The Tea Party @ Norwood Concert Hall, Norwood SA 18/6/2024
Tuesday night and all signs point to Norwood Concert Hall to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of our favourite Canadians The Tea Party and their classic album TRIPtych. Outside of Canada without a shadow of a doubt Australia would be their home away from home (even Jeff Martin is a permanent resident here now). The great man Jeff Martin acknowledged that it was a “long time between drinks” last here in 2019. So fair to say there was a bit of making up to do and getting reacquainted with Adelaide fans of The Tea Party.
The charm of Norwood Concert Hall is not lost on fans but no doubt would have been a challenge mixing the sound and working the production in this venue. Seats? Seriously? It was a bit unusual to walk in and sit down to experience The Tea Party when the inclination was to stand. Nevertheless, this was an elite performance by Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows and was exactly what you would expect from a show by this awesome band.
With the spotlight on TRIP]tych the band tore their way through opening tune The Halcyon Days then on to fan favourite The Bazaar with Martin saying “let’s play rock ‘n roll, stand up!” Underground was another cut from their classic album and was about the secrets of a better life and the search we got through in life. The song morphed in to Lou Reed’s Walk On The Wild Side. The covers is something that The Tea Party are renowned for and tonight was no different. Psychopomp was great and Martin took another moment to reflect on the celebration which were “good so far” with its ups and downs, entries and exits, with The Messenger dedicated to a close friend who’s relative had passed.
Martin spoke of his darkest version of Waltzing Matilda which was a segue in to the Rocky and Bullwinkle moment saying “it’s about to happen” playing what was touted as his proudest achievement with The Tea Party playing the song Gone. Equally These Living Arms from TRIPtych was stellar. It was another quotable quote with Martin saying “a wise man said you can’t have the light without the darkness, here comes the darkness” ploughing through Save Me which featured Samsara.
Talking about what Martin thought would be their first number one and how excited he was with that rock riff leading to that proud moment which would prove that. That was song was Heaven’s Coming Down, incredible moment, with a segue in to U2’s With Or Without You which the crowd went nuts for. There is something in Martin’s comment that as the years pass the legend grows and stories are misconstrued given fans something to ponder. Leaving the stage Martin encouraged the crowd to make plenty of noise to get them to return for an encore.
The encore was definitely the icing on the cake starting with Winter Solstice and the epic finish on Sister Awake topped off with The Rolling Stones Paint It Black and David Bowie’s Heroes to bring a great night to end leaving Adelaide with the statement “We are your Tea Party, always have, always will be”.
Live Review By Rob Lyon