Monday, Aug. 4, 2003 | 8:13 a.m.
Before launching into flute piece "Bouree" Saturday night, Ian Anderson took a moment to acknowledge the song's original creator.
"Just in case Johann Sebastian Bach is sleeping soundly, we'll wake the bugger up," Jethro Tull's wild-eyed leader announced.
Surely, the band's raucous take on the classical opus would have startled the 18th century German composer.
But it's a safe bet the scene beyond the stage at the Mandalay Bay Beach would have shocked Bach quite a bit more.
A sea of 2,500 heads bobbed with the music, most trying to keep up with Anderson's frenzied flute playing. Most of the near-capacity crowd rested on the facility's sandy beach, while a few braver souls opted for the wave pool, some dancing in waist-deep water with others swimming farther out.
Tiki torches, misters and lifeguard stands dotted the skyline at a venue that makes it easy to forget you're on hotel-casino grounds in the desert.
As for the music, it's fun to imagine Bach would be playful enough to approve. The Boomer-dominated audience certainly seemed to, as Jethro Tull's road-perfected sound system made it easy to hear the band over a relatively boisterous crowd.
The opening number, a modernized rendition of "Living in the Past," was a bit over-the-top, too electric and synthesized to appeal to fans of the band's most popular work from the late 1960s and '70s.
By third song "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine for You," however, the sheen was gone, in its place an earthier, stripped-down backdrop for Anderson's many talents, be they vocal or on flute, harmonica, mandolin or guitar.
The 55-year-old Scot, clothed characteristically as a sort of wandering minstrel in tight black pants, a shiny silver vest and colorful skullcap, was typically chatty on this evening.
Anderson made tamely risque comments about the "rabbit" in drummer Doane Perry's pocket and poked fun at political correctness, introducing "Fat Man" as "I Don't Want to be a Chronically Obese Person."
He also had some few inside jokes for the diehards in the crowd.
"Here's one from a much more recent album," he said after playing a cut from 1968. The song that followed? "With You There to Help Me," from 1970's "Benefit."
Surprisingly, more than any other, that sweeping number made a case for Tull's prog-rock side. Though the music was a blend of blues and folk, it took the quintet through a series of intricate styles and tempos that would have made King Crimson proud.
Jethro Tull combined three title tracks -- "Songs From the Wood," "Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die" and "Heavy Horse" -- into a single medley. And the band presented two new songs, which will appear on upcoming solo efforts by Anderson and guitarist Martin Barre in August.
Tull also kept casual fans happy, closing the set with the well-known "Aqualung" before finally coaxing the crowd to its feet for classic rock staple "Locomotive Breath" during the encore.
The concert's length was a disappointment to many, judging by the surprised faces on the beach when the house music kicked on after an hour and a half. And a more acoustic Tull would have been welcome, particularly after the success of "Fat Man," the only song presented that way.
Still, Anderson's flute heroics during "My God" -- easily the show's highlight -- might have been worth the $35 price of admission alone.
Trilling wildly, he hopped around the stage, sometimes raising his right hand to direct his mates' tempo even as he held his instrument and fingered with his left.
And, on the off chance Bach had settled back into place, Anderson amazed one last time, creating vocal sounds while simultaneously blowing into his flute. It's yet another unusual approach to rock music that still works for the man behind Jethro Tull.
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