A couple of weeks ago, I saw Jethro Tull at the Royal Festival Hall on the band's 40th Anniversary Tour.
The concert was pretty good - a decent setlist and a lively performance from Ian Anderson and co - but what set this gig apart was the appearance of classic 70s lineup drummer Barrie Barlow who was wheeled out for 'Thick as a Brick' and 'Heavy Horses'.
Prior to this, I'd always tended to think Ian Anderson WAS Tull, and it didn't really matter who else was in the band (this comes from the perspective of someone who got in to the band in the mid-80s, well past the glory years).
But Barlow's drumming was astonishingly good, and lifted those 2 songs from nostalgiac indulgences into something much more vital and exciting. It was a combination of technique and personality - I couldn't keep my eyes off him!
Seeing him gave a little hint of what a great band Tull must have been at its peak.
I wonder if Anderson now regrets the great clearout of 1980 - would Tull be less marginalized if he'd kept faith with Barlow, Palmer and Evan instead of replacing them with a series of competent but comparitively anonymous journeymen?