The Bulgarian town of Plovdiv wasn't kindly disposed to the melomans in the evening of September 1, 2007. Instead of nice weather in the Antique Theater, "the city under the hills" welcomed us with torrential rain and Fair Hall 14. There, under the new tin-plates of the ceiling, 2000 spectators found shelter and enjoyed the marvelous play by the Classic FM Orchestra, Ian Anderson and his band.

The storm on the road to the Fair Town raised the adrenaline seriously and drowned all the preliminary expectations and randomly discussed scenarios about the evening. Thus around 7 p.m. groups of soaked people started to take their seats in the chairs in the area. Shortly after eight o'clock the hall was filled with wet bodies, the lights went out and ahead, on the stage in the middle of the bottom of the venue, the musicians of Ian Anderson's band came out, lead by the cult frontman himself. Applauses, greetings and direct dash in the works of the legendary Jethro Tull with "Living in the Past".

In obvious good mood, the five men played three tracks and behind them the classical instruments remained as orphaned as in the beginning... until "Life Is a Long Song", when Ian presented the orchestra and the night rushed with full force in a concerto for group, orchestra, accordion and flute.

The following two hours of musical journeys proved that not everybody could combine rock with classical music, which one should have at least listened to really, as a fan. From the inspiring performance it got clear that Anderson not only loves classical music, but also plays it with huge temper and will. The good teamwork between the band and the orchestra was wonderful, the charisma of the four Englishmen and the German Florian Opahle (guitars) fascinated the audience, and the sound was at an unusual high level, having in mind that the functionality of Hall 14 is more appropriate for cheese conservation than for a music performance...

Ian didn't stop to wander around the stage with wide, energetic steps and squats, and John O'Hara changed the accordion and the keyboard with conducting functions for the twenty people behind him. We heard favorite songs by Jethro Tull, classical compositions, a jolly medley with music by Mozart, and melodies of the last five hundred years that have become part of the musical culture and were presented as a swift bouquet of sounds.

After more than hour on the stage, it was time for a short break before the second part of the show landed with the toughness of a brick and "Thick as a Brick" to push us back to our seats. And no, there was no time to take a breath, because Ian Anderson offered us "maybe the most famous Jethro Tull song" and burst out "Aqualung". Alas, we were sitting on chairs among aluminum and PVC laths and I could only imagine what a pleasure it would have been to hear this music in the Antique Theater under the night sky… And the music didn't stop for a moment, the good temper neither, Ian joked and laughed all the time while we were listening over and over again to the songs of the cult British band that sounded as if really written as Renaissance music.

Suddenly the night took us from Plovdiv to "Budapest", and after the epic ten-minute composition the rockers left their Classic FM colleagues on stage only to return after a minute under the loud applauses of the crowd. They made us stand up on our feet with "Locomotive Breath", followed by the end of the concert, a bow, thanksgivings, and some of us took the long road home with a different kind of locomotive...

Report by Ivaylo Alexandrov / Tangra Mega Rock