Music Diary – 17th November

Welcome to my Music Diary – today for the 17th November!

Martin Barre & John Glascock (Jethro Tull – 1978)

On the 17th November two remarkable things happened, which are connected to the British Rock band Jethro Tull:

In 1946 guitarist Martin Lancelot Barre was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham. Barre joined Jethro Tull in 1969 after the departing of Mick Abrahams and his first recordings with Ian Anderson & Co. can be heard on the second Tull album „Stand Up“ (1969). Martin Barre was the long time member in the line-up beside singer, flute player and acoustic guitarist Ian Anderson. He left Jethro Tull in 2011 and concentrated on his solo works.

Barre’s signature solo on the 1971 Jethro Tull standard „Aqualung“ is still considered as one of the most outstanding guitar solos. It was voted by the readers of „Guitar Player“ magazine as one of the top rock guitar solos of all time.

And on the 17th November 1979, John Glascock, the bass player for Jethro Tull from 1976 until 1979, died at the age of only 28 years. Glascock suffered a congenital heart valve defect, which was worsened by an infection caused by an abscessed tooth. Before joining Jethro Tull to replace Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond on bass, Glascock was a member of the Blues band Chicken Shack and later of the progressive Rock band Carmen. Ritchie Blackmore mentioned John’s fantastic skills in an interview with „Guitar Player“ in September 1978; „John Glascock is a brilliant bass player, the best in the business in rock.“ John Glascock’s playing can be heard on the Tull albums „Too old to Rock’n’Roll: Too young to die!“ (1976), „Songs from the Wood“ (1977), „Heavy Horses„, the live album „Bursting Out“ (both 1978) and some parts on „Stormwatch“ (1979).

 Get your Jethro Tull stuff here (for Austrian customer):

Shop for JETHRO TULL here:

                       
GERMANY                                          UK                                      USA

Werbung

Music Diary – 2nd November

Welcome to my Music Diary – today for the 2nd November!

Dave Pegg (Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull)

Happy birthday to Mr. Dave „Peggy“ Pegg, who was born on the 2nd November 1947 in Birmingham, UK. The English mulit-instrumentalist is best known for his playing with the legendary Folk band Fairport Convention and his contribution as a bass player for Jethro Tull from 1979 until 1995.

At the age of 14 years he started to play the guitar and he was also member of the school band at Yardley Grammar School. In the sixties he worked with severeal Birmingham groups like „The Crawdaddys“ and „The Roy Everett Blues Band“. In 1966 he failed to become the guitar player for a band called The Uglys (featuring Steve Gibbons), but he took the chance to be a member as the bass player – so he switched the instruments. One year later Pegg formed the Blues trio „The Exception“ with singer Alan Eastwood and Roger Hill on guitar. During that time Dave also played with Robert Plant and John Bonham, with whom he played in the band „The Way of Life“. In 1967 Dave Pegg joined the Ian Campbell Folk Group, where he also learned to play the mandolin. Two years later he began to play with a group called „The Beast“ (featuring Cozy Powell and Dave Clempson).

Exactly on his 22nd birthday he received a telephone call by Dave Swarbrick from Fairport Convention and was asked if he would like to join the band, because of the departing of Ashley Hutchings, who was going to found the Folk-Rock group Steeleye Span (feat. Maddy Prior). And in July 1970 the first Fairport Convention album feat. Dave Pegg on bass was released: „Full House„. Until the break up in 1979 Dave Pegg recorded nine studio albums with Fairport Convention.

In 1979 David Pegg was asked by Ian Anderson to join Jethro Tull and to replace the ailing John Glascock. His live debut was on the 5th October 1979 for the „Stormwatch“ world tour and took place in Toronto, Canada. So for the next fifteen years Peggy was the bass player and recorded the six classic studio albums „A“ (1980), „The Broadsword and the Beast“ (1982), „Under Wraps“ (1984), „Crest of a Knave“ (1987), „Rock Island“ (1989), „Catfish Rising“ (1991) and three tracks for „Roots to Branches“ (1995). His last live performance with Jethro Tull happened on the 29th May 1994 in Basingstoke, UK.

After his departure from Jethro Tull, David Pegg concentrated more on his work with Fairport Convention again. The reunion of the Folk Rock institution happened already with the album „Gladys‘ Leap“ in 1985.

Shop for Fairport Convention here:                 

 

 

GERMANY/EUROPE                                                                                  USA

Music Diary – 7th November

Welcome to my personal music diary – today for the 7th November!

Back in 1999 my long time favorite band Jethro Tull stopped during the „j-tull.com“ tour in Munich at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle. Beside brand new songs like “Spiral”, “Hunt by Numbers” or “AWOL” Ian Anderson and his band surprised us with some nice tunes like “Jeffrey goes to Leicester Square”, “Hunting Girl” and a special performance with Leslie Mandoki (“Back to Budapest”).

Jethro Tull – Munich (Rudi Sedlmayer Halle)(07.11.1999) Ticket © Alex Melomane

The support was by The Mark Gillespie Band and I can remember that the Tull members Jonathan Noyce and Andrew Giddings joined for some songs on stage.

Cheers,

Alex Melomane

Music Diary – 2nd July

Welcome again to my personal music diary!

And it’s again a special Jethro Tull day, because on the 2nd July I attended three shows:

The first one took place in Salzburg at the Eishalle in the year 1991! It was planned that Tull play an open air gig at the Kapitelplatz behind the wonderful dome, but unfortunately they changed the place and we had to walk into the Eishalle (an ice hockey hall). Before the show I met Ian Anderson for some pictures and after that the band performed in a perfect way with some nice surprises like an extended version of „Fat Man“!

Two years later I attended a Tull show in Wels, just two days after I saw them in Vienna during their „25th Anniversary“ world tour and in 2010 another remarkable show followed: It was the last time that I saw my long time heroes live on stage and it was also the last time seeing the band performing with guitarist Martin Barre, who left the band after four decades (!) one year later! And this is for me another big reason, why I avoid to attend another Jethro Tull show again. Cheerio, Ian Anderson 😉

All details of the mentioned shows (reviews, pictures, setlists and videos) you can find here:

https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/concerts-july

Cheers and see you tomorrow again 😉

Alex Melomane

Music Diary – 30th June

Welcome again to my personal music diary!

The 30th June is a sort of „Jethro Tull day“ in my diary because of two shows:

In 1993 Tull played during their „25th Anniversary“ tour in Vienna a open air show at the Arena. A very nice setlist feat. all songs from the whole career and also one brandnew track was played – an instrumental titled as „Andy Gidding’s Parrot“ 😉

And in 2012 I finally had the chance to see long Jehtro Tull bass player David Pegg with his legendary Folk band Fairport Convention. At a wonderful location on a lake they played songs from the last 45 years band history.

Pictures, videos, setlists and reviews of these two shows you can find here (just scroll down to 30/06):
https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/category/concerts-june

Cheers and have a nice day!

Alex Melomane

Music Diary – 27th June

Welcome back to another entry in my personal music diary!

Today is a very special day for me because on the 27th June 2001 I did an interview with one of my favorite musicians: Mr. Martin Lancelot Barre who played the guitar for Jethro Tull from the early beginning back in January 1969 until 31st July 2011. We met before the gig in Munich at the Tollwood area. You can watch the video here:
https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/category/interviews-video

After the interview Tull performed in typically way – very professional and solid. A good chosen setlist which featured all classics and also some rarities like „Love Story„. And as me and my video man (thanks Tom!) got backstage passes we found us after the show with the band and some other press people behind the stage 😉

The complete setlist and a review of the show can you find here (just scroll down to 27/06/):
https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/category/concerts-june

Another gig of that day was on the 27th June 2004 and it took place at the Donauinselfest (a free annual festival) in Vienna. There I got my first live experience with the Norwegian band Kaizers Orchestra, which was just breathtaking. No wonder that Tom Waits is also a fan of this outstanding band. A short review you also find on the mentioned link 😉

Music Diary – 24th June

Dear Musiclovers!

Here is my music diary entry for today, 24th June:
Back in 2003 I attended another Jethro Tull gig – this time in Munich at the Zenith. This is one of those locations you will never like – too huge and very cold.

The support act were Leslie Mandoki with his Soulmates feat. Masha, a german female singer and better known as the daughter of Frank Elstner. This is the guy who invented the German TV show „Wetten, dass..?“. And I do think this says it all 😉

The Tull performance was solid and unfortunately nothing special at all. Apart from the horrible background singing by Masha (especially during „Heavy Horses“ – she just killed this song) I can remember that Ian Anderson reminded us on buying Christmas presents because of the upcoming album called „The Jethro Tull Christmas Album„, which was released later that year.

The exact setlist and a short review can be found here (just scroll down to 24/06/2003):
https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/category/concerts-june

Cheers,

Alex Melomane

Music Diary – 21st June

Hello dear Musicmaniacs around the world!

On the 21st June 1997 I attended another Jethro Tull gig – this time in Munich at the Rudi-Sedlmeyer-Halle.

And this one was very remarkable because the setlist was full with fine surprises like „A Song for Jeffrey„, „Skating away“ or „Acres Wild„! And as another surprise Mr. Leslie Mandoki joined the band for the tune „Back to Budapest„.

Full setlist and review you can finde here (just scroll down to 21/06/1997):
https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/category/concerts-june/

And today one of the Tull family has his birthday:
Mr. Don Airey (Keyboard Player), who toured with the band during the „Crest of a Knave“ worldtour in 1987, was born back in 1948! Happy bday!

Cheers,

Alex Melomane

UPDATE: Section „Concerts May“ is finished!

Dear Music Lovers and Sound Addicts around the world!

I’ve just finished the section „Concerts May“ on my homepage:
https://melomaneblog.wordpress.com/category/concerts-may

Enjoy my reviews, pictures, videos and setlists feat. AC/DC, Woven Hand, Murder By Death, Rory Gallagher, Jethro Tull, Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, Helldorado, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Guns N‘ Roses, Soundgarden, Faith No More, K’s Choice, The Wedding Present, Judas Priest and Die Ärzte!

If you want to contribute in some way (sending pictures, video links, setlists etc.) – please drop me a line!

Cheers & spread the word!

Alex Melomane

Interviews (Video)

 Interview with Martin Barre from JETHRO TULL (27th June 2001)

I did this interview with Martin Barre from Jethro Tull shortly before the Tull show in Munich on 26th June 2001 (backstage area).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interview with Eicca Toppinen from APOCALYPTICA (18th August 2000)

I did this interview with Eicca Toppinen from Apocalyptica in a sauna of his hotel suite. It was recorded during the music fair in Cologne on the 18th August 2000.