I went to see Martin and his guys in Edwardsville, IL, a small Mayberry like town about 20 miles out from St Louis in a renovated art-deco movie theater which was a very intimate venue with excellent sight and sound.
Simply put, it was a fantastic evening, a great mix of material, all of the players were top notch, a surprise Tull song that i had no idea i would ever witness being performed live and other surprises. It was really fun to hear a lot of familiar Tull songs performed from the guitar player's point of view - it really offered a fresh perspective on songs I've heard hundreds or thousands of times. After over 40 years of being the only guitar player in the band it was really cool to have a 2 guitar attack that was right up there with Thin Lizzy or Wishbone Ash. I should also mention singer/guitar player Dan Crisp, not only is he a great musician who can hold his own with Martin but his vocals are top notch whether belting out blues or covering older Tull material (i actually prefer him to Ryan O'Donnell who i liked very well).
After the show the band assembled at the merch table to graciously sign whatever people had with them. I had him sign the Back To Steel cd i had picked up and mentioned how i was floored by the suprise song (sorry, not going to spoil it for anyone) in which he said this was the first time they had performed this live and figured there had to be at least one person who would appreciated it, This ended up being a sold out show (about 350) and he heavily emphasized wanting to be invited back and how much they enjoyed being here, i think he was truly sincere.
Having seen the post-Martin version of Ian/Tull a few times (The TAAB 1 & 2 show being the best) i can say there has been something really missing and last night's performance proved just what it was.
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Originally Posted by Score2112
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