There is always an expectation of what a band looks like, sounds like and performs to each concert ticket holder. All of those expectation, and more, were met and surpassed on the Toronto leg of Ian Anderson’s Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary Tour on July 3, 2018 at Budweiser Stage.
Now at age 70, Ian Anderson and the Tull Band performed hit after hit from his diverse Tull catalogue throughout the concert. My Sunday Feeling, A Song For Jeffrey and Cross-Eyed Mary played out as strongly as Songs From the Wood and Heavy Horses.
A huge screen backdrop provided video clips, visual kaleidoscopes and special fan admired “treats” accompanied each song. The only odd portion of the performance was the somewhat condensed stage, more suited to that of a club or bar set up, and far away from the front of the huge venue stage. That in mind, Ian would occasionally walk forward to greet the eagerly applauding fans.
Ian Anderson and the Jethro Tull band has an unmistakable sound thanks in part to Ian vocal performance and his flute playing. With his iconic flute in hand pirouette, the band took the crowd on an incredible musical journey from their very beginnings fifty years ago to the present day.
If not expected, or even demanded, Aqualung began to thunderous applause through until the last notes of the encore Locomotive Breath.
Let’s face it. If there was one progressive rock artist and band, let alone legend in this industry to see, the dynamics of Ian Anderson’s Jethro Tull 50th Anniversary Tour proved to be THAT one band.
All photos by Mike S. Fowler
©2018. Please DO NOT copy or use without permission.
