By ROBERT LEBZELTER
Special Sections Editor
Star Beacon HEAT entertainment section, Nov. 5, 2004
Ian Anderson has played between bombs going off, literally.
The front man for Jethro Tull since 1968 has performed in many of the world’s hot spots.
As an ambassador for music, he knows firsthand how the world has changed since the days of Sept. 11, 2001.
Sunday night, Anderson will bring his band to the Erie Civic Center (Warner Theater) for an eclectic evening of acoustic, followed by more traditional, rock music.
Monday morning, while sitting in a Des Moines, Iowa, hotel, waiting for the first leg of that concert series to start, Anderson was eager to talk about music, the world situation and how they come together.
“I take great delight in playing for Muslims one day, Jews another, then one day Christians. We bring something people can enjoy,” he said.
But it isn’t without risk. One day after a concert in Israel, there was a bomb blast near where they were performing.
“There’s a level of risk we are willing to take to be troubadours for music,” Anderson said.
“We’ve been there literally between the bombs. Of course I’m nervous. Of course, I’m growing eyes in the back of my head. But we are bringing people together, disarming them with music. I wish more American bands would go out and play those areas. Only Jethro Tull and a few others do.”
Anderson says of the new American tour: “There will be a few songs that will be strange to a number of the audience. A few we have never played live. We try to do a little where we go back and drag some gems out of the closet and see how audiences react.”
The plan to start with an acoustic set comes from Anderson’s solo tours.
“The other guys in Jethro Tull don’t usually play a consecutive acoustic set. I’m interested in seeing how they react tonight (Monday) in Des Moines.”
After the simple acoustic set, the road crew has a chance to set up for the more traditional second half of the event.
The sets also will include “tried and tested” regulars, like “Aqualung,” “Thick as a Brick,” “Locomotive Breath” and “Bungle in the Jungle.”
It’s not too early for a few tracks from last year’s “Jethro Tull Christmas Album,” which Anderson admits drawing from, even during summer.
Besides the tour, Tull fans have more to look forward to. Anderson says “The Isle of Wight” DVD video will be released this month, chronicling that 1970 concert. It is complete with Anderson commentary.
Released a few weeks ago was the landmark “Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus” DVD, which features a very early performance by Jethro Tull, with Anderson the only remaining original member. He does a commentary on this DVD, as well. The band performed “A Song for Jeffrey.”
“It was an odd proposition,” Anderson recalls of the December 1968 project, which originally was supposed to be a TV special. It includes Tull, The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithful, John Lennon, Eric Clapton and, of course, the Rolling Stones.
“It was the brainchild of Mick Jagger; that’s for sure. The Rolling Stones had enjoyed a lengthy sabbatical of rock and roll excess,” Anderson said, noting “Brian Jones was worse for the wear.”
It was Jones’ last appearance with the band he founded. He left the Stones in June 1969 and died under mysterious circumstances in his swimming pool the following month.
“Mick Jagger was the prime mover. He wanted to get together a peer group like John Lennon, Eric Clapton into a vaudevillian-like event. It was a little strange, but it didn’t feel contrived. I think the rest of the Stones were a bit embarrassed. It felt a bit raggy.”
From there, Tull struck out on a tour, and that brought them their first taste of fame.
Anderson said he believes it was then-Stones bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts, whom he calls the friendly members of the band, who recommended Tull to play the circus.
As for looking back on “The Isle of Wight,” Anderson said: “It was just before ‘Aqualung.’ It was quite good fun. The tempo was a little too fast; playing was a little quick like we were possessed. But we were possessed by good spirits.”
Unlike fellow “Circus” performer Faithful, Anderson doesn’t lament the passage of time. Faithful, apparently upset over recent record sales, says she soon may retire. Anderson calls her a “simple soul” who is not a “powerful singer.”
He said he hopes to continue until deterred by age. After that, he says he won’t retire.
“I will be looking for another job: writing prose, visual prose — take up painting.”
Anderson says many of England’s great musicians, be they Lennon and McCartney or Clapton, started in art school.
“My guess is there are a lot of musicians born every day who grow up to step out of art classes to pick up a guitar.”
Of course, the guitar isn’t what Anderson is best known for.
“I picked up the flute because there was fair assurance Eric Clapton or John Lennon could not play flute,” he said. “I was a third-rate guitar player who wanted to find an instrument where I could be a big fish in a small pond.”
Now, 36 years later, his band is far from “Living in the Past.”
• WHO: Jethro Tull
• WHEN: Tranahan Theater, Toledo, 8 p.m. today and Erie Civic Center (Warner Theater), 811 State St., downtown Erie, Sunday at 7:30 p.m.
• TICKET PRICES: $37.50 to $43.50
• Go to ticketmaster.com
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