Jethro Tull: Not Too Old to Rock and Roll Madison Square Garden
New York City
October 11th, 1978
John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 11/30/78
With a meticulously paced set that completely did away with the excessive self-indulgence and pretense that has cost the group so much (especially critical support) over the past few years, Jethro Tull made a strong comeback during its three-night stand at Madison Square Garden.
In some respects, the event was no different from Jethro Tull shows of the early Seventies. The audience was still predominately male. The fans continued to misidentify lead singer/flautist Ian Anderson as Jethro Tull (or as they affectionately call him, “Fuckin’ Tull, man!”). And songs from the group’s watershed 1971 album, Aqualung, still elicited the most enthusiastic response.
The band’s performance, however, had changed significantly. Gone were the tedious feature spots that often descended into pointless noodling. Gone also were Anderson’s attempts to force-feed the audience overly long, self-conscious, arty program pieces. Instead the show, which clocked in at about ninety minutes, was an intelligent selection of material from the group’s repertoire.
The early high point was a scaled-down version of “Thick as a Brick.” Anderson’s singing, histrionic stage antics and flute playing have become neatly stylized: in an apparent effort to pace himself, he strikes much less of the abandoned-wildman posture of his earlier years. “One Brown Mouse” and “Heavy Horses” also came across well, the latter mainly because of Martin Barre’s guitar playing. But the audience say and listened politely to this newer material, offering only perfunctory applause until the first two notes of Aqualung’s “My God.” Instead of the seemingly endless flute solo that this song used to feature, Anderson played a few choruses of his break and then used it as a bridging device to other songs: a beautifully arranged version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” with guitar and keyboards spinning a brisk counterpoint, and Anderson’s trademark Bach clip, “Bourée.”
Keyboardists John Evan and David Palmer played a fine duet on “Pibroch (Cap in Hand),” which was followed by “Songs from the Wood” (great) and “Too Old To Rock ’n’ Roll: Too Young to Die” (terrible). Anderson then left the stage as Barre led the group through a hot instrumental that gave drummer Barriemore Barlow plenty of chance to shine. Barlow ended the tune with a brief, intense solo that led into “Cross-Eyed Mary,” another Aqualung number. The audience went nuts as Anderson sang through blinding strobe lights and the level of hysteria continued unabated until the band returned for its encores, “Aqualung” and “Locomotive Breath.” The set ended with a long instrumental coda that seemed to satisfy the band as much as the audience.
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