his crew, who in 2023 are a completely different lineup from the version that last visited Ljubljana, laid down strict Spartan photography rules even before Jethro Tull hit the stage. All photography of the band during the show was strictly banned until the final song of the night, as Ian in his later years can’t stand camera flashes and phones held up at the front. In this regard he’s still less strict than Robert Fripp, King Crimson’s legendary guitarist and eccentric overlord, who only allows photos during the final applause.

The setlist this evening was highly interesting and, except for the closing section, completely unpredictable. The Ljubljana show also included a handful of old songs that Jethro Tull haven’t played in a very long time. Those of us who’d been waiting years in vain for anything from the oft-overlooked “Stormwatch” (1979) finally got what we came for. Overall the set was well thought-out, hitting the right balance of old and newer material spanning every era of Jethro Tull’s catalogue — except the eighties. 

The opening energy blast of “Nothing Is Easy” wasn’t all that surprising, given that Ian has said on numerous occasions that “Stand Up” (1969, RockLine review) is his favourite Jethro Tull album. So it’s no surprise that more songs came from that record than any other. A notable surprise was the performance of the brooding “With You There to Help Me” from the frequently overlooked “Benefit” (1970, RockLine review). Every song in the set was accompanied by a fitting backdrop video that did a solid job conveying the core message of each track. In this respect, Jethro Tull have come a long way since the last time we saw their visual presentation. This was especially evident during the performance of the old but still excellent “Sweet Dream”, accompanied by what’s already become a near-cult video in which Ian plays Count Dracula and his most notorious alter ego — the old, decrepit tramp Aqualung, who’ll get more airtime later in this review.

Ian demonstrated admirable vitality for a 75-year-old right from the off, effortlessly striking his iconic one-legged flute-playing pose multiple times and winning over the Ljubljana crowd with sheer charisma in an instant. New guitarist Joe Parrish, meanwhile, proved himself a more than worthy successor to the unforgettable Martin Barre, though his youthful looks slightly undermined the band’s traditional image as bearded farmers gathered around a campfire in a forest clearing. 

Ian structured the set so that instrumentals were placed at exactly the right moments, giving his tired voice the occasional rest — it hasn’t been quite what it was since 1985. He also successfully disguised his one weakness with occasional backing vocals and vocal handoffs from Parrish and bassist David Goodier. Keyboardist John O’Hara, who recently appeared here alongside Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson as part of the orchestral Deep Purple concert at Cankarjev dom, was tirelessly covering the band’s symphonic side throughout. Aside from die-hard fans, not many people know that excellent drummer Scott Hammond is actually the famous flutist’s son. And on this night, the father had every reason to be proud of his son’s drumming. The whole band is incredibly tight instrumentally — they don’t miss a beat — while Ian skillfully handles the vocal mimicry and now does a pretty good job of hiding his biggest weakness.

The show continued to treat us to some rare gems from the Jethro Tull catalogue. “We Used to Know” from “Stand Up” once threatened to join the ranks of those ‘forgotten’ Jethro Tull songs never to be played live again — until it emerged that the famous American rock band Eagles had ‘borrowed’ a certain chord progression from that very Tull standard for their biggest hit “Hotel California”. The members of the notorious American band persistently deny this, of course. Ian has publicly stated more than once that he doesn’t hold it against The Eagles — who were Jethro Tull’s support act in June 1972 — but this evening told a different story. The old master of mockery and black humour took plenty of digs at the American rock heroes via the backdrop video, including a new take on the famous neon sign from the “Hotel California” album cover. 

An even bigger surprise was the performance of “Wicked Widows” from the somewhat less celebrated but still very solid “J-Tull Dot Com”, which turned out to be timed exactly right. Its anti-war lyrics are acutely relevant to our current era of rampant militaristic madness, something the backdrop video drove home powerfully with harrowing war footage and fairly abstract images of marching troops whose helmets and gear most closely resembled those of the US infantry.

Flying in the face of the approaching summer, the unexpected performance of the Christmas instrumental “Holly Herald” from “The Jehtro Tull Christmas Album” (2003) felt a bit odd at first, but it was played so well there was no room for complaints. This was followed by two new pieces, several decades younger than most of the other songs played that evening. “Hammer On Hammer” from the current, conceptually framed “RökFlöte” — steeped in Viking mythology — was dedicated by Ian to the notorious Norse god of thunder Thor, something most Slovenian fans who’d bought the new album as soon as it dropped already knew. What most didn’t know, however, is that part of the lyrics also reference the notorious Soviet leader with the hammer and sickle, who duly joined Thor in the video backdrop.

The performance of “Mine Is the Mountain” from “The Zealot Gene” — the unofficial sequel to the “Aqualung” (1971, RockLine review) standard “My God” — was the moment when Ian once again settled scores in his witty, cutting way with organised (monotheistic) religion and the official image of the one god of all three Abrahamic faiths, rendered in the traditional form of a long-bearded old man atop a high mountain or amid the heavens. Ian and the band wrapped up the first half of the show in traditional fashion with Bach’s baroque instrumental “Bouree”, which they first performed in 1969 on “Stand Up”. This was followed by a 15-minute break, which most of the audience used to grab a new Jethro Tull t-shirt or a drink. During the interval, a deadly serious image of Ian in the middle of the ocean stared at us from the screen — until it suddenly ‘came to life’, moving its eyes before picking up a pair of binoculars bearing the no-camera and no-phone symbols. Ian’s trolling of the modern phone-obsessed audience has truly reached new dimensions, but in a way you can completely understand it.

In the second half of the seventies, Jethro Tull recorded a wonderful prog-folk-rock trilogy of albums. This evening they performed three songs from that trilogy. First up was “Heavy Horses” from the outstanding album of the same name, released in 1978 and dedicated to a rare breed of British horse. This was a big surprise, not least because it’s a vocally very demanding piece. Some of us still remember how Ian struggled through this evergreen at one of his earlier concerts. This time he used a clever tactic, handing the opening of the chorus — which sits higher than his current vocal range — over to bassist Goodier. He and keyboardist O’Hara also sang the supporting harmonies that play such an important role in the song, so the whole thing came off better than expected. 

With the performance of “The Navigators” — an unusually hard-hitting track by their modern standards, partly dedicated to Viking seafarers — Jethro Tull took us back to the current studio album. This was followed by another major surprise as the rarely-played instrumental “Warm Sporran” from the aforementioned “Stormwatch” got a live outing, giving Ian a chance to rest his tired vocal cords again. With this piece, dedicated to a special clasp on the traditional Scottish kilt, Ian flagged up his Scottish roots. Before the new album came out he researched his family tree and made an interesting discovery — his distant ancestors apparently originated somewhere in the Balkans before moving to western Europe. He didn’t mention this to the audience. Perhaps he’s one of the rare western Europeans who doesn’t consider Slovenia part of the Balkans. 

The performance of the dark and sardonic “Mrs. Tibbets” from “The Zealot Gene” came with a gut-punch visualisation of an atomic bomb explosion, as the lyrics concern the mother of American pilot Paul Tibbets, who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 aboard the Enola Gay. Of all the video projections, this one was the most harrowing — yet Ian had us laughing at the end of the performance with the remark that Mrs Tibbets should next time keep her knickers on before ‘jumping into bed’. The grim themes and socially critical messages continued with “Dark Ages”, another excellent “Stormwatch” track that Jethro Tull haven’t played live in a very long time. This was another vocally very demanding song, and this time guitarist Parrish stepped up for the main chorus, thus preventing Ian from running out of steam.

The main set closed, as expected in a way, with the classic “Aqualung”, effectively extended with a long instrumental addition while also delivering a gut-punch via images of homeless people from all corners of the world. After a brief pause, everything was set for the encore and the highlight of the night — a performance of the most celebrated piece in the Jethro Tull catalogue: “Locomotive Breath”. First maestro O’Hara delivered the opening piano section with masterful precision, then gradually the rest of the band under Ian’s command joined in just before the transition into the hard-rocking main section. For this occasion Ian even gave the green light to photography, and the audience could finally let loose for the duration of “Locomotive Breath”. Ian and his bandmates took their bow and marched off stage to the traditional recorded strains of “Cheerio” from “The Broadsword and the Beast” (1982), while images of each band member with their full name appeared in the background — for the benefit of the rare concertgoers who didn’t know the current Jethro Tull lineup from the past three years. And once the band had left the stage, true to form for Ian’s brand of humour, they played the main theme from the old British comedy series Benny Hill.

Mr. Anderson and his excellent collaborators treated us to a wonderful concert evening that was enjoyable from start to finish. Jethro Tull proved once again that they’re still true masters of extraordinary tightness and nowhere near the scrap heap, while ‘newcomer’ Parrish has studied Barre’s guitar technique down to the last detail — he feels like he’s been a member of the band for years. Ian, now pitching a semitone lower, more or less skillfully masked his vocal wear and thankfully didn’t push himself on the harder choruses, while his flute playing was still an absolute ten. Despite turning 76 this year, the indestructible prog-rock patriarch is still incredibly vital and a remarkable on-stage motivator who, from everything seen and heard, enjoys live performance just as much as he did in his younger years when he had a reputation for even wilder stage antics. The sound, by Hala Tivoli’s usual standards, stayed at a respectable level throughout — everything came through clearly and audibly even from the stands, with no technical issues to speak of. At long last we got to witness one of prog rock’s key representatives on home soil, and let’s hope that this time — unlike the usual pattern when it comes to organising prog rock concerts here — we won’t have to wait another ten years.

Author: Peter Podbrežnik

Setlist:
1. Nothing Is Easy
2. With You There to Help Me
3. Sweet Dream
4. We Used to Know
5. Wicked Windows
6. Holly Herald
7. Hammer On Hammer
8. Mine Is the Mountain
9. Bouree
10. Heavy Horses
11. The Navigators
12. Warm Sporran
13. Mrs. Tibbets
14. Dark Ages
15. Aqualung
—encore—
16. Locomotive Breath