Berlin, August 5th, 2026 (The Berlin Spectator) — On February 21st, 1741, Jethro Tull passed away after a long life during which he contributed a lot to progress in agriculture. In 1700, he perfected the horse-drawn seed drill. Neither he, nor the horses who pulled those drills, knew that his name would still be famous 226 years later, for something completely different. During Tull’s lifetime, neither Progressive Rock nor Jazz-Rock had been invented.
Jethro Tull, the band named after the late hero of agriculture, was founded when many of us were still wearing diapers, namely in 1967, by the Scotsman Ian Anderson, a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and producer, and three fellow musicians. Anderson’s main instrument is the flute. This aspect alone makes him unique along with his band.
When was the last time you heard a famous Prog Rock band use a cross flute? In Jazz, a genre Ian Anderson touches a lot as well, the late Dave Valentin, the late Herbie Mann, the brilliant Hubert Laws, Althea Rene, Sherri Winston and others can be named. In Rock, things are different until today. But let’s stop trying to put Jethro Tull into any genre drawer. These attempts do not lead anywhere.
Jazzing Up Bach
Yes, Ian Anderson still tours with Jethro Tull, 59 years after the group’s foundation, which by the way happened when he was 20 years old. How old does that make him? A. 58, B. 79, C. 98 or D. 128? While you try to figure it out, I will listen to “Bourée”, a stunning, jazzy piece based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Suite in E Minor”.
Bach composed the original between 1708 and 1717, when Jethro Tull, the agriculture expert, was busy helping the British Agricultural Revolution succeed. Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull recorded their version in 1969. At that time, Jacques Loussier and the Dutch band Ekseption were probably the only fellow musicians crazy or genius enough to jazz up classical music.
Hey, if we continue this piece at the pace we started it, we will never finish the damned thing. Let’s mention two of Jethro Tull’s 23 albums. “Aqualung” and “Thick as a Brick”, released in 1971 and 1972, respectively, were the kind of records anyone who knew anything about contemporary music had in their shelves. Everyone dug “Locomotive Breath” and countless other tunes delivered by Ian Anderson, guitarist Martin Barre and many fellow band members who joined and left over the years.
Oh, by the way: How about a little story in between? Here we go:
HOW TO PISS OFF JETHRO TULL
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is a perfectionist, who has been recording and touring for the past 58 years. When I ran a big Jazz festival in Bulgaria many years ago, I would have given him a luxury hotel, but I was not the promoter. Decisions of this kind were taken elsewhere. Well, at first, Ian complained the restaurant was “shit”. So was the hotel. The legendary flutist was not exactly amused either, when the vehicle we used to take them to the venue in the city of Plovdiv broke down after 50 kilometers on the freeway. By that time, he was pissed indeed.
There was another issue: A huge thunderstorm had just been announced. This meant we had to move the gig from the wonderful amphitheater in Plovdiv to the city’s brand new fair hall. It was quite an endeavor to move the entire gig within a few hours. What we did not know was the fact that the brand new roof was leaking. So we had equipment worth close to a million Euro on a stage it rained on.
Ian Anderson did not like the situation too much. This applied to the catering as well. There he was, shouting down at me from the stage: “Get me the f*cking promoter right now! This is too much! I will cancel the f*cking gig!”. He didn’t. While absolutely nothing turned out properly behind the scenes that day, the gig itself was brilliant, as expected. The next day, Ian came up to me at the airport. He apologized. So did I. Things were fine again.
Germany in July
Back to the future: Jethro Tull are coming to Germany. The good news: They will be taking over stages in Berlin (November 5th, 2026), Magdeburg (November 6th) and Bonn (December 18th) before this year ends. The bad news: Those of us who live elsewhere, but can’t wait to experience Ian Anderson live will have to wait until the summer of 2027. Hamburg, Bielefeld and Stuttgart are on the touring plan then.
Oh, we almost forgot some more good news: “Tull”, as die-hard fans call the group, will be raising roofs in other cities in the German-speaking world too, namely in Zurich, Vienna, Bregenz and Linz. How about that?
Is it unusual to tour when you’re a 79-year-old Rock guy? No! Look at The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, Bob Dylan, Barry Manilow and others. From their perspective, 79 is harmless. Over and out.
Check out all Jethro Tull dates in the German-speaking world and look at available tickets along with their prices here.
