Last night was the second of three sold-out shows for the The Tea Party x I Mother Earth Canadian tour. Earlier this week, Apt613 featured a preview by writer Stephane Dubord, and last night I was there to take in night two — and grab some shots of two of my favourite Canadian alt-rock icons.
The night started out with a VIP acoustic set, with both bands working together to play a short set of stripped-down covers, including Indio’s “Hard Sun” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition”. Tea Party singer Jeff Martin joked that he told his wife when he was leaving his home in Australia, that he would do his best to avoid catching a Canadian cold, and that he had failed and had been making many visits to Shoppers Drug Mart seeking whatever remedy may work.
I Mother Earth tore through a fantastic set of classics from both the Dig and Scenery and Fish albums, such as “One More Astronaut” and “Rain Will Fall”, and they sounded even better than when I saw them in 2022. The band was tight and Edwin’s vocals were spot-on, which is no easy feat given the intensity and range of some of those songs. The whole band was amazing, but as a guitarist myself, I was mesmerized by guitarist Jag Tanna’s guitar tone and extended jams, accented by the incredible Christian Tanna on drums and Daniel Mansilla on percussion, with keyboardist Jesse Karwat adding a layer of sweet keys to the mix.
After a brief changeover, The Tea Party made their way to the stage, launching into “Writing’s On The Wall”. For a power trio, The Tea Party manage to make a massive sound with lots of layers, thanks to Stuart Chatwood’s double duty on keys/bass, Jeff Burrows’ insane drumming ability, and the wall of sound created by Jeff Martin’s guitars. For fans taking in more than one night of this run, there was some variation in the set between the first and second night, most notably the inclusion of one of my favourites, “Correspondences”, from the Edges of Twilight album. Their set was a mix of hits, including their #1 single “Heaven Coming Down”, which Martin explained he had written on a 12-string Rickenbacker he had purchased impulsively while waiting around on the set of their music video for the song “Release”. Martin made a point of bantering with the crowd between songs and said they were the best damn teleprompter around, as they enthusiastically helped carry the vocals as they sang along all night.
If you missed it, you missed a good one, and sadly Saturday night’s show is now sold out.
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