i saw mr. anderson with jt at slavkov in august last year. concert lasted about 90 minutes and although bands energy (and loudness!) were awesome, in the end (that consisted of eagerly anticipated highlights from aqualung and taab which i was at the time most familiar with) ians voice, especially high notes seemed so weary and forced it was almost pathetic. i had that intense feeling of shared yet unspoken embarassment: audience keeps its polite, encouraging smile and thinks: pack it up while theres time and dignity, old man and stick to the flute gymnastics... i felt almost pity and was preparing to defend the man. but it was unnecessary. fans i spoke with had no such complaints or kept them private or were simply wiser than me and concentrated on (abundant) bright sides of performance. it was quite a relief. and its nice to read laudios report of outsold carnegie hall. especially considering how much of good ol' 70s prog i used to like is now more or less dead for me but jethro tull still manages to excite. thanks for the report! and a lesson for mr. anderson: 20 minute break does you good. or so it should...
