Review: Ian Anderson turns out a winner at the Mann Hall

The season's just begun, but I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be one of its better concerts.

It didn't look like a winner initially.

It didn't sell well. (The Mann Hall seemed only half full.) There didn't seem to be much advertising or promotion for it. And there wasn't much buzz about it.

Some questioned why Anderson would return by himself after playing the hall with Jethro Tull just last season.

But it was an endearing little show that grew in charm as the night went on.

Anderson, backed by a highly competent quartet -- keyboards/accordion, acoustic guitar, bass and drums -- played many pieces from his solo releases, "The Secret Life of Birds" and "Rupi's Dance," and made sure to include some top Jethro Tull hits ("Skating Away," "Life Is a Long Song," "Living in the Past," "Locomotive Breath.") Add to that some Christmas tunes, some classical, some jazz, and you have a pretty diverse concert.

It was an informal affair, with a couch, chair, coffee table and lamp on the right side of the stage. After performing a couple of songs, Anderson would wander over to the couch to be interviewed by Mud, the afternoon on-air personality/music director of classic rock station WARO 94.5 FM. Mud seemed overly pumped up with adrenaline and not as low-key. He also seemed compelled to constantly mention the name and call letters of his radio station, so it was like listening to a concert with continual commercials.

Mud did have the difficult role of playing straight man to Anderson's witty replies. Anderson is an articulate, humorous guy who likes to verbally zig and zag. And his comments were often risqu and quite blue.

After interviewing Anderson himself, Mud went out into the crowd so audience members could ask Anderson questions. And two were picked to come up on stage and sit with Anderson and ask him questions.

It was interesting to hear Anderson's responses. My favorite questions had to do with performing and how he approaches songwriting.

"You never quite get it right," Anderson said of performing, adding that he approaches the stage each night "with a sense of self-loathing and disappointment. ... I'm trying to right the wrongs of last night," he said. "I'm serious. There's no such thing as perfection. You're trying to get closer to that thing you're looking for. You're chasing an ideal. It's the journey that's important. It's more important than the destination."

And as for songwriting, "I try to do it not the same way each time, so it's not like a factory production," he said, explaining that sometimes he comes up with a riff, or the title first, or a lyric. Sometimes he'll use different instruments with which to compose.

"Attack the thing from all different standpoints," he said. "Then you don't fall into repetition."

The concert also contained a couple of surprise guests: a man introduced as "John the juggler from Ohio" and Neapolitan Andy Wahlberg, who played an original tune, "Knick Knack," with Anderson and band accompanying him. John the Juggler juggled an almost empty bottle of vodka, a hammer and sickle at the beginning of the instrumental, "Boris Dancing."

Each song was an incredible show of musicianship, with Anderson trading riffs with the accordionist or standing on one leg while playing a solo. He performed new versions of some old Jethro Tull songs and even had new approaches to "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" and Bach's "Bouree," playing with the time signatures, slowing them down and speeding them up. "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" (which he introduced as "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlepeople"), the last song of the first half, received a standing ovation.

Anderson's songs borrow from many different genres, including jazz, folk and Celtic, but there's just something medieval about his music, which makes it quite appropriate for Christmas. Maybe you could call it 20th and 21st century medieval music.

At the close of the concert, Anderson came out into the audience and handed out more than half a dozen kazoos. Then, during "Locomotive Breath," he went back out into the audience with a microphone and let each person solo on their kazoo. One man even stood and, while playing his kazoo solo, rested his left foot on his right knee, in the classic Ian Anderson pose.

After the show, outside in the parking lot, a woman drove around with her windows open, playing fiddle music. Some bikers dressed in leather waved to her and started leaping around, impersonating Anderson. The driver stopped the car, put it in park, and got out and started doing some Irish step dancing.

The concert had that kind of effect -- even if you weren't dancing on the way home, you were quite likely dancing inside.