Ian Anderson to tour 'Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera'

Progressive Rock pioneer Ian Anderson recently announced 6 dates of a 2015 UK tour, titled 'Jethro Tull – The Rock Opera'. The shows will take place in September.

'Jethro Tull – The Rock Opera' honours that 18th Century English agriculturalist after which the band was named back in 1968.

The shows tell the story of the original Jethro Tull's life, reimagined as if in the near future and illustrated with Anderson's best-known material from the repertoire of the rock band Jethro Tull.

The set list will include many songs that Anderson found to be natural parallels with Tull's life story: Wind Up, Heavy Horses, Aqualung, Back to the Family, Farm on the Freeway and Songs from the Wood to name a few. Some songs have been incorporated with slightly revised lyrics and five newly written songs have also been added to the mix.

Performing with Ian Anderson will be David Goodier on bass, John O'Hara on keyboards, Florian Opahle on guitar, Scott Hammond on drums plus some 'virtual guests' on a big HD video screen.

Anderson explains: "Instead of spoken introductions to the songs in the show, there will be the use of that operatic device, the "recitative", where the links are made by short sung vocal segments in a usually-simple musical backdrop, making it a little easier and more entertaining for non-English-speaking audiences."





Full Dates are:

DATE CITY VENUE BOX OFFICE

September

8th Basingstoke Anvil 01256 844244
10th London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire 0844 477 2000
11th Birmingham Symphony Hall 0121 345 0493
12th York Barbican 0844 854 2757
13th Gateshead Sage Theatre 0191 443 4661
14th Salford Lowry Theatre 0843 208 6000

Photo by Martin Webb