[atlantaprog] My take on Tull...

<x-tad-smaller>I wrote this for PE Saturday night and was going to post it here as well, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I actually thing Ian's voice was in surprisingly good form! With all I've heard about how it's gone to hell, I was expecting the worst! Here it is:

Just came back from the show and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! Anderson's voice was in good shape. You could tell he was having to reach a bit for some of the high notes but it wasn't a problem (unlike Nektar. Roye Albrighton just can't pull it off these days).

The sound was excellent, and hearing all of those Aqualung songs performed live (some for the first time) was a real treat! I was wondering how they would pull of the "Gregorian Chant" section of My God - answer: sampled voices played by Giddings!

Lucia ?, the violin player, was amazing! Some people griped about having her material interspersed with the Tull toons, but they seem to forget that this was done in leiu of having her open, so the net effect is - more Tull! She did some classical and folk violin things, plus a number of beautiful duets with Ian. They also threw everyone a curve ball by including her(their) arrangement of the Love Theme from the Godfather, and a chunk of Bohemian Rhapsody where she covered the vocal line AND Mays guitar solo quite adequately! Another cover toon was an intrumental arrangement of Kashmir, with her violin handling the vocal line - with a cameo appearence by the bridge lead guitar break from Whole Lotta Love, where her violin rocked out every bit as hard as Page's guitar. SInce Tull and Zep where rivals back in the early "blues band" days, it was interesting to hear their homage.

The first half of the show featured mostly the acoustic toons from Aqauling, along with Skating Away, Weathercock, Beggars Farm, Life's a Long Song, and Bouree. The second half was more electric - including everything else from Aqualung + Budapest and a track from Divinities, arranged for the band.

There were some interesting rearrangements of some of the classic toons, like an extended solo section in Mother Goose, a more-or-less faithful interpretation of Bach's Bouree before launching into the version we all know, and the most unusual rearrangement - the first half of Hymn 42 was given an Irish Jig flavor... and it worked! Of course we were all glad when they kicked in to the original arrangement halfway through. They also chopped out big hunks of Wind Up (they weren't really missed however!)

I was apprehensive, but I must say I'm glad I went! Catch them if you can. It may be the last chance to hear Ian's voice!
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