PROGRESSIVE Rock pioneer Ian Anderson will be bring his 'Jethro Tull – The Rock Opera’ to a West Midlands venue next week.

Honouring the 18th century English agriculturalist after which the band was named back in 1968, the shows tell the story of the original Jethro Tull's life, reimagined as if in the near future.

Not only will the setlist for the show include many songs that Anderson found to be natural parallels with Tull’s life story - like Wind Up, Heavy Horses, Aqualung, Back to the Family, Farm on the Freeway and Songs from the Wood to name a few - the performance will be more brought to life as it is illustrated with Anderson's best-known material from the repertoire of the rock band Jethro Tull.

There's even more involved for the audience at Birmingham's Symphony Hall on Friday, September 11, as Anderson has also designed his show with sung links between the songs.

He said: "Instead of spoken introductions to the songs in the show, there will be the use of that operatic device, the 'recitative', where the links are made by short sung vocal segments in a usually-simple musical backdrop, making it a little easier and more entertaining for non-English-speaking audiences."

Performing with Ian Anderson will be David Goodier on bass, John O’Hara on keyboards, Florian Opahle on guitar, and Scott Hammond on drums, plus some ‘virtual guests’ on a big HD video screen.

For more information about the 7.30pm show, or tickets, which are priced between £27.50 and £32.50, visit jethrotull.com.