Jethro Tull Unveils 2023 Seven Decades Tour and the Norse Mythology Behind 23rd Album ‘RökFlöte’

Jethro Tull has revealed their 2023 U.S. tour in support of the prog band’s upcoming 23rd album RökFlöte (Rock Flute), out April 21.

Christened the Seven Decades Tour, the band will kick off shows on Aug. 18th in Highland Park, Illinois, and work their way around the U.S before wrapping up in Albany, New York on Nov. 4. Still led by longtime founding frontman Ian Anderson, the current band also consists of guitarist Joe Parrish-James, bassist David Goodier, keyboardist John O’Hara, and drummer Scott Hammond.

RökFlöte follows Jethro Tull’s 2022 release, The Zealot Gene, which gave the band their first Top 10 album in the U.K. for 50 years, and was inspired by Norse mythology, and started off with more instrumental “rock flute” music.

“I started with the idea of a predominantly instrumental album for rock flute–as in rock music,” said Anderson of the concept behind the album. “When the subject material of the album presented itself, I was drawn to the term Ragnarok from Norse mythology, their version of apocalyptic end times or biblical armageddon. The ‘final showdown’ scenario is ubiquitous and inherent in Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, for example.

Anderson continued, “Ragnarok translates as ‘destiny of the Gods,’ the ‘rok’ part meaning destiny, course, direction. With umlaut firmly in place, courtesy of the Germanic origins of old Norse, Flute became ‘flote’ in keeping with the spelling. … I just can’t miss the glorious opportunity for a good and legitimate umlaut.”

Elaborating on the third RökFlöte single, “Hammer on Hammer,” Anderson said “The track takes inspiration from the god Thor, [an] loyal and honorable warrior who wears a powerful symbolic belt and wields a hammer. His mortal enemy & nemesis was Jormungand the sea-serpent.

The previous single, “The Navigators,” explores the Norse god Njord, who was the god of wealth, fertility, the sea, and seafaring, while “Ginnungagap,” which was accompanied by an animated video created by artist Costin Chioreanu, was inspired by god Ymir, “the proto-being, a primeval being, who was born from venom that dripped from the icy rivers called the Élivágar and lived in the grassless void of Ginnungagap,” according to a descriptor by the band.

Jethro Tull, The Seven Decades 2023 U.S. Tour

Aug. 18 – Highland Park, Ill. @ Ravina Festival
Aug. 19 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
Aug. 20 – Huber Heights, Ohio @ Rose Music Center at The Heights
Aug. 22 – Cincinnati, Ohio @ PNC Pavilion at Riverbend
Aug. 24 – Vienna, Va. @ Wolf Trap
Sept. 26 – San Diego, Calif. @ The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park
Sept. 27 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Greek Theatre
Sept. 29 – Lincoln, Calif. @ Thunder Valley Casino Resort
Sept. 30 – Saratoga, Calif. @ The Mountain Winery
Oct. 1 – Santa Rosa, Calif. @ Luther Burbank Center for the Arts – Ruth Finley Person Theater
Oct. 27 – Hampton, N.H. @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom
Oct. 28 – Boston, Mass. @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Oct. 29 – Uncasville, Conn. @ Mohegan Sun Arena
Nov. 1 – New York, N.Y. @ Beacon Theatre
Nov. 2 – Port Chester, N.Y. @ The Capitol Theatre
Nov. 4 – Albany, N.Y. @ Palace Theatre

RökFlöte Track Listing:

1. “Voluspo”
2. “Ginnungagap”
3. “Allfather”
4. “The Feathered Consort”
5. “Hammer On Hammer”
6. “Wolf Unchained”
7. “The Perfect One”
8. “Trickster (And The Mistletoe)”
9. “Cornucopia”
10. “The Navigators”
11. “Guardian’s Watch”
12. “Ithavoll”

Photo: Assunta Opahle / Chipster PR and Consulting