Price: $105, $85, $75
Venue: Circus Maximus Theater
Reservations: 1-800-745-3000
Online Reservations: Ticketmaster

Jethro Tull

Saturday, June 12 at 9 p.m.

Named for no apparent reason after an 18th-century British agronomist who invented a machine drill for sowing seed, Jethro Tull has been one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive-rock bands. In 1987, two decades after its founding, the band won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance, Vocal or Instrumental, for Crest of a Knave.

Jethro Tull began as a blues-based band with some jazz and classical influences, and was initially proclaimed by the British press in 1968 as "the new Cream." By the early '70s, it had expanded into a full-blown classical-jazz-rock-progressive band and in the late ’70s turned toward folkish, mostly acoustic rock, all the while selling millions of albums and selling out worldwide tours.

Jethro Tull’s driving force is Ian Anderson. With his shaggy mane, full beard, and penchant for traditional tartan-plaid attire, Anderson acquired a reputation as a mad Faginesque character with his Olde English imagery and stage antics like playing the flute or harmonica while hopping up and down on one leg.

By far the band’s most successful record in the United States, Aqualung (#7, 1971) was a concept album, which eventually sold over 5 million copies worldwide, yielding FM standards like “Cross-Eyed Mary,” “Hymn 43,” and “Locomotive Breath.”

With 60 million albums sold and over 2500 concerts played in 40 countries, the band continue to record and perform, typically 100 shows to around 300,000 people each year throughout all the major rock and roll territories of the world.

Pictures and additional information can be found on website, www.Jethrotull.com