Ian Anderson Announces ‘Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera’

Ian Anderson will celebrate Jethro Tull's esteemed namesake this fall with a new live show titled Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera.

Anderson made the announcement via Facebook, posting some artwork for the tour as well as some background information about a set list that purports to "tell the story of the original Jethro Tull’s life, reimagined as if in the near future and illustrated with Anderson’s best-known songs from the rock band Jethro Tull’s repertoire."

Tull, an agriculturalist born in the 17th century whose pioneering work with farming tools helped make the British Agricultural Revolution possible, will be honored with performances set in "a quasi-operatic structure" and featuring "virtual guests on video." Anderson's press release adds that he'll be debuting some new songs expressly written for the Rock Opera shows. Fans can also expect to hear catalog tracks such as "Heavy Horses," "Farm on the Freeway," "Songs from the Wood," "Aqualung," "Living in the Past, "Locomotive Breath," "A New Day Yesterday" and others, some of which will be performed with "slightly re-written lyrics to better tell the tale."

Specific dates and locations for "Jethro Tull: A Rock Opera" have yet to be announced, but Anderson's post says the tour will begin in the U.K., with dates in Russia, South America, and Europe to follow before the end of 2015. He'll round out the band with bassist David Goodier, keyboard player John O'Hara, guitarist Florian Opahle, and drummer Scott Hammond, along with "surprise virtual guests."