JETHRO TULL and the Young Dubliners at Kingsbury Hall, June 11, one performance.
Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson is the ultimate Pied Piper.
The lead singer/flutist and acoustic guitarist knows how to play the crowd. Sinister facial expressions, theatrical hand and arm gestures and lots of humor were among the tools this master musician used during the Jethro Tull concert at Kingsbury Hall Tuesday night.
Other things he used included his concert and wood flutes, his custom mini-acoustic guitar and his minstrelesque voice.
Then there was the band — guitarist Martin "Lancelot" Barre, drummer Doane Perry, bassist Jonathan Noyce and keyboardist Andrew Giddings — who played along to Anderson's stage antics and brought in a few of their own.
Aside from the fact that Anderson's voice cut out a few times — mainly because he was moving around the microphone so much — the show was a tight display of English-rock minstrel music.
The set kicked off with the playful "Intro," which quickly segued into "Living in the Past." The audience erupted in applause as Anderson slithered onto the stage.
Vintage Tull hits included the rollicking "Cross-Eyed Mary," the fantasy-laden "Jack in the Green" and the epic "Thick as a Brick."
Newer selections included the now-pertinent "Roots to Branches," a 1995 tune that discusses the issue of fanatics who use religion to gain power and control, and the prowling "Hunt by Numbers."
Barre showed off his virtuosity with the instrumental "Eulogy," and the band demonstrated its exotic prowess with the acoustic work "Water Carriers."
During that song, Barre played an electric bouzouki while Perry played the bongos. Noyce hit a mini-djembe, and Giddings hammed it up on an accordion.
The musical aspect of the concert was impeccable. Anderson's flute-playing rang through the sometimes heavy mix with clarity, while Giddings' keys added the right tones and colors to each song. Even when a dead battery shut out some of the flute works, Anderson worked the crowd while his roadie fixed the problem.
The poignant "A New Day Yesterday," the richly layered "Budapest" and the Johann Sebastian Bach-written "Boure," which featured Noyce's thumping bass, were other highlights of this magical show.
And it wouldn't be a Jethro Tull concert without the energetic trademark "Aqualung."
The encore consisted of the obligatory but rocking "Locomotive Breath" and the farewell ditty "Cheerio."
The Young Dubliners, who will headline their own concert at Deer Valley in August, primed the crowd with a segment of Irish pub rock and set the stage for Jethro Tull.
E-mail: scott@desnews.com