Review: Canterbury Rocks, Canterbury Cathedral, Saturday, December 10

by Keith Hunt

It's not often the words rock or pop music and Canterbury Cathedral can be uttered in the same sentence.

And it's not every day you can see legends such as Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, The Moody Blues' Justin Hayward and Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson performing together in the hallowed nave.

It happened for the first time on Saturday and followed last year's inaugural concert at the 900-year-old cathedral staged by The Canterbury Gift charity to raise funds for the conservation programme.

Despite snow bringing chaos to the county last year it was a sell-out and more than £20,000 went into the pot with Anderson as the front man and Greg Lake, of Emerson, Lake and Palmer fame, topping the guest list.

With an even bigger treasure chest of talent on the bill this year it was no surprise that the show sold out some time ago.

Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord was to have been another top tier guest, but had to pull out because of ill-health.

The 1,100-strong "congregation" at Canterbury Rocks at Christmas still had plenty to rejoice about with carols, Tull classics, Hayward/Moodys gems and more eccentrically Dickinson's heavy rock treatment of Jerusalem.

As the little man with the big voice, who has a day job as an airline captain and at 53 is the youngster of the trio, said it was the popular hymn as you've never heard it before and probably won't hear it again.

Anderson, who describes himself as somewhere between a deist and pantheist, recruited his son-in-law Andrew Lincoln, the actor known for his roles as Egg in TV's This Life and the movie Love Actually, to punctuate the music with a reading.

Author and BBC political analyst Gavin Esler, who studied at Kent University, and Hayward also stepped up to the lectern with some words of wisdom.

Anderson, who was at the vanguard of progressive rock in the 60s and 70s, showed he still retains enough suppleness for his trademark trick of standing on one leg, the other forming a triangle with the foot rhythmically tapping his knee, as he demonstrates his flautist flair.

Backed by John O'Hara (keyboards), David Goodier (bass guitar), Florian Opahle (guitar) and Scott Hammond (drums), still impish Anderson wrapped his distinctive vocals around all manner of styles with a sprinkling of stripped down Tull, including Aqualung from the best-selling 1971 album of the same name.

Opahle deserves a special mention too for his guitar solo on Bach's Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor accompanied by Anderson's "flutter tonguing."

Hayward, now 65 but still pure of voice, brought a smooth change of style with the ethereal Nights in White Satin, with Anderson supplying the haunting flute, and Forever Autumn from Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds.

Dickinson's voice went echoing into the lofty ceiling for his turn before all three belted out another Tull treasure, Locomotive Breath, for the encore.

It sent us all out into the chill night with a warm glow and the hope that Canterbury Rocks will continue to be an annual affair.