Jethro Tull in Sofia

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hello,

I`m going to visit the concert of Jethro Tull in Sofia, which will be held on 29.05. in the National Palace of Culture.
Hope, Ian Anderson will bring also a Mandolin along, besides his numerous flutes! Will let you know, how it was.

Good luck!

[Bobbie Dier]

I'm going to Cropredy(Fairport Convention's festival in England) in August. Jethro Tull will be playing there too.This festival has a lot of acoustic acts so I'm hoping Mr. Anderson will have his mandolin. I can't wait. Last year was awesome!!! This year will be even better.

I heard when Ian Anderson was in the US last year he did some kind of talking one man play(Anybody see that)?http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif. I hope he is through with that and just plays music at the festival.

plami,
Please keep us posted.

ima

[Brookside]

I saw the Ian Anderson show last October. It was the Rubbing Elbows tour all in small venues. It was actually a wonderful show. He told a lot of antecdotes, took questions from the audience but for the most part he just did what he does best, played music. He played songs from every decade of Tull and a bit from his solo albums. I envy you both and I would love to hear about the shows.

If anyone call tell me anything about the mandolins (or family of) he plays I'd love to hear about that too. I haven't been able to find out much except for the maker. I don't know what style they are and I haven't been able to locate a good picture of what he plays. Any help on that would be greatly appreciated.

[Bobbie Dier]

http://www.j-tull.com/musicians/iananderson/equipment.html

Here is an interesting page about Anderson's instuments. Is this what you were looking for?

I heard about his show on NPR when they interviewed him (Ian Anderson) . I still would have driven the 5 hrs to see him in Charlotte(I think)or somewhere over there in NC.I'm glad the show was good. From the interview, it sounded like it was going to be more talking with a little music. I don't know what it will be like over at Cropredy. I bet Dave Pegg and others will join him on stage for jammin. I can't wait. It is going to be suuuuper http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif !

[Brookside]

I have seen this page before. It says Mandolins by Ozark, Ibanez and Fylde, Mandolas by Andrew Manson and Ozark and Octave Mandolins by Ozark and Paul Hathway. I've been wondering more specifically like perhaps what model of those makers. I only became interested in this world of mandolins around last October after the Ian Anderson show. That night he played a Fylde if I had to guess. It was a flat-top. I haven't been able to locate a website for this UK maker. Andrew Manson has a website and is listed in the builders section of this site. If anyone knows what specific models he plays I'd like to know.

It is always great to see Ian pick up his mando. He played it during "A Christmas Song" at his last performance that I saw. Such a master of his flute but a fair performer with his accoustic guitars and mandolin family instruments. There are so few multi-instrumentalists worth seeing these days. You know Dave Pegg had a big gear sale lately? Still some items left I believe. Enjoy those shows guys. I want to hear about them after.

[Bobbie Dier]

I went to this site and wrote Ian Anderson a note and invited him to mandolin cafe message board. Maybe he will answer our questions directly. Who knows.

[Richard Singleton]

imapickin, have a great time at Cropredy! My one trip to the Fairport fest there was in 86, the musical highlight of a lifetime for me. I have videos/dvd of the 86, 98, and 01 festivals, which includes one with Tull. I hope the festivals are able to continue after this year

[Bobbie Dier]

Richard Singleton,
I have been hearing that for sure this is NOT going to be the last Cropredy. I hope it isn't the last. This is a festival you will NEVER get out of your mind. Last year Albert Lee was there and Procol Harum. Both were awesome. I think about that every day. Sounds like the lineup is good for this year too. Maybe you will get to go again sometime?
ima

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hello!

It was a great experience! The hall was full, the atmosphere was relative calm (compared to the concert of Helloween few months ago) in the beginning. But then all the members of the band, not just Ian Anderson, made a great show and it become hot!

First of all I have to report about the mandolin. Yes, there was a mandolin for my own great satisfaction! The interesting thing for me and may be also for some of you, was that it was not Ian Anderson, who played it, but Martin Baree! He used the mandolin in one piece only, but it`s OK. The bluegrass mandolin is quite not popular in Bulgaria, so I`m happy, that the audience was able to see it.

Instead of the mandolin Ian Anderson played a very small guitar (I know there are different instruments, that are looking that way, so I`m not quite sure what this exactly was) Ian Anderson played just one flute. I expected him to play different flutes. But what a playing?! The only position, that Ian Anderson didn`t play in, was staying on his head! Playing while walking on the stage, while jumping, while sitting on the floor, while staying on one foot. He was telling jokes all the time - about other bands - Metallica, Deep Purple, etc. He also made jokes with the other members of the band and with himself. His singing was also remarkable! The others was accompanying with small flutes, accordeon.

The audience gave a standing ovation to the band after brilliant performing of a piece (I don`t know the name), which meassure was changing from 4/4 to the typical for the Bulgarian folklore music meassures 7/8 and 9/8.

Ian Anderson took a small rest, while Martin Baree was playing a guitar solo. Ian Anderson said: "Now I have 3 min. and 42 sec. to go to the WC" and something to Martin Baree, but I was not able to hear it good. The whole performance was 2 hours long, although the primary information was for 1,15 h. Of course, there were a lot of encores and some balloons with the portrait of Ian Anderson.

That`s in generall. For more - don`t miss this performance, if you have the chance to see it!

Good luck!
Plamen

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hello!

I was hesitating about posting this here, but as far it`s about mandolins and flutes...
Here (http://www.plami.com/temp/Ivanat%20Rubineno.htm) is a piece, that I recorded with a pop band an year ago. I play a small mandolin solo in the middle and also in the end together with a flute and other instruments.
What do you think?

Good luck!

[Eugene]

Plami, I had no idea! I'm glad to hear the experience was so definitely positive. I was a great fan of Jethro Tull as a teenager. One of the best rock performances I have had the pleasure to enjoy was Jethro Tull's 20th anniversary tour in 1987. Veteran folk-rock band Fairport Convention opened. Pure magic! JT played material ranging from their jazzy debut This Was through that year, and all with gusto. The Rock Island tour of 1988 was a vast disappointment by comparison (that was in the short stretch of time during which they felt they should try to appeal to a heavy metal audience).

[Yonkle]

Ian doing "Fat Man"
Ian is a fantastic acoustic guitar player too.
Go here for the "prozac" version of Aqualung
left side song 3 sick http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/prozak

[David M.]

Yonkle, that shot of Ian was a while ago, huh? You can usually tell what tour or era by his clothing and look. Great band, great writer.

[Yonkle]

Hey you can see Ian do Christmas song on a F5 here. He calls it a "girly instrument"
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video....00]here (http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/view?&h=105&w=140&type=realmedia&rurl=www.fullasagoog.com%2Fgo.cfm%3Fitemid%3DD7E42 CA9-9DCB-5C26-D5FA5150CE5B1770&vurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jethrotull.com%3A8100%2Framg en%2Fjethrotull%2Facsong.rm&back=p%3Dmandolin%2Bian%2Banderson%26ei%3DUTF-8%26cv%3Dg%26fr%3DFP-tab-web-t-339%26b%3D61&turl=re2.mm-so.yimg.com%2Fimage%2F1747354886&name=acsong.rm&no=75&tt=20535&p=mandolin+ian+anderson&oid=13d3941f58f99800&dur=200]here) Ian[/URL]

[David M.]

He calls it a "girly instrument"

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

And the flute is...?

[Tennessee Jed]

When I saw Tull in October Ian played flute and parlor guitar. Martin played mandolin on one song.

[jefflester]

Jethro Tull content in "Yacht Rock" (http://www.channel101.com/shows/show.php?show_id=152) episode #6, though you kinda have to watch some of the earlier episodes to get the gist of this admittedly low-production quality spoof series.

[mandocrucian]

XM Radio "Deep Tracks" (also, channel 829 on DirectTV)

The Final Friday Concert - concerts from the XM studio
Friday Feb 24th, 8:00 PM (ET): Jethro Tull

Roll tape (or discs)...

Niles H