Music

Depeche Mode’s Friday night headlining set at Lollapalooza began with a whimper. First, there was the tiny, steady blip of a pre-recorded drum track. Then came a bed of synthesizers, misty and mysterious. Finally, Dave Gahan’s voice — barely a whisper — floating above. When all of those elements finally cohered, it was pure rapture — a kind of revelation in phases.

In a way, that slow build and long sustain is an apt metaphor for Depeche Mode’s career. A trio of over-styled foppish young men, they were nobody’s top pick for arena giants, let alone a sure bet to be bankable career artists when they started 30-plus years ago. Their quirky techno seemed built for the moment, not for the ages. Even their name means “fast fashion.”

Photos from Lollapalooza ‘09: Depeche Mode, Kings of Leon and More

Funny thing, though: Depeche Mode have not only endured, they’ve prospered, and during their startling and frequently riveting set they proved that often the greatest rewards come from patience and restraint. Their songs remain mysterious and doomy, Andy Fletcher’s black synth lines walking lockstep around Martin Gore’s grizzled, distorted guitar. Live, they feel fantastically ominous: “Hole to Feed” was primal and thumping, its icy electronics contributing to the air of menace. “It’s No Good” was all cold industrial grind, Gore’s weird, robotic guitar lines coaxing the song to an apocalyptic conclusion. As they did in New York last week, they concentrated on slower, deep cuts, which yielded their greatest dividends for longtime followers (some of the more casual fans at Friday’s show were a bit exasperated by this decision).

The key to the group’s sustained potency is Gahan. He was a dynamo Friday night, gliding across the stage, spinning on his heel, hefting the microphone stand above his head and punctuating verses with a triumphant, hollered “Oy!” When his low, haunted croon met Gore’s pained bleat they seemed to form a single voice — a strange disembodied howl rising up from the center of the machine.

Kings of Leon’s songs seem a more traditional fit for the big rooms. Their Friday night set — they played the North end of Grant Park while Depeche played the South — was frequently thrilling, if a shade more conventional. The Kings burned breathlessly through a string of blistering, blues-based rock numbers, all of them sewn up with silvery riffing and centered around Caleb Followill’s gruff holler; the group’s neat trick is the bleeding heart they bury at the center of all that bluster. In a way, their fiery rock is Depeche Mode’s polar opposite. Where that band uses mournful synthesizers to mask sinister intentions, the Kings use a mighty sound as a cover for sensitivity. “The Bucket” found Followill promising “I’ll be the one to show you the way,” while the skyscraping chorus of the triumphant “Use Somebody” masked a plea for companionship.

So perhaps its no surprise that what made the group so charming Friday night was their humility. “We do know exactly what we have here,” Followill acknowledged near the end of their set, “and we know that there are a million other bands that deserve to be here.” The group then launched into “Manhattan,” a moody number from their most recent record. Other Kings songs storm in guns blazing, but this one was underplayed, a few twinkling guitar lines supporting Followill’s howl.

“Who needs avenues, who needs reservoirs,” he sang, “Gonna show this town how to kiss the stars.” If Friday was any indication, he’s got a few hundred thousand people ready to show that town right along with him.

The wife of Monkees vocalist Micky Dolenz was arrested Friday on charges that she defrauded an affordable housing program in New York City.

Authorities in the city’s Department of Investigation said Donna Quinter, 54, illegally received $136,866 in government rental subsidies for an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

The subsidies were supposed to go to middle-income families living in the city year-round who were in danger of being forced out by gentrification.

Investigators say Quinter failed to disclose that she was sharing the apartment with a friend who paid rent. The home also wasn’t her only residence. Since marrying Dolenz in 2002, the former flight attendant has lived with her husband in Bell Canyon, California, an exclusive gated community outside Los Angeles.

Quinter surrendered to authorities in New York on Friday morning. She was expected to be arraigned later on larceny charges in a Manhattan court.

Her lawyer, Bridget Rohde, didn’t immediately return a phone message.

New York City has a number of programs designed to allow middle class families to pay reduced rents in homes they have occupied for a long period of time.

Fraud, however, is common. In some cases, people hold on to their apartments even after they have moved out of the city, either using them as vacation homes or secretly renting them out.

The Department of Investigation, a city law enforcement agency that probes fraud and other abuses in government programs and agencies, discovered Quinter’s eligibility problems after it began examining who was getting subsidies in her building in 2008.

“Law abiding New Yorkers struggling to pay their rents and mortgages cannot afford to subsidize cheaters who abuse public housing resources to support privileged lifestyles,” the department’s commissioner, Rose Gill Hearn, said in a written statement.

Dolenz isn’t accused of any wrongdoing.

THE three-day Midland rock festival set up to mark the 40th anniversary of Woodstock was hanging in the balance last night – after yet another band was dropped from the bill because promoters could not afford to pay them.

Folk-rock giants Jethro Tull joined the long list of big-name groups to quit the August 7 to 9 festival due to be staged at the West Midland Showground near Shrewsbury, in Shropshire.

They joined a list including Asia, Blood Sweat & Tears, Carl Palmer Band, Focus, Icon, It’s A Beautiful Day, Jefferson Starship, Kilminster Hodge, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Steve Howe and Uriah Heap.

Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson told the Sunday Mercury: “The promoters have dumped us. They had been stringing us along with promises for several weeks and then called to say we were no longer required.

“We offered to play for half-price because we didn’t want to let down fans. The promoter agreed but then told us he could not afford to do that either.

“Sadly, and rather angrily, I have to acknowledge his effective cancellation of our appearance at the Memories of Woodstock Festival.

“Most of the headline name acts have cancelled in the last few weeks due to default of contract.

“Clearly, he has attempted to put on this festival without adequate funding and has attempted to make all payments out of advance ticket sales, which is a very naive and highly risky.

“He has already attempted to lay the blame on the bands who had to cancel, including the unpaid headline American artists originally advertised.

“I utterly deplore his tactics in forcing us to accept the cancellation at this late date and short-changing the ticket-buyers.

“We had held on, in good faith, in the trust that he would find the additional funding he maintained was forthcoming.

“To then claim the problems are due to over-charging by bands is strongly resented. The marketing and promotion has been dismal and misleading as to the artists appearing.”

The Memories Of Woodstock show – in a 15,000-capacity marquee – is being organised by former sound engineer Brian Davies, 53, who lives in a Scottish cottage named after Fangorn Forest in JRR Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings.

Last night he admitted that only 1,000 tickets had been sold, and that he had to drop Jethro Tull because their fee was too steep.

“Some of these bands are overpaid,” he said. “There has been a very poor response – only 1,000 people bought tickets across all three days. But the show has to go ahead. I cannot afford to cancel it.”

As the Sunday Mercury went to press, headliners Barclay James Harvest, Melanie and Cream star Jack Bruce’s new band were still due to play, alongside 17 other acts, including hasty additions.

Last week the Sunday Mercury revealed the festival was in trouble after a dispute with management company QEDG, who claimed several of its acts had not had contrcted advance payments.

Since then other music figures including the manager of American giants Blood Sweat & Tears, have claimed promised payments and air fares never materialised.

Woodstock Music & Art Fair

When: August 15 to August 18, 1969

Where: Bethel, New York (Max Yasgur’s 600 acre farm)

Who: Thirty-two Rock, Folk, Blues Artists.

Founded by: Michael Lang, John P. Roberts, Joel Rosenman, Artie Kornfeld

Ticket Price: $18 in advance / $24 at the gate (for all 3 days)

On Friday, August 15, 1969, the historical concert event that was billed as “An Aquarian Exposition” quickly became one of the greatest moments is music history.  The organizers thought they could attract between 50,000 and 100,000 people, which was an ambitious and optimistic estimate at the time.  No one knew that more than 500,000 music lovers would turn Woodstock into a fairyland of sound, peace, love, drugs and human conformity.

However, there were a multitude of problems, which one could understand given the magnitude of the event.   Hunger, bad sanitation, water shortages, inclement weather, traffic jams, first aid issues, bad drugs, why the list seems endless.  However, even with these issues, it was a victory for the youth of America and the music world as well.  There was no racial tension at a time when racial tension was at its peak.  There was little resentment toward your fellow man; it was a place of social harmony and free love.  It was a major coup for the counterculture, despite the obvious problems.

Countless books, documentaries, interviews, news articles have captured all the specifics that occurred on Max Yasgur’s farm.  But more than the aforementioned qualities, errors in judgement and logistical nightmares, it was after all, one of the most successful events in music history.  Let’s explore the time line and some of the little known facts behind this massive musical experience.

The Players:

DAY ONE – August 15, 1969

1. Richie Havens

2. Swami Satchidananda

3. Country Joe McDonald

4. John B. Sebastian

5. Sweetwater

6. Incredible String Band

7. Bert Sommer

8. Tim Hardin

9. Ravi Shankar

10. Melanie

11. Arlo Guthrie

12. Joan Baez

DAY TWO – August 16, 1969

1. Quill

2. Keef Hartley Band

3. Santana

4. Canned Heat

5. Grateful Dead

6. Mountain

7. Creedence Clearwater Revival

8. Sly & The Family Stone

9. Janis Joplin

10. The Who

DAY THREE – August 17, 1969

1. Jefferson Airplane

2. Joe Cocker

3. Country Joe & The Fish

4. Ten Years After

5. The Band

After midnight – Monday Morning) – August 18, 1969

6. Blood Sweat And Tears

7. Johnny Winter

8. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

9. Paul Butterfield Blues Band

10. Sha-Na-Na

11. Jimi Hendrix (Hendrix insisted on being the final performer and was scheduled to perform Sunday at midnight.  He didn’t take the stage until 9 A.M. on Monday morning and played for 2 hours to a dwindling audience)

Musical Acts That Declined Invitations:

The Beatles declined because John Lennon said he couldn’t get them all together at the time.

Led Zeppelin was asked to perform, their manager Peter Grant stating: “We were asked to do Woodstock and Atlantic were very keen, and so was our US promoter, Frank Barsalona. I said no because at Woodstock we’d have just been another band on the bill.”  Instead the group went on with their hugely successful summer tour, playing that weekend south of the festival at the Asbury Park Convention Hall in New Jersey.

Jethro Tull declined to perform. Ian Anderson is reported to have later said he “didn’t want to spend weekend in a field of unwashed hippies.” Another theory proposed that the band felt the event would be “too big a deal” and might kill their career before it started.  Little did they know just how important this could have been for the band.  Ironically, in the film Jethro Tull songs can be heard playing in the background between acts.

Bob Dylan was close, but pulled out when his son became ill.  He also was very turned off by the number of hippies hanging around his house, which was near the originally planned site.

The Byrds were invited, but chose to defer, figuring that the event would not be any different from all the other music festivals that summer.  Additionally, there were monetary concerns and they had trouble earlier that year at a performance at the first Atlanta International Pop Festival, held at the Atlanta International Raceway on July 4 and July 5, 1969, where a melee had broken out.

“We were flying to a gig and Roger came up to us and said that a guy was putting on a festival in upstate New York,” recalled bassist John York.   “But at that point they weren’t paying all of the bands.  He asked us if we wanted to do it and we said, ‘No’.  We had no idea what it was going to be. We were burned out and tired of the festival scene. So all of us said, ‘No, we want a rest’ and missed the best festival of all.”

Tommy James & the Shondells declined the invitation because of being misinformed about the size and scope of the event.

Lead singer Tommy James stated later: “We could have just kicked ourselves. We were in Hawaii, and my secretary called and said, ‘Yeah, listen, there’s this pig farmer in upstate New York that wants you to play in his field.’  That’s how it was put to me.  So we passed, and we realized what we’d missed a couple of days later.”

The Moody Blues were included in the original posters as performers, but backed out after taking a gig in Paris on the same weekend.

The band Mind Garage declined because they thought it wouldn’t be a big deal and had a higher paying gig elsewhere.  Oops.

The Randy California-led band Spirit also declined, they had other shows planned and did not want to back out of their commitments; not knowing how big that Woodstock would ultimately become.

Cancelled appearances:

The Doors were considered, but they canceled at the last minute, most likely due to frontman Jim Morrison’s distaste for performing in large outdoor venues.  However, band member John Densmore did attend.

The Jeff Beck Group was an England rock band formed in London in January 1966 by ex-Yardbiirds guitarist Jeff Beck.  Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues was a major influence on popular music during the late 1960s and early 1970s….They were scheduled to perform at Woodstock, but failed to make an appearance because the band broke up the week before.

Iron Butterfly was a psychedelic rock and early heavy metal music band, well known for their 1968 hit “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.”  They were enroute, however were stuck at an airport, and their manager demanded helicopters and special arrangements just for them.   At one point, helicopters were the only means of transportation that could get to the location.  They were wired back and told, as impolitely as Western Union would allow, “to get lost,” and they left without playing.

Singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell was scheduled to perform, but her agent recommended that she appear on The Dick Cavett Show.  However, she wrote a song from what she had heard from then-boyfriend, Graham Nash, about the festival appropriately called “Woodstock,” that became a major hit for Matthews Southern Comfort and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.  She was also discouraged by the audience response to her performance at the Atlantic City Pop Festival that was held earlier in August prior to Woodstock. The audience was so rude that she was not able to complete her set and she walked off the stage, sobbing.

Canadian band Lighthouse were originally was scheduled to play at Woodstock, but in the end they decided not to, fearing that it would be a bad scene.  Later, several members of the group would say that they regretted the decision.

Musician Ethan Brown was scheduled, but was arrested for LSD possession just three days before the event.

More About Woodstock:

In 2009, complete performances from Woodstock by Santana, Janis Joplin, Sly & the Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, and Johnny Winter were released separately and were also collected in a box-set entitled “The Woodstock Experience.”

It’s also being reported that Woodstock promoter Michael Lang has had to drop plans for a 40th anniversary concert.  When asked why he abandoned the pursuit for a third anniversary concert celebrating the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, Lang simply lamented: “Money. No sponsors.”

However, Lang remains busy with Woodstock-related projects.  On August 8th, he will join Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee and screenwriter/producer James Schamus in Woodstock, New York, for an advance screening of the comedy “Taking Woodstock,” which hits theaters Aug. 28. The film, directed by Lee, with screenplay by Schamus, is based on a book written by Elliot Tiber, who along with his parents ran a motel in Bethel during the Woodstock festival.  Should be interesting…..

In 1997, the site of the concert and 1,400 acres surrounding it was purchased by Alan Gerry for the purpose of creating the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.  The Center opened on July 1, 2006 with a performance of the New York Philharmonic.  On August 13, 2006, Crosby Stills Nash & Young performed to 16,000 fans at the new Center — 37 years after their historic performance at Woodstock.

The Museum at Bethel Woods opened in June 2008. The Museum contains film and interactive displays, text panels, and artifacts which explore the unique experience of the Woodstock festival, its significance as the culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, and the legacy of the Sixties and Woodstock today.

VH1 on Friday, Aug. 14, will air, “Woodstock: Now & Then,” a documentary directed by Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple.  Original Woodstock promoter Michael Lang is executive producer of the film. The History Channel will show “Woodstock: Now & Then” on Aug. 17.

On August 23, 2009 at Belleayre Mountain, which is just west of Woodstock, Lang will co-present Kidstock, with a “Tribute to Woodstock” by young musicians from Paul Green’s School of Rock, the inspiration for the Jack Black movie.

By VERONIKA OLEKSYN (AP) – 2 hours ago

SALZBURG, Austria — Mozart’s momentous legacy grew still larger Sunday as researchers unveiled two piano pieces recently identified as childhood creations by the revered composer.

The works — an extensive concerto movement and a fragmentary prelude — are part of “Nannerl’s Music Book,” a well-known manuscript that contains the Austrian master’s earliest compositions, the International Mozarteum Foundation revealed while presenting the pieces in Mozart’s native Salzburg.

“We have here the first orchestral movement by the young Mozart — even though the orchestral parts are missing — and therefore it’s an extremely important missing link in our understanding of Mozart’s development as a young composer,” Mozarteum’s research leader, Ulrich Leisinger, said.

Mozart, who was born in 1756, began playing the keyboard at age 3 and composing at 5. By the time he died of rheumatic fever on Dec. 5, 1791, he had written more than 600 pieces.

Leisinger said Mozart likely wrote the two newly attributed pieces when he was 7 or 8 years old, with his father, Leopold, transcribing the notes as his son played them at the keyboard.

A series of analyses confirmed the writing as Leopold’s, and at the time Mozart was not yet versed in musical notation. But Leopold himself was ruled out as the author of the pieces based on stylistic scrutiny, the Mozarteum said in a statement.

“There are obvious discrepancies between the technical virtuosity and a certain lack of compositional experience,” it said.

At Sunday’s presentation at the Mozart residence, Austrian musician Florian Birsak, an expert on early keyboard music, played the two pieces on the maestro’s own fortepiano for a throng of reporters, photographers and camera crews.

Both works were identified as part of a larger investigation of the foundation’s Mozart-related materials, including letters, documents and more than 100 music manuscripts — some in the hand of the composer, others transcribed by contemporaries.

While “Nannerl’s Music Book” has been in the foundation’s hands for more than a century, the pieces were considered anonymous creations until Leisinger and his team took a closer look.

“These two pieces struck us because they were so extravagant,” Leisinger said, adding that the two works share a number of similarities but that the prelude — believed to have been written after the concerto movement — was “much more refined.”

“One could almost get the impression that Leopold said to his son, ‘look, you’ve written this crazy concerto movement, try to do it better, a little bit more concise,’ and as a result we ended up with this prelude-like movement,” he said.

Posthumous discoveries of Mozart pieces are rare but not unheard of.

In September, Leisinger announced that a French library had found a previously unknown piece handwritten by Mozart.

That work, described as the preliminary draft of a musical composition, was found in Nantes, in western France, as library staff members went through its archives. Leisinger said the library contacted his foundation for help authenticating the work.

The latest finds add “important details” to what we know about the young Mozart’s work, said Christoph Wolff, professor of music history at Harvard University, who is also director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig, Germany.

“The Salzburg discovery offers significant insight into the earliest accomplishments of Mozart,” Wolff said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The Salzburg-based foundation, established in 1880 and a prime source for Mozart-related matters, seeks to preserve the composer’s heritage and find new approaches for analyzing him.

• International Mozarteum Foundation: http://www.mozarteum.at/

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Music superstar Paul McCartney is rocking out at FedEx Field Saturday night and, since he’s near the White House, Sir Paul gave a special tribute to first lady Michelle Obama: Before playing the Beatles classic, “Michelle”, McCartney told the packed audience that he was dedicating it to the first lady.

Considering that the song’s lyrics include “I love you, I love you, I love you / That’s all I want to say” and “I need to make you see / What you mean to me”, it’s high praise indeed.

As recently as 2007, guitarist Daryl Stuermer was standing onstage in Rome, Italy performing with prog-rock legends Genesis. The band was playing to what was arguably the largest crowd ever gathered for a rock concert – 500,000 people. Stuermer told the Daily Times this week that he, Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford couldn’t see the end of this mass of humanity.

Watertown’s Riverfest venue will obviously be much smaller when Stuermer plays it Aug. 6, but that only means the audience will be treated to a more intimate show the guitarist said he is excited to present. Stuermer plans to perform many original compositions from his recent solo albums when he comes to Watertown, along with select instrumental interpretations of Genesis classics. He made it clear he is putting considerable thought and effort into preparing for the show.

A polar opposite of the over-the-top production of a Genesis concert, Stuermer said he will bring stripped-down production and a bare-bones band comprised of Russian keyboard player Kostia and bass player Eric Hervey to Riverside Park. It will be an excellent opportunity to witness the complex musicianship of Stuermer, who has long been one of the state’s most accomplished and respected guitarists.

Stuermer has been a mainstay on the Milwaukee music scene for decades. He got his start after being exposed to the music of The Ventures, Elvis and The Beatles as a boy growing up in St. Francis. Stuermer took up guitar at age 11, and as a teenager studied the solos of jazz guitarists including Howard Roberts, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, his influences soon became Jimi Hendrix, Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin. He said he is also a fan of blues guitarists Albert and B.B. King, and Eric Clapton.

Stuermer said this week he was “discovered,” in a club in Milwaukee in 1975 by George Duke. Duke was keyboardist with Frank Zappa’s band, which was on tour at that time. Duke stopped into the club and ended up jamming with Stuermer and his band, Sweetbottom.

Later that year, Duke recommended Stuermer for an audition in Los Angeles with jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. At age 22, Stuermer went on his first world tour and recorded four albums with Ponty.

“I just don’t think that would happen in the music business today,” Stuermer said of the sort of networking from which he so richly benefited in the 1970s.

In December of 1977, Stuermer’s good fortune continued when he met with Genesis member Mike Rutherford in New York City to audition for the role of guitarist/bassist for the upcoming “And Then There Were Three” tour. This began a 32-year relationship with Genesis that continues to this day, placing Stuermer firmly in the international spotlight.

When Genesis singer/drummer Collins formed his own group in 1982, he selected Stuermer as lead guitarist and made him a permanent, touring, recording member. In addition to touring, Stuermer has played on all of Collins’ solo albums and shares writing credits on numerous Grammy-winning albums. Stuermer has co-written “Something Happened On the Way To Heaven,” “I Don’t Wanna Know,” “Doesn’t Anybody Stay Together Anymore,” and “Only You Know and I Know,” with Collins.

In between touring with Genesis and The Phil Collins Band, Stuermer began writing and working on his own music. After finishing a 1987 Genesis tour, he took the opportunity to record his first solo instrumental album, “Steppin’ Out” on GRP Records.

The 1990s brought a diversity of experiences to Stuermer’s career as a writer, producer and performer and he said he believes his participation in the 2007 European and U.S. Genesis reunion tour was among the most valuable and interesting experiences of his musical career.

“When you are in a band as long as I was in Genesis – 1992 was the last time we had played together – when you get back to playing with the band again you realize how much fun you had,” he said. “They didn’t do the reunion tour for money, every moment we had onstage we cherished. We’re older now and we don’t take it for granted. We played better than ever before on that tour and the music really inspired us. We noticed how much we missed that bonding of friends.”

A 3-disc Genesis’ DVD titled “When In Rome,” was released in 2008 and depicts Stuermer’s performance during the band’s 2007 show at the Cirrco Massimo, which was attended by a half-million people. Stuermer said another Genesis tour is possible, but there are no plans for one at this time. For now, he said he is enjoying his time in the recording studio, fine-tuning his own songs and working on rearranging Genesis compositions as instrumentals he will present in Watertown.

Stuermer takes the Riverfest stage Aug. 6 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.

BYBLOS: “Finally Jethro Tull in Lebanon,” read one flapping banner, “… We’ve been waiting 35 years.” For the legendary band’s first performance in the Middle East, the waterfront venue of the Byblos International Festival was literally swarming with legions of fans. Hippies, burly motorcyclists, the young and the prim – those who turned up for Sunday’s concert were as colorfully varied as the music they came to enjoy. As the assembled reluctantly took their seats – incongruous at a rock concert – the air was heavy with impatient excitement. Steadily, the sound of thumping feet grew to a maddening roar. The pied pipers of Byblos had arrived.

Now 61 years old, Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson still exudes some of the iconic magic remembered fondly by older fans. Though no longer clad in the dark green leotards of his elvin youth, and though his agility may have been hindered by the onset of septuagenarian arthritis, Anderson did manage to revive his past stage presence, albeit a more subdued version.

Replacing his time-honored method of hopping ecstatically across the stage, the ageing flautist now settled for fleeting flamingo poses and what could be best described as half-arsed attempts at jumping jacks.

While Anderson’s cautious antics may have left some feeling a trifle disappointed, others recalled that a whopping 41 years have passed since Jethro Tull released their first album, “This Was.” The rockers went on to produce 23 more records, often at a rate of one a year. So it’s only natural that time has hindered Anderson’s ability to strike notes – indeed that he often he missed them completely. On the flute, however, the instrument that defines him, Anderson was still as good as ever, if not better.

Unlike some of his rock’n’roll contemporaries, Anderson is comically aware of the weight of the years. Bringing the extended flute intro of “My God” to an abrupt end, he feigned geriatric injury from overexertion, drawing fits of laughter from the crowd.

After a song from Jethro Tull’s debut album, Anderson stared into the crowd and said with a serious face, “Now something a little more recent … from 1969.” His irony, combined with bouts of chatty monologue on topics ranging from his son’s latest TV performance to Henry XIII’s penchant for chopping off his wives’ heads, created a nostalgic rapport struck by a meeting of old friends.

Indeed, the rogue flautist chose to introduce several songs with lively conversation, offering up witty retrospections upon the band’s history and influences. Homage was paid to jazz musician Ray Swinfield before a performance of “Serenade to a Cuckoo,” the first song Anderson learned to play on the flute. Later, he provoked yet more mirth by self-deprecatingly introducing the band’s rendition of “Bouree,” an instrumental piece inspired by Johan Sebastian Bach’s “Suite in E Minor for Lute,” as their “best attempt to completely ruin it.”

Unfortunately, the lethargy of guitarist Martin Barre and bassist David Goodier dampened Anderson’s efforts. The silver-haired musicians hardly moved throughout the performance, as firmly rooted to the ground as the ruins looming up behind them.

In a subtle overture, which only the most astute of fans got, Anderson alluded to ‘Heavy Horses,” a hit from the band’s 1978 album of the same name. “Some years ago,” he quipped in his crystalline, story-teller’s voice, “I used to be the proud owner of two Ford tractors, two combine harvesters and, of course, a seed drill.” He referred to a certain Mr. Jethro Tull, the band’s namesake, the 18th-century agriculturist who invented the then-revolutionary seed drill.

Despite Anderson’s penchant for agriculture (he owns a salmon farm in Scotland), he did not choose the name. In a twist of fate only fit for rock’n roll, it was coined by the band’s agent ahead of a London gig. When the musicians were unexpectedly invited to perform at the venue a second time, the band had no other choice but to keep the name.

If a traditional rock concert was what the crowd was after, that is what they got. After a tongue-in-cheek warning by Anderson that there would be no return to the indulgent and prolonged percussion sequences that so characterized the music of the 1970s provoked boos from the crowd, he conceded to “a teensy-weensy drum solo.”

For drummer Marc Mondesir, that translated into a three-and-a-half-minute frenzy during the band’s performance of “Dharma for One.” At one point, Mondesir beat away so furiously that his arms resembled the wings of a dragonfly, sending a cymbal hurtling to the floor. Such stupendous energy was easily a highlight of the concert and would have dissipated any bouts of boredom that could have arisen in the audience beforehand.

Though wildly shortened for the 90 minute set, each Jethro Tull song was its own metaphor for the band’s progression, its own epic journey across space and time. Here we linger through emerald fields of enchanted flute solos, caught somewhere between the Renaissance and Neverland; there, we are plunged into the roaring, crashing ocean of 20th-century rock’n’roll. Just as suddenly, we are lulled back into a false sense of security by feathery jazz ballads, before once again being tossed back into the stormy seas.

At the end of all this tumultuous instrumental insanity, the audience sat, gob-smacked at the fact that, for a moment, a mere mortal in a black and grey waistcoat blowing on a shiny pipe can make all the unpredictable, unintelligible fragments of our world seem so magical. Who cares if he’s got grey hair? – With Kristen Hope

If you’re old enough to remember “The Partridge Family” and young enough to remember it fondly — which means you’re in your mid-40s and can recite the Echo Valley phone number — then you might enjoy Tuesday night’s pilot episode of “Ruby & the Rockits” on ABC Family.

It stars the half brothers David and Patrick Cassidy as the brothers David and Patrick Gallagher, former rock stars who are now a suburban car-dealer dad (Patrick) and an oldies act in a casino lounge (David, spoofing his own “Partridge Family” persona). Patrick’s brothers, Shaun (executive producer) and Ryan (set designer), are also involved. The United Auto Workers could learn something from the Cassidy family.

“Ruby & the Rockits” is technically a vehicle for the 20-year-old Alexa Vega of the “Spy Kids” movies, who plays Ruby, the 15-year-old daughter David Gallagher didn’t know he had. Her sudden appearance, and David’s fobbing off of her on Patrick — who already has a perky-sarcastic wife (Katie Amanda Keane) and two sons (Austin Butler, as a dopey emo heartthrob, and Kurt Doss, as the cynical younger child, both fairly funny) — sets the stage for an ’80s-style sitcom in the great tradition of “My Two Dads” and “Full House.”

But the reason to watch, if there is one, is Cassidy nostalgia. Their performances aren’t much more than competent — Patrick, a Broadway and television veteran, hits his marks; David exhibits an ability to time a joke, though the tightness of his face hurts his delivery. The show’s best moments are the brothers’ old Rockits videos (sample title: “Chunnel of Love”), for which the two don spandex and huge blond wigs. “Ruby” is clearly meant to be a showcase for Ms. Vega’s own singing, but she needs to talk to her manager: the Rockits songs are far more fun than the anemic pop ballads she is given.

The first episode has some verve, most likely the contribution of the show’s other executive producer, Marsh McCall (“Just Shoot Me”); it’s certainly better than “ ’Til Death,” to mention one show that’s returning to a network schedule this fall. Episodes 2 and 3 sag considerably, though. (They also carry on an icky subplot in which Mr. Butler’s character has a crush on his cousin Ruby, which needs to be resolved soon.)

One thing that could liven up the series seems too obvious to mention: an appearance by Shirley Jones, “Partridge Family” star, stepmother of David and mother of the other three Cassidys. Based on her recent guest spot on “The Cleaner,” in which she played an alcoholic who bares her 75-year-old breasts in public, she’s still going strong.

RUBY & THE ROCKITS

ABC Family, Tuesday nights at 8:30, Eastern and Pacific times; 7:30, Central time.

Story by Shaun Cassidy and Ed Yeager; teleplay by Mr. Yeager and Marsh McCall; Mr. Cassidy and Mr. McCall, executive producers; Al Lowenstein, producer; music produced by Eve Nelson and Jay Gruska; Jim Roberson, director of photography; Michael Hynes, production designer; edited by Peter Beyt; casting by Barbara Stordahl and Angela Terry.

WITH: Alexa Vega (Ruby Gallagher), Patrick Cassidy (Patrick Gallagher), Katie Amanda Keane (Audie Gallagher), Austin Butler (Jordan Gallagher), Kurt Doss (Ben Gallagher) and David Cassidy (David Gallagher).

NEW YORK – Paul McCartney sat in with Billy Joel last year at the last concert ever at Shea Stadium, and Joel returned the favor on Friday, joining the ex-Beatle at the first concert at the building that has replaced Shea, Citi Field.

Joel, taking time out from his own tour with Elton John, took the stage during the encores, singing and playing muscular piano licks on the old Beatles song, “I Saw Her Standing There.” The two Rock and Roll Hall of Famers high-fived before the song, and hugged after it.

McCartney, 67, alluded several times throughout the evening to his appearances with Beatles at Shea Stadium, in the ’60s, and playfully mentioned how loudly the girls screamed at that shows, in order to get the women in Friday’s crowd to do the same. This became something of a running joke.

It rained through much of the show – quite heavily at times – but McCartney and his sharp four-piece backing band were flawless, playing everything from Beatles classics to songs from McCartney’s recent albums with boundless enthusiasm. There was lots of lean, driving rock ‘n’ roll (“Lady Madonna,” “Back In the U.S.S.R.,” “Day Tripper”) in this show, and plenty of of timeless ballads (“Yesterday,” “Hey Jude,” “The Long and Winding Road”). “A Day In the Life” segued into “Give Peace a Chance,” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” into “The End” (the final portion of the “Abbey Road” medley).

There were fireworks during “Live and Let Die.” McCartney dedicated the sweet “My Love” to his late wife Linda, and “Hey Jude” became a massive singalong. “Let Me Roll It” was extended with a fiery jam that McCartney described as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix.

McCartney played a ukulele that the late George Harrison gave him, as he sang Harrison’s “Something.” He also performed his affectionate tribute to the late John Lennon, “Here Today.”

McCartney will play Citi Field again, tonight and Tuesday. But as Joel has his own stadiums shows, with Elton John, both those nights – tonight in Foxborough, Mass., and Tuesday in Chicago – another cameo is impossible.

Here is Friday’s setlist:
“Drive My Car”
“Jet”
“Only Mama Knows”
“Flaming Pie”
“Got To Get You Into My Life”
“Let Me Roll It”
“Highway”
“The Long and Winding Road”
“My Love”
“Blackbird”
“Here Today”
“Dance Tonight”
“Calico Skies”
“Mrs. Vanderbilt”
“Eleanor Rigby”
“Sing the Changes ”
“Band on the Run”
“Back in the U.S.S.R.”
“I’m Down”
“Something”
“I’ve Got a Feeling”
“Paperback Writer”
“A Day in the Life”/”Give Peace a Chance”
“Let It Be”
“Live and Let Die”
“Hey Jude”

Encores
“Day Tripper”
“Lady Madonna”
“I Saw Her Standing There (with Billy Joel)
“Yesterday”
“Helter Skelter”
“Get Back”
“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)”/”The End”