An interesting choice by Ian Anderson to go ahead with some recent performances even though some members of the band were unable to perform because they had caught Covid.
The show went on with audiofiles taking the place of the stricken band members.
Obviously, the current iteration of Tull is pretty much Anderson’s backing band, so in purely musical terms there may be no real loss to subbing a live performer with a digital recording.
Still, I suspect I’d feel somewhat short changed if I had a ticket to a band performance and not everyone was there.
https://jethrotull.com/tough-times-tough-choices-the-use-of-live-performance-substitute-audio-files/
Out of nostalgia, went to see Tull on their 50th anniversary tour in Dublin just before lockdown.
They were, to put it kindly, a bit of a sad spectacle.
Given that IA’s voice is shot to shit and the band is a pale simulacrum of what
it once was, think it really is time he hung up his codpiece.
I agree with Jayj. I don’t understand why Ian wants to carry on with live performances – he must know that his voice is gone. I do understand the pragmatic decision to carry on with already booked shows by using previously recorded performances of the missing member(s), but it does make a mockery of it being a ‘band performance’ – something unique to that evening. He might as well go out with backing tracks of everyone. And that would be truly sad.
Three words: rip off, sham.
Read it first as audiophiles, was interested to know how HiFi fanatics could help here
Also makes one wonder how much is really live and how much is on “tape” these days.
Ask David Coverdale. Allegedly.
Or Roger Waters
At what point would Ian cancel, though?
When it’s an full or almost full band but no him?
Or when it’s him but no ohysical band?
The irony is that the performance would be better if it was a live band playing to audiofiles of Ian from the 1970s.
All very different in the jazz world. An event I was involved with on Saturday saw a quartet turn up as a trio, and reinvent their set accordingly. Also reminds me of anecdote when I saw Vic Godard and Subway Sect supporting Altered Images. One of the band said ‘We’re Subway Sect, there’s no Vic as he’s not turned up.’ and played the entire set as instrumentals. I would much rather see a band improvise like this than play some audiofiles.
Similar to Mosleymester’s musings above, this report of Fairport Convention’s recent Rhine cruise – in which one member went down with Covid and the band managed to perform a full set using ingenuity, experience and the deft reallocation of instruments – is instructive (and a good read too).
https://atthebarrier.com/2022/07/14/what-we-did-on-our-holidays-fairports-rhine-cruise-2022-the-full-story/
Nice to see you keeping up with all the best webzines, Col! 😉
I think someone forwarded it to me… Did you write it, Retromeister?
No, no no, no such luck. Fella called John Barlass who seems to get to nearly every Fairport gig ever and anywhere. I just do the odd review for them. As with several other places and FB, as Og, Seuras Og, King of Typos.
Improvising when circumstances dictate that the ‘normal’ show cannot be performed (ill band member, technical difficulties, etc) is surely the way to go.
The audience in such situations is generally very forgiving, not least because the concert will be unique and memorable.
I’d much rather see an improvised set list when a band member is unable to perform at short notice – even if it’s very rough and ramshackle – rather than a show with audiofile subs.
Indeed – I remember two fabulous gigs with line-up disorder.
On the Armed Forces tour (if I remember correctly… or was it around Get Happy?) Steve Nieve went missing and The Attractions performed with Martin Belmont (out of The Rumour) – who played all those keyboard lines on guitar. Fantastic.
And when The Style Council played Berlin Paul Weller had his arm in a sling (too much clowning around some East German motorway stop, apparently) so couldn’t play guitar. He did the whole Marvin Gaye/Smokey Robinson Soul Man routine for the whole gig, and nobody complained.
One show Tex Perkins of the Cruel Sea had a bad back and was- late no show. You could get money back or stay for the rest of the band. I cracked it and left.
Apparently it was a massive show of surf and dub.
Still rankles.
@DavidB
Procol Harum even wrote a song about just such an incident (later covered by Leo Kottke)
On a tangent, Steve Kindler of Mahavishnu Orchestra Mk2 told me an amusing tale – MO were second on the bill (!?!) to Lynyrd Skynyrd some time in 1974 and Ron van Zandt had collapsed just before they were due on. Someone from team LS came begging John McLaughlin to go on and front the band. John simply walked away (very wisely) from this ludicrous request. The last thing Lynyrd Skynyrd needed was another guitar player…
Wow. In some parallel dimension where John said yes there is a version of Freebird with four key changes, a modal variation into myxolodian and a 28 minute guitar solo instead of the usual 10 minute solo.
Speaking of the Mahavishnu, a promoter told me recently that Mr. McLaughlin had declined an offer to play the headline slot at this year’s Zappanale Festival – telling them he had no intention of doing a two-hour bus journey to get there. He also ignored their offer of hiring a vintage steam train to get him to the festival grounds.
They tried to tempt a Yorkshireman with a steam train…. Can’t fault their research.
This one:
https://www.molli-bahn.de/fahrplaene-tickets/fahrplaene
@fatima-Xberg
Why would John McL be so bothered about taking the bus? As an OAP, he’d surely be entitled to some kind of senior citizen’s travel pass?
He now transports his twin-neck around in a tartan shopping trolley.
It’s the very least one would expect of a “celestial terrestrial commuter”
“Oy, granddad, get that twin-neck monstrosity off the seat and under the stairs or you’re off my bus pronto!”
“Day rider to the Emerald beyond, please mate”
There may be an explanation in this week’s Eye.
…I think we should be told (or perhaps Tulled)
I was born on the same day as Ian Anderson, I can still stand on one leg too. Codpiece has been retired though.
If Ian ditched the specs he’d be a dead ringer for Ming the Merciless
Useless piece of trivia: IA is father-in-law to actor Andrew Lincoln (Egg in This Life and Rick in Living Dead).
How IA feels about his daughter’s hubby’s weekly slaughtering of hundreds of long-time Tull fans in the latter show is not on record.