Finally the rock-lovers’ long-expected concert of the legendary British rock band Jethro Tull took place last Friday in Yerevan at the Sport and Concert Complex after Karen Demirchyan. The band members Ian Anderson and Martin Barre had a two-hour live concert for the Armenian audience.
The concert hall was crowded with people. Jethro Tull had joined the representatives of all generations irrespective of their status and official position. There were also guests from neighboring Georgia, who had arrived to enjoy Jethro Tull’s concert in Yerevan. And it was a real festival for everyone. Nostalgic moments were experienced by representatives of the 70’s generation.
They remember very well how they once could obtain Jethro Tull’s records and enjoy its music under the iron curtain of the Soviet Union. One among them was the ex-Minister of Education and Science of Armenia Spartak Seyranyan.
“The first time I heard Jethro Tull was in 1974, when I had the “Aqualung” album,” says Seyranyan. “Then it was difficult to get a rock album, we asked our relatives abroad to send or gathered money together with 3-4 friends to find a record, then listened to it as it passed from hand to hand.” Spartak Seyranyan says it’s also been very nice to meet his old friends at the concert, with whom he used to listen to rock in 70s.
Finally the rock-lovers’ long-expected concert of the legendary British rock band Jethro Tull took place last Friday in Yerevan at the Sport and Concert Complex after Karen Demirchyan. The band members Ian Anderson and Martin Barre had a two-hour live concert for the Armenian audience.
The concert hall was crowded with people. Jethro Tull had joined the representatives of all generations irrespective of their status and official position. There were also guests from neighboring Georgia, who had arrived to enjoy Jethro Tull’s concert in Yerevan. And it was a real festival for everyone. Nostalgic moments were experienced by representatives of the 70’s generation.
They remember very well how they once could obtain Jethro Tull’s records and enjoy its music under the iron curtain of the Soviet Union. One among them was the ex-Minister of Education and Science of Armenia Spartak Seyranyan.
“The first time I heard Jethro Tull was in 1974, when I had the “Aqualung” album,” says Seyranyan. “Then it was difficult to get a rock album, we asked our relatives abroad to send or gathered money together with 3-4 friends to find a record, then listened to it as it passed from hand to hand.” Spartak Seyranyan says it’s also been very nice to meet his old friends at the concert, with whom he used to listen to rock in 70s.
The concert tickets cost 5,000-30,000 AMD (US$14-81). It seemed courageous to organize Jethro Tull’s concert in Armenia, among the society where the number of eastern low quality music lovers is quite great. However the tickets were sold before the concert. A few months ago when the first information on Jethro Tull’s concert was disseminated in Yerevan, the band’s fans started to visit booking offices every day to buy the tickets as soon as possible, probably foreseeing difficulties in their acquisition.
Those who hadn’t managed to buy the tickets concentrated their efforts on social networks filling them with the announcements “seeking Jethro Tull tickets”, “will buy Jethro Tull ticket”. The day of the concert there were still fans looking for tickets in front of the entrance of the Sport and Concert Complex. The legendary rock band astonished everyone with the fascinating sounds of the flute. A fan of Jethro Tull, Samvel Martirosyan, is sure that due to this concert the flute will become as beloved instrument for Armenian people as the Armenian duduk is.
“Now the flute will become the favorite instrument of Armenians who are fans of Jethro Tull and everybody will learn to play it,” says Samvel smiling. The concert has been sponsored by the “Luys” Foundation, which is financed from the state budget and has been severely criticized by several media organizations. The authors of the articles claim that the Foundation has been established by the Government of RA to support educational programs and not to contribute to the organization of such kinds of rock concerts. Vahan, 19, who was present at the concert, doesn’t agree with such criticism saying that he is very happy he had a chance to attend the concert.
“Due to my impressions my temperature rose during the concert, my body was shivering from happiness. I am shocked,” he says. Besides thousands of declarations of love (“I love you”) during the concert, coming from all sides of the hall, a young man, sitting in front of the stage, jumped onto the stage trying to kiss Ian Anderson, but the security workers took him away immediately.
Anna Barseghyan is a third-year student of YSU Journalism Department.
Source: JNews.am, Student’s Eye Column