Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull

I used to be a huge Tull fan, seeing them 27 times over the years.  My first Tull concert was at RI College just before “This Was” first came out.   From that time up until “ Minstrel in the Gallery”, was the bulk of my Tull concerts.  Saw them years later on their 20th Anniversary tour at Kings Dominion amusement park, Virginia I believe in the late 80’s.  My son is a huge Tull fan thanks to me and he took me to their 50 years of Tull tour at one of the Casinos in Connecticut.   Martin Barre was no longer with them.  During the concert, Ian talked about the revolving door of musicians that made up the group over their 50+ years span.  Not once did Ian mention Martin Barre or show any pictures of him during the slide show. He basically wrote him outbof the bands existance.  Later, i found out Ian bamboozeled Martin and 2 other members out of the band telling them he was no longer going to tour under the Tull name and only doing solo projects.  Ian lied and got newer members to replace Martin and tge 2 other musicians.  Martin claims Ian screwed them out of their retirement.  This all happened when Ian put out “Homo Erectus” and “Thick as a Brick 2”. For this reason, i am done with Tull and no longer listen to them. 

@larsman , my big regret is not going with my buddies to Pink Floyd at the Cow Palace. To the others that started adding other bands , thanks. I played some Wishbone Ash the other day. I also like Peter Green’s stuff.  The first time I saw Deep Purple , Rory Gallagher opened followed by Fleetwood Mac. I had tickets to see Savoy Brown but it was canceled and they ended. At 67 I’m a few years too young for The Glory Days of British Rock. FWIT about 7-8 years ago I started talking to some stranger at Starbucks in Fresno. His name was Louie and he was of small build and had a Vietnam Army hat on. Upon introductions I offered my gratitude for his service and “ Welcome Home “. Then I asked what he did there. He got tense and said “ I was an Engineer “. I told him I had a close friend that was a tunnel rat too, and that I understood his pain. We started talking about music per his Segway and he told me he had founded Sound Stage in SF. We talked music for 3 hours as he was right it the middle of the SF music scene. 

Loved early Tull. Saw them in 1970 Fair Park Music Hall in Dallas Tx.  At the time it was the symphony hall. (the Beatles had played there too).  I remember a band called Clouds opened.  They had a piece where the bass player held the bass horizontally from a stand to his hand and he fingered the strings while the drummer stood and played bass with drumsticks. I had heard Stand Up and they played most of Benefit.  My girlfriend bought the $3:50 tickets and I was a fan after that night.

@buellrider97 - I was an 'amateur' (only because nobody was paying me for it) concert photographer in the Bay Area through the 70's, and I've got some awesome photos of Pink Floyd at the Cow Palace on the '75 'Wish You Were Here' tour; they were also doing early versions of the songs on 'Animals'. I've got lots of excellent photos of many artists from prog thru punk, but alas, nothing worthwhile from Jethro Tull except for historic value. 

“Christmas Song” from This Was and “Ring Out, Solstice Bells” from Songs From the Wood are my two favorite tracks to play this time of year. Benefit, Songs From the Wood, and the Living in The Past compilation are my favorite Tull albums.