Benefit is one of my all-time favourite albums. To this day, over thirty years after its release, the music still moves and amazes me. Am I the only one who finds it poignant, and sort of a beautiful kind of sad?
In Dallas, Texas on a Saturday night back in 1978 with nothing to do.
My friend opens the newspaper’s entertainment section and says:
“Blue Oyster Cult opening for Jethro Tull at the civic center.”
I say, “WTF? YES!”
We phone and discover the place is sold out (big shocker).
I tell my friend:
“Let’s go anyway, we’ll get in.”
Short story long;
We get to the place and the lines are out the door and around the block. I tell my friend to scout the scalpers while I stand in the ticket line. He gets back to me just as I step up to the window. He’s saying, “Ahhhhh, they want $100.[sup]00[/sup] a ticket!!!”
I ask the lady behind the glass:
“Canceled reservations please, best five seats in the house.”
She says:
“Fifth row center good enough?”
I say:
“KA-CHING!”
[/ticket buying story]
Great concert. BOC did everything including, “Godzilla.” Excellent laser light show too.
Anderson was touring with his “Aqualung” band and brought the house down. The only break he took was during the drum solo. Earned his gate, he did.
Saw Fairport Convention open for Jethro Tull in 1988. Same story, Ian never took a break and cranked rock flute all night long. Another great show.
No, but they did make #61 on VH1’s top 100 HARD ROCK acts of all time, hosted by Carmen Electra (grrowwwrrlll). Quite a surprise, since they’re not really a hard rock band, despite having a Heavy Metal Grammy and all. 
t-keela, I’m a Uriah Heep fan, too. What’s your point?
Best Tull site is Cup of Wonder for lyrics, and the annotated TAAB and PP lyrics are there explaining all the little references that we Americans might not get.
I got into Tull as the first classic rock band I listened to alot, when I was 13 (back in 1992). So of course, I’ve never seen them in concert since they don’t come around America much anymore. I’ve seen all my other favorites live (Floyd, Moody Blues twice, BOC) but will probably never get to see Tull.
Not sure that eponymous is quite the right word. But it does appear on the album titled Too Old To Rock ‘n’ Roll: Too Young To Die!
And here’s the discography:
I saw Jethro Tull on their 25th anniversary tour in Hong Kong. They were totally excellent. I have several albums on vinyl, including the original gatefold album of Thick As A Brick, complete with pythonesque newspaper supplement. Excellent track, though a dirgy album.
Incidentally, Ian Anderson used to live about 2 miles up the road from me. Friends of mine used to trespass on his farm, and he used to chase them on his ATC. All very good-natured.
To Cry You a Song is one of my all time favorites. I love the riff. Benefit was the second 3rd Tull album I ever owned after MU and Passion Play. I now own them all, and all on vinyl up until Crest of a Knave. Though some are those crappy re-issues I do have an original Living With the Past with the 8 page photo gallery and Thick as a Brick with the entire newspaper.
My prized possession is some sort of promotional cut out from Minstrel in the Gallery. It’s 4 or 5 foot vague likeness of Ian Anderson as a minstrel.
I have my tickets for their show this summer in Pittsburgh. I haven’t seen them since 2000 at the wolftrap in Virginia and I am having serious withdrawals.
I’m proud to say that I’m cited on that page.
And also, RexDart:
I saw them almost every year live in the nineties, mostly in Baltimore/Washington DC area. You must live in the wrong area. Sad. You’re really missing something. They always put on a fantastic show.
Nothing bad if that’s where you’re going…just a remark pertaining to FallenAngel’s name.
chill 
J Tull
BOC
U Heep
Leon R
etc. (all good for me)
Looks like Tull is out of the country 'till August, but this is supposedly where they’ll be when they get back.
AUGUST 7 - 31 USA
7 Vienna, VA Wolftrap
9 Bethlehem, PA Musikfest
10 Uncasville, CT Arena
12 Lenox, MA
Tull with orchestra Tanglewood
13 Philadelphia, PA Mann Center
14 New Brunswick, NJ State Theater
15 Big Flats, NY Tag’s Summer Sound Stage
16 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino
17 Lewiston, NY Artpark
19 Williamsport, PA Community Arts Center
20 Pittsburgh, PA Chevrolet Amphitheater at Station Square
21 Indianapolis, IN Murat
22 Chicago, IL Navy Pier
23 Wisconsin Dells, WI Crystal Grand
24 Appleton, WI Fox Cities PAC
26 TBA
27 Fort Wayne
On sale Fr.2/28 @ 10 A.M. CST at all Ticketmaster outlets, charge at 260-424-1811 or online at ww.ticketmaster.com.
Embassy Theater
28 Mt. Pleasant, MI Soaring Eagle
29 Cleveland Tower City Amphitheater
30 Rockford, IL On the Waterfront
31 Cedar Rapids, IA Taste of Cedar Rapids
They still tour the U.S. frequently; I saw them last year in San Jose. They’ll be touring the northeast and midwest in August, although it looks like the closest they’re coming to you is Cedar Rapids on August 31. (No shows at all out here in the west, though. 
)
I saw Tull twice, two years in a row, circa 1993.
The first concert was very laid back, they had set the stage up more or less like a restaurant. At one point Ian Anderson picked a lucky damsel from the audience and had a glass of wine with her onstage. They played somewhat more recent songs.
It rocked.
The second concert, a year later exactly, was a lot more rock’n roll, with almost all the songs taken from their first three albums. I managed to get second row tickets. During the encore, when everyone had crowded in front of the stage, Martin Barre played the Aqualung solo standing less than two feet away from me.
Greatest rock concert-going experience ever.
My band, when I had one, used to cover Cross Eyed Mary. I sang this one and did the flute. I had a flute mike and would sing right into it. I’m a girl but have a pretty wide vocal range. We kicked ass on that song…
Me and some friends had a Tull cult going through high school, lasting through Stormwatch. Then when Anderson fired the old crew and started going with a more progressive sound, my passion for Tull fizzled out.
One of the best shows I’ve ever seen was Government Mule opening up for Tull. I will still see Tull live any day.
Since no one in this thread has made the specific effort of raving fanatically about Minstrel in the Gallery, I shall do so.
This is one of Tull’s pearls, it has the most brilliant efforts of both Anderson and Barre, oh if I could only grind a guitar like on Black Satin Dancer. And the sheer silliness of One White Duck can’t be topped. A perfect Tull album.
Since the Internet ate my first post…
My father raised me on his classic rock albums, and I really latched onto Jethro Tull. I saw them at my first concert in 1996 (16 years old at the time). Me and some high school buddies used to try and play Aqualung and Cross Eyed Mary. I have all their studio albums except ‘A’ on CD. (Does anybody know if they’re remastering and re-releasing this one soon?)
To Knowed out:
I always considered albums like TaaB and PP their most progressive work. Yeah, the 80’s stuff included more synth, but the structures were more traditional. Just my opinion…
One of my absolute favorites. Great atmosphere, and some of Anderson’s most biting (and moving) lyrics…which is saying a lot. My Tull Top Three would be A Passion Play, Thick as a Brick, and Minstrel.
The current remaster series is up to 1978–Songs from the Wood and Heavy Horses just came out this month. So I expect we’ll be getting Stormwatch and A in the next batch.
Oddly enough I saw a reissue of A, complete with a bonus track, advertised on amazon.uk last year, but it turned out to be an error in the listing.
Tull was the first rock band I listened too courtesy of an older brother. I think Stand Up and This Was were my first two albumns. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see them until IIRC1978. Saw 'em a couple of times, but while pretty good, they were not the legendary performing band of Aqualung or Passion Play days.
I had the relatively rare album “A” with “Working Joe” and other songs on it as my first Tull. I like nearly all of his stuff, although I must admit I’ve heard “Aqualung” too many times to have any appreciation for it.
I did a pen-and-brush of Anderson in full codpiece regalia which he very kindly signed for me with “Hello Caprese!”
Seen them so many times I lost count, my favorite concerts were at the small venues, but the 1971 Red Rocks show, with Police-On-Horseback-Throwing-TearGas, was certainly memorable.
It’s good to have Tull on vinyl, because their album covers were so cool, especially Stand Up. Their music still holds up today, and each scratch on those discs brings back good memories.