Sometimes it was like watching a band pretending to be a band. When Anderson, introducing the title track to 1972’s Thick as a Brick, mentioned prog rock, he firmly placed the phrase in scare quotes, as if it had become something shameful or silly, although the crowd yelped with delight at the very mention of the genre. Single The Navigators (2023) actually rocks us back in our seats a little before the mood changes, charmingly, with a rendition of Bach’s Bourrée in E minor, a piece written three centuries ago and part of the Tull repertoire since 1969, broken down into a properly groovy jazz moment.
If you’re wondering, does the chap from Jethro Tull still stand on one leg and play the flute? The answer is yes. To the point where you may begin to think, “Please, Mr Anderson, no more flute.” But, to be fair to the band, moaning about too much flute at a Jethro Tull gig is like going to the Crucible and complaining about everyone playing snooker.
