A word from Kansas City citizen media journalists on a recent Midtown Kansas City show . . .
Review: Jethro Tull @ The Uptown
Got to see the Jetro Tull Rock Opera show last night at The Uptown. First thing people should know by now is, there is no one named Jethro Tull in the band and Ian Anderson, the lead singer is not Aqualung (keep in mind they were in their early thirties when they wrote "Crosseyed Mary" a song about a teenage prostitute who friends Aqualung).
Amidst the old rockers with canes and oxygen bottles, the Uptown was a who's who of rock n roll survivor's (Tull had album called,"To Old To Rock/To Young To Die!"). There were a new generation of disciples who heard their dad's Tull albums. there. You heard stories at intermission like "I was born in 1971 the year Aqualung came out!" As a Cold War Kid there were several events that occurred in your young life that you will always remember where you were at the time. "Aqualung" was one of those teachable moments in history like, The Kennedy Assassination or The Apollo Lunar Landing. Jethro Tull was so far removed from Pop AM Radio and much more melodic than "Slade" (who actually had as many Top 20 Hits as the Beatles in the UK). Tull opened for acts like Led Zeppelin and the Who back in the days of "Stadium Rock".
In 1976 Tull sold out 70,000 tickets at Shay Stadium. Everyone we talked to agreed the Tull/UK Show in 1978 at Kemper Arena loosened the screws on the roof and caused 8 inches of snow to collapse the roof two weeks after that sonic performance.
Last nights show touched on Malthusian, Jungian, Freudian and Darwinian topics with a flute player riffin' on blues and a 15th century repetitive theme. They call it "Neo Renaissance" but always at end the band turns up the heat and your reminded the bottom of the stage is lined with 18 inch sub woofers. Anderson dealt with the question of climate change and GMO' with a multi media light show, a female guest singer that sang his high parts (Anderson lost his voice in 1981) with other band members covering his vocal parts. They'll never be an era of pop music where musicians have the time, money and luxury of writing complex music agian. Nobody walked out because "shit got political". And no, they didn't play Crosseyed Mary!
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Flute thing never really gained much traction among other rock bands.
ReplyDeleteProbably because it's absolute unlistenable garbage.
Sitting on a park bench
ReplyDeleteeyeing little girls with bad intent.
Snot running down his nose
greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes.
Complex music? Uh, maybe. Our parents disapproved of most 70's rock, especially British bands. Beatles, Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Queen, Rolling Stones and such served our rebellious youth then. Most of it doesn't sound as great as before. Age? Attitude?
Listening to these bands back then beat listening to Richard Nixon's bullshit.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the 70s music holds up quite well. And you're right that much of it sounds like shit.
ReplyDeleteListen to Gene Clark's (born in KC before he left to form the Byrds) "No Other" from 1974 and tell me that album doesn't beat your Mumford and Sons or whatever else the faggoty flavor of the month is.
i guess the critic has never heard of Rush.theyre still doing it and a thousand times better than Tull crap ever did
ReplyDeleteThe Ayn Rand cover band Rush sells better in Kansas City thanks to retail outlets like Wal Mart.
ReplyDeleteThat's deep.
ReplyDeleteRush is highly complex technical music..one of the first and best progressive rock bands of all time, amazing and timeless music..IMO
ReplyDeleteThe review was obviously written by some kid barely old enough to wipe his own ass, if his generation even bother to do that. Credibility lacks in some little punk shit for brains who can criticize artist that have survived for 40 years while listening to a pack of ass clowns that no one will remember in five.
ReplyDelete^^^^ REAL TALK
ReplyDelete10:49
ReplyDeleteI love Rush and seen them a few times back in the day.
Couldn't get into Jethro Tull and his flute rock band. I wouldn't want tickets if you gave them to me.
Tull was one of the many "free" concerts heard in our early teens in the alley behind Memorial Hall. The venue had no a/c, so open windows often sent the sounds to our nearby homes in summer.
ReplyDeleteJohn Fogerty on 5/13/16 in Oklahoma (wish it was KC) will ROCK!
Rush was playing Zep Covers when Tull was touring with Led Zeppelin.
ReplyDeleteThe historical figure Jethro Tull was a lawyer and inventor who invented the seed plow that revolutionized civilization.
ReplyDeleteIn their time Jethro Tull was one of the best rock and roll bands. Amazing party music...
ReplyDeleterush takes a backseat to no other rock band .period
ReplyDelete5:14 hsent he slightest clue of what they speak and even if that were true,so the fuck what..what is your point?
ReplyDeleteJust saw the Jethro Tull show in Omaha. What the review skips over is the rock opera set-up is really because Ian Anderson has lost his voice and can only sing about half of each song. The "show" is highly produced because there are other lead singers that participate in the show on a big movie screen behind the band under the guise that they are part of the story being told in the "rock opera". They are good singers, but basically singing Ian's parts that he can't sing. It isn't just that he can't hit the high notes or that he lost his voice tonight....he's only 1/2 the voice he used to be. Musically it was good as the band was good and it was in a symphony hall. Speaking of other "oldies bands" (I'm in my late 50's) I saw Rush and Cheap Trick last year (separate shows) and both were outstanding and high energy. I've been a Pearl Jam fan for a long time after picking them up in the 1990's when a lot of the older bands left the touring circuit for a while.
ReplyDeleteYou are out of your element here Pearl Jam Fan Boy so just shut the fuck up and respect the Tull
ReplyDeleteMilli Vanilli made the mistake of walking off stage when the record skipped. The crowd didn't care as we've seen with Britney Spears for a couple of decades. Do you think the young man Justin Beiber will be singing live without doubling his tracks tonight?
ReplyDeleteIan Anderson blew his voice out in 1981 from those loud rock concerts in the 70's. Tull was the first pop act to travel with two sound systems so they so they would be set up for the next show and cover more tour dates. The Who being the first rock act to build the first sound system loud enough for stadiums.
ReplyDeleteRush is trash.
ReplyDelete^^^^ YOU are a fucking I.D.I.O.T..thanks for playing
ReplyDelete