We carved out some time between our intense, scary Halloween movie schedule in order to attend a concert. Several months back, Andrew and I had seen a bulletin board advertising that Jethro Tull was going to be in Guimarães in October. It just seemed like one of those opportunities we shouldn’t pass up. I mentioned the concert to Jorge and he was also interested in attending. This past summer he retired from teaching, sold his apartment in Olhão, and purchased a cute little camper in France. He found a lovely piece of land near Gêres National Park and is in the midst of arranging construction of a new house, which is expected to take several years. In the meantime he is living in his camper at an amazing campground in Fafe, which is a 10 minute drive from where we live. We were all delighted to be neighbors once again!

Even though we aren’t superfans of Jethro Tull I was definitely looking forward to hearing “Aqualung” in person and I almost always enjoy hearing live music. I don’t know a ton of their songs, but I do know the band had been around since way before my time and that they have a very distinct sound mainly because of the way the front man ROCKS a flute.

We pregamed with Jorge at our house with a bottle of wine and a light dinner of homemade Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup (we froze half of it for our upcoming Thanksgiving feast). Quite a few of our older and wiser Portuguese friends are huge proponents of soup for dinner and they swear by it for health. Back in our Olhão days after many a lunch out with Jorge at Café Bianca, he would place a to go order of soup for dinner. After our Portuguese inspired meal, we headed to the Pavilhão Multiusos de Guimarães.

This huge event center has a very modern green reflective exterior and sits in stark contrast to surrounding agricultural fields and pastoral views. We hadn’t actually set foot inside the Pavilion before, but we had seen it many times because it is visible on our walking route to Hospital da Luz.

We were running a bit late since we had enjoyed our dinner at a leisurely pace and also didn’t account for finding parking. Fortunately everyone seemed to be in the same boat as we joined a multitude of people entering the building. I was surprised to see a sold out crowd for this concert. I was also a bit nervous because this was the first concert Andrew and I had suggested. Normally Jorge selects the music events we attend. Hopefully we made a good choice.

We found our seats on the main floor and the concert began shortly thereafter. While the band played there was a massive graphic display of old footage from Jethro Tull concerts in the 60’s and 70’s mixed with more recent candid footage and Monty Pythonesque animation. It was extremely engaging and a perfect mix of antique and contemporary.

The band has been around for almost 6 decades and you could tell that the frontman has struggled with some level of a medical issue when he sings. Some of the lyrics were difficult to understand, but the most incredible part was that the instrumental executions were flawless. If you closed your eyes, I doubt you would detect any difference in the music even if you were one of their biggest fans. Many of the songs are political in nature, and they are still making new music. It was a truly enjoyable and inspiring event. I couldn’t help but be impressed that these musicians still have a creative well to draw from for current, relevant art after all these years. I left the concert vowing to hold on to the things I’m passionate about well into my elder years.