Ian Anderson in DC last night..

[happytheman]

My wife won free tickets to this so we made the 3 hour drive to see Ian and his current band.. honestly fell asleep during the first part of the show.. apparently new stuff from his solo album he is promoting.. however once he kicked into high gear with the Tull classics.. it was wonderful.. don't know the name of the guitar player he has with him currently but he was awesome.. very animated.. and Ian.. well in his words.. "I'm a spry old man for being 67 years old".. He too was very animated.. all over the stage..

[battema]

Funny...I was the opposite. I mostly enjoyed the new material but became less engaged with the "classics."

Oh well...something for everyone I suppose ;-)

[zombywoof]

Yeah, opposite for me too. New stuff rocked, old stuff felt tired, strained.

[battema]

Yeah, opposite for me too. New stuff rocked, old stuff felt tired, strained.

I was actually kind of disappointed he didn't play the whole Homo Erraticus...although perhaps only you and I would've felt that way

[cavgator]

Where was the concert? Birchmere, Warner Theater, Wolf Trap?

[battema]

It was at the Lincoln Theater. Attendance was solid, not quite sold out.

[avaron]

My friend and I also attended the show at the Lincoln Theater the other night and it will certainly be the last anderson/tull show for me. I've been a Tull fan for many years - own 35 or so cd's half a dozen dvd's and this was the eighth time seeing Tull/Anderson. I had seen them at the Lyric in Baltimore so I knew that his voice was gone going in so I wasnt taking back by that. While I had only spun the new disc a few times I thought the new material sounded pretty good live. As for the
Tull material I thought it uneven at best and a big step down from last time i saw them. I liked Ryan O'Donnell's voice well enough but the seemingly random way he was interspersed with Ian's distracting and would have been happier if he just did most of the singing. Ian's flute playing is still excellent and Florian Ophale is very talentedyet something just sounded off to me in a number of songs with Songs From the Wood being down right cringe worthy in my opinion. But the thing that turned me off to sending any more money to the Anderson retirement fund was when I dared to go to the restroom during the first set. My friend and I had arrived just before the show started and the lines for the restroom and bar were fairly long so we decided to take our seats and run back out a few songs in. So between the second and third songs I got up to relieve myself and grab beers for my buddy and I. I passed the young man at the door with a nod and he said nothing to me. Upon visting the rest room and grabbing beer I headed back only to be told by the same young man that upon the request of the artist that i would not be allowed back into the auditorium until intermission! When i asked as to why he didnt inform me of this when I exited he stated that his manager had just informed of the policy and that he was sorry but i would have to wait. It wasnt long before others in the same boat showed up at the door looking to return to their seats. Much snarling and gnashing off teeth took place as well as a refusal to open the door so that we could at least watch from there. Finally a manager was summoned and after hearing and agreeing with our protests told us we could hurry back in between the next songs but not to dare exit again until intermission. Now I've been to plenty of shows - rock (both progressive and non progressive lol!) jazz classical bluegrass and what not - and I fully respect having too wait until the end of a piece before returning to my seat. But never had i been told to wait until intermission. No where was this fact advertised not by sign or on the pricey ticket or by announcement of the king himself onstage or even on the nifty video screen. So for a guy charging close to $100 a ticket to hear him not be able to sing he is certainly is quite the arrogant concert Nazi and also unrealistic feeding beer to a bunch of middle aged concert goers and expecting not to have to use the restroom. Anyway while I still enjoy Jethro Tull music Mr Anderson will not be recieving any more of my dollars!

[Brian Griffin]

Very Fripp like

Interesting

My best bud took his daughter to the show, curious if he was a victim of this as well

Seems to me like it should be hockey rules, during a stoppage of play, (songs), you can proceed with caution

BG

[mozo-pg]

I saw Ian/Tull in Toronto about five years ago. I'm with avaron, Ian croacked versus sung, I'm no longer interested. Also, even Crim lets you go to the washroom between songs.

[Mister Triscuits]

Hey, it's better than the last tour, where if you got up to use the toilet during TAAB you got subjected to a prostate exam!

[zombywoof]

I don't see the big deal. I saw Robin Trower a few weeks ago and people were coming in and out of the theater and causing people everywhere to have to stand in between almost every song. Very annoying and very out of hand. I'm glad we didn't have to put up with that at the Ian show.

[Brian Griffin]

I don't see the big deal.

Considering the age of the overwhelming majority of the audience, having to hold in your piss could be a very big deal, especially if you've slammed some micro brews to get nice for the show!

Totally inconsiderate of Ian, who should know better at his age

BG

[YESHEAD777]

I don't have a problem with this if its announced before hand. But to spring this on someone after its too late. I woulda had a stroke!

[happytheman]

I saw Ian/Tull in Toronto about five years ago. I'm with avaron, Ian croacked versus sung, I'm no longer interested. Also, even Crim lets you go to the washroom between songs.

If anything was an issue... you've hit upon it.. Ian doesn't have it vocal wise (I've never seen Tull before live so don't have anything to compare this show to).. and the kid who pranced about singing backup / etc. in my opinion was under miked..

[Progatron]

Being told you cannot return to your seat until intermission is ridiculous, particularly if there is no posted notice of the rule. I do admit to being very annoyed by the behavior of concertgoers in general (including constant beer/washroom runs, forcing me to move for them, etc.) but that's way over the line. Wait until a song has finished to return to your seat, that's a fair compromise. Keeping groups of people quarantined for half the show is not.

[BarryLI]

Saw Ian in Jersey last night, you can bet I peed before the show began! No surprises, really, the crowd seemed a tad restless during the Homo Erraticus portion of the show, as someone who has the album engrained in my conciousness I thought it was OK, nothing special really, as to the older Tull material as usual the band was tight, and Ian really needs to stop singing and just play. My wife, hardly a prog-head (she's Puerto Rican) said she enjoyed the music but the singer was the pits, no surprise there I'm afraid. Still I'm unable to stop contributing to the Ian Anderson Retirement Fund, I saw Tull at The Fillmore East back in 1970 or so, have seen him (them) probably 50 times since, if Ian comes to town once a year I make sure and share the same space with him for at least one night, can't stay away from his music. If I had a choice of hanging with Ian or Jesus I'd choose Ian, we'd have more in common to talk about (maybe Jesus).

[Score2112]

Was also at the DC show. The setlist, with tull classics was the best Ive seen (I missed the classic Tull years, sadly). Nice slideshow in the back and song intros by Ian. Particularly enjoyed Critique Oblique, and Farm on the Freeway was excellent. Negative was Ian straining to reach the high notes, but I liked the interplay with Ryan O'Donnell, who give him a real break (though friends with me were critical of his theatric performance).

My friend ran into the same problem with the usher, but he ignored him and walked straight back in. Agree the policy is absurd.

All in all, a fine show, though not sure I need to see him again. And setlist wont get better than this one.