Part one (which you suppose should be called Act One given this is all highbrow and cultural and that) luckily includes some magnificent new versions of magnificent songs. Rather it’s a dazzling and at times bewildering assault on the senses including films, spoken word bits, a killer light show and some stunningly brilliant pomposity – and that’s just part one. Then, amid a “live broadcast” of riots in London because rationing has been brought in its go time.īecause this is not a conventional gig. So things begin with apocalyptic news broadcasts of food shortages and climate change.

To understand this, it’s best to know that the real Jethro Tull was a 17th century agricultural pioneer and for this, the mastermind behind the band of the same name, Ian Anderson has decided to move Jethro (the man) into the present day. And when its Jethro Tull The Rock Opera, then ok, we’ll give it a go. The point is, though, that times change and so do tastes. Bloody hell, even now, writing this, it still conjures up dreadful long repressed memories of musicals watched as a kid and – worse still – family holidays filled with Queen’s Greatest Hits Volume One (and isn’t it staggering that they managed to milk a volume two out of their godawful output?) being the only tape allowed in the car. The idea of a “rock opera” would have been unthinkable a decade back. The very phrase probably would have sent MVM running for the hills a few years ago. Modern day Jethro brought to life in a night at the opera

Ian anderson rock opera reviews