The Tea Party..concert review… The Tea Party-Barrymore’s, Ottawa, May 18, 1999
Rumour had it that The Tea Party were doing a mini-tour sponsored by Pepsi in which you had to win tickets off the radio. As
you can tell by this review, I did win tickets (Thank the Lord) and proceeded to the concert with my friend Donna.
Army Ants-At first, I never like this song but it is a great song if you feel it. It’s something that Jeff Martin puts so much emotion
into. Of course, he puts a lot of emotion into all his songs. I so close to the stage, that if I could get past the bouncer, I could
probably unplug his guitar. It was awe-inspriring.
Touch-He introduced this song as the first song off of the new album Triptych. It was a great songÖ.the guitar playing was
incredible and it had the powerful drum beat to it which could give you a headache after awhile. The response was great and he
smiled and said “That’s good, that’s good.”
Fire In The Head-The crowd starts up for this one. Nothing can beat any of the Edges of Twilight songs. So powerful they are.
This version was like the one I saw the last time.
Psychopomp-I think this is my favourite song by The Tea Party. It starts off lightly and then builds up to the ULTIMATE
climax. Such a beautiful song. Reminiscent of the version seen before, minus the orchestra. The lights set the mood greatly.
Underground-Another song off of Triptych, this song had a dark gloomy feel to it which might explain the name to it. A great
song with a catchy riff.
The Bazaar-Another great song off of Edges. Jeff rips into this one. Too much soloing for my eyes to handle!
Save Me-This was awesome! I didn’t think I would hear this song but it was too much. When he screams “Save meÖ”, it hits
something inside everyone around. Or they hit me, as many wild and crazy folks were doing.
Release-Very mellow song which was not unlike the album version except for a little added solo to it.
Temptation-The album version is tame in comparison to the live version. There is so much to it, and they throw in some great
solos which extend the song to a good 7 minutes. I love this song now after seeing it live.
Encore
Heaven Coming Down-The new single off of Triptych. I don’t mind this song, but I don’t think it’s the best either. He brought
out a cool guitar for it though. I should give the song credit though, I don’t think The Tea Party has a bad song.
Sister Awake-YES! Sister Awake! Everything was the same as the last concert I saw. I suppose if you’ve achieved perfection,
why mess with it? He started off with the acoustic, proceeded onto the drums along with Jeff and Stuart, then strapped on the
electric which blew me away.
Last thoughts-This guy changed guitars every song. Seriously! They were the same two guitars except for this one he played in
Heaven Coming Down. It was kind of funny but I think he uses different tunings all the time so he has to switch all the time. I
was impressed by the performance but disappointed that they did not play the River AND that they only played for an hour. I
suppose they will go all out this fall when they go on an extensive tour. Until thenÖ