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SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
15 May 1996
JUMP GROUNDS JETHRO
Jethro Tull have cancelled the rest of their tour in Australia and the whole of the European tour which was to have followed.
Vocalist and flautist Ian Anderson fell and hurt his leg while performing in Lima Peru, about nine weeks ago, a spokesperson for Melbourne promoter Paul Dainty said. Anderson is now in hospital in Sydney.
The accident occurred while he was jumping around on stage "in his inimitable way."
He mistook his jump during a leap that accompanies the final notes of the song 'Budapest' and landed on his left knee, tearing ligaments and cartilage.
In a statement, Anderson is quoted as saying:
"I've been doing that leap in concert for 10 years and don't even think about it. I'm afraid I should have thought about it at that show though, because a concert stage is always a potentially dangerous workplace and this rather small one had shifted about half an inch and the result, for me anyway, was extremely painful."
Nevertheless, Tull went on to perform a dozen or so concerts in major cities in the United States and the reviews they received were among the strongest the band has generated.
He returned to London for surgery and his doctors cleared him for his Australian tour.
However, he felt unwell when he arrived in Sydney. He has only been able to get around on crutches and in a wheelchair, the spokesperson said.
He performed in Canberra on Saturday and was "uncomfortable". As scheduled, the show also went ahead at the State Theatre on Sunday night but Anderson was feeling "very unwell" and doctors treating him here said he "never should have come."
Monday and yesterday's shows in Sydney have been cancelled as well as the rest of his Australian tour, which was to have taken in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth over the next two weeks.
Tull's European tour has been cancelled as well and the spokesperson said that Anderson would be out of action for about a year.
STEVE JACOBS