Page 28 - ION Indie Magazine SeptOct 2018

JETHRO TULL brought their progressive rock musical stylings
to a rapt audience at Summerfest 2018. The British band
formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1967, initially played
blues rock, but morphed into their own unique sound that
incorporated hard rock, folk and progressive rock. The
band is led by vocalist/flautist/guitarist Ian Anderson and
has featured a revolving door of lineups through the years.

The group first achieved commercial success in 1969, with
the folk-tinged blues album “Stand Up,” which reached No.
1 in the UK, and they toured regularly in the UK and the U.S.
They made the shift into a progressive rock direction with
the albums “Aqualung” (1971), “Thick as a Brick” (1972),
and “A Passion Play” (1973), and they returned to hard/folk
rock with “Songs from the Wood” (1977) and “Heavy
Horses” (1978). To date, Jethro Tull has sold approximately
60 million albums worldwide, achieving 11 Gold and 5
Platinum albums. Rolling Stone Magazine has heralded
Jethro Tull as "one of the most commercially successful and
eccentric progressive rock bands".

Jethro Tull's music has been referenced in popular culture,
numerous movies, television series and commercials. Their
influence on musicians includes Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris
and Bruce Dickinson, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Dream
Theater’s John Myung, and Joe Bonamassa, amongst
others.

In September 2017, Anderson announced plans for a tour
to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of “This Was,” and
a new studio album in 2018. On January 2, 2018, Ian
Anderson published a New Year post that including a
picture of Anderson with the caption "IA in the studio
working on a new album for release March 2019. Shhhh;
keep it a secret..." It seems that the Jethro Tull is far from
ready for retirement!

Discover more about Jethro Tull at their site at
http://jethrotull.com/