"Some big and bad noise is gonna happen" promised Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson to a packed house at St David's Hall. The mixture of acoustic blues, classical music, jazz and prog rock that followed certainly delivered.
The show kicked off with special guests, Welsh band, The Crook family performing tracks from their new CD including the memorable and catchy track A Twisted Kind Of Love before Ian Anderson and veteran Tull drummer Doanne Perry joined them on stage for a few numbers.
After a brief change over period, Ian Anderson along with Martin Barre, John O Hara , David Goodier and Doanne Perry took the audience back forty years to the beginnings of Jethro Tull, kicking off with That Old Feeling and then straight into their 1969 hit Living in the Past.
It was great to see that Ian Anderson still carries as much charisma on stage as he appeared to back in the early days, frequently dancing around and standing on one leg while playing his flute.
Other tracks performed were One for John Gee their tribute to the aforementioned Marquee club manager who gave the band their big break back in the 1960's and So Much Trouble, a popular track from an early John Peel session. Another highlight was a version of Bach's Bouree which brought classical right into mainstream.
Other tracks from albums Thick as a Brick , Crest of a Knave, Stand Up and Heavy Horses made this retrospective concert an enjoyable evening and demonstrated why Jethro Tull are still top of their game four decades on from their initial success.
- A version of this review by Andy Howells was published in the South Wales Argus during April, 2008
