Floral Pavilion – 02/06/19
There I was, back at the Floral Pavilion on Sunday night, at the International Guitar Festival, this time seeing musical legend Martin Barre celebrating 50 years of Jethro Tull. The 50 years he was involved with the band, at least. The band was formed 2 years earlier, but things only really started happening for the band when Martin joined.
After Martin briefly welcomed everyone and thanked them for coming out on such a monumentous night for Liverpool, he beckoned his band onstage. Then assuring us he would not hold the show up any longer, and that we would be ‘pleased to know, I’m not going to do any more talking’, the band roared into life.
There was a screen behind the band that played throughout the show that had pictures and videos of Tull in their heyday. They also had a voiceover introducing the albums and giving us a bit of history. They played the gig chronologically, doing two or three songs per album. I thoroughly enjoyed this multimedia experience; however, I thought it was a shame that there wasn’t really any interaction between band and audience.
This didn’t detract from the music, which was amazing. I own several Martin Barre albums and a number of Jethro Tull albums and they all pale into insignificance when you see Martin strutting his stuff live. Here is a man born to rock! His playing is truly magnificent, shredding guitar solos and running around the stage. He puts on a really great show.
Vocalist and guitarist Dan Crisp is great. He, like Martin, is a very physical performer, constantly moving with the music. I thought his performance mirrored Ian Anderson slightly, with his physicality and vocal timbre. Dan is such a great performer and a wonderful choice. I particularly enjoyed hearing Dan and Martin harmonise on guitar, it sounded great.
Firing out hit after hit, Jethro Tull’s song catalogue is certainly impressive. ‘Aqualung’ was brilliant; ‘Hymm 43’ was a highlight, ‘For a Thousand Mothers’ as well, such a good selection of songs. Mid way through the show, the band left the stage leaving Martin on his own and he announced that they were going to do a few acoustic numbers and invited Becca Langsford and Alex Hart to join him.
What followed was a fantastic interlude of acoustic songs with gorgeous two part harmonies. This for me was a real highlight of the show. Martin’s acoustic guitar playing combined with the girls magnificent vocals, it really was beautiful. What a great gear shift. I particularly enjoyed ‘One White Duck’, the girls just added something special to the show. They then remained on stage after the acoustic interlude and provided backing vocals for the rest of the set.
The size of the band seemed to grow throughout the show as well, finishing with eight players. What a treat it was having Tull drummer Clive Bunker and keyboardist Dee Palmer. Bassist Alan Thomson and primary drummer Darby Todd produced a great rhythm section, they were so tight and precise, it kept the rest of the band moving at a pace.
After the acoustic interlude, we were treated to yet more classics, ‘Jump Start’ really stood out and Martin’s solo was quite simply out of this world. They then, after nearly two and a half hours brought the show to a close with the bluesy number, ‘A New Day Yesterday’. The band returned and played ‘Locomotive Breath’ as an encore.
What a show! The whole band is made up of an incredible set of musicians and somehow it felt much heavier than Jethro Tull. I for one, thoroughly enjoyed myself, I even bought the specially produced CD that Martin had recorded to accompany the tour. The band are back in the UK in August, at the Shrewsbury folk festival and Cropredy and if you haven’t seen them in action, you’re missing a trick.
