Jethro Tull, Sala Palatului, 21.02.17

Exactly how badass can a dude with a flute be? The answer was found the other night at Sala Palatului, where Ian Anderson showed how one can carry a concert with nothing but a truckload of talent. 

Now Jethro Tull is being used loosely, as two of the band members weren’t even “a spermie” when the songs were written (Ian’s words, not mine) and the other two were basically just touring musicians, since they joined long after they stopped putting out albums, but since we’re talking about a band that had more line up changes than a baby has diapers, I guess there’s no complaining about that. And, there was Ian. Ian who is a genius, Ian whose talent can fill a stadium, Ian who pretty much carried the show. 

Sure he looks like… pretty much anyone other than his old self and needed background pictures of him in his youth for the audience to make the connection. Sure he was frequently out of breath and seemed like he was constantly trailing behind the instruments. But come on, the dude is almost 70 years old and his voice is still completely the same, he’s still tiptoeing on stage whenever he gets excited, he’s still assuming his now famous heron position and oh my god the things he does with that little flute! Seriously, you didn’t need anything else during that show as long as that amazing flute was making sounds. It sounded impeccable and just mesmerising!

It wasn’t a flashy show, Ian was pretty contained for the first half, the band seemed a bit bored (excellent instrumentalists, but not very inspiring performers) and I felt like crap most throughout the night, but it was still beautiful. It was one of those concerts where you only get good music and it’s more than enough. I would close my eyes (mostly because I couldn’t keep them open, but still, it served for immersion purposes) and just get lost into those beautiful sounds. It was less like a live show and more like a listening session, but hey, every concert experience is unique. I just wish I could’ve enjoyed it better…