Fate has never been a mistress that it's wise to put a lot of faith in. She has too many flaws to ever be considered reliable; fate is fickle, often late and regularly gives those who pin some hope in her only what they need instead of what they want. Fate can be frustrating because of those things but, as capricious as she can be, sometimes she comes through and makes good in all the right ways too. She certainly came through on the dark and stormy night of November 28, 2011 when The Tea Party formally announced their return to full-time, active duty to the ecstatic crowd assembled at Elements Nightclub in Kitchener, Ontario.
The night of the announcement was set up in such a peculiar way that it's unlikely anyone knew what to expect. After a solid (but – let's face it – forgettable) set from Picton's The Reason, The Tea Party boarded the stage and felt the air vanish as it was sucked out of the room by the assembled crowd – who all seemed to gasp at once in anticipation. Their apprehension was understandable; after all, The Tea Party had been out of circulation for six years (bassist Stuart Chatwood had gone on to score video games in that time while drummer Jeff Burrows had joined the all-star flop Crash Karma and singer/guitarist had pursued a solo career) and, even with a few shows already well-received before this as a warm-up, no one in the crowd had ruled out the possibility of this performance being a colossal flop quite yet.
After one more moment to let the audience hang from a cliff a little longer, The Tea Party broke into “The River” to open their set. In that moment, it was actually possible to feel the room refill with air as a collective sigh of relief escaped the audience. Then the band spontaneously combusted and fans just erupted with approval.
With a combination of poetic grace and incendiary passion, The Tea Party wowed those in attendance as the band walked through “The Bazaar” for the first time in over half a decade, and showed no age or rust as they did it. It was the kind of beginning that some fans hadn't seen since the turn of the century, and some had simply never seen at all; in better shape than they had been in on the tours in support of 2001's Interzone Mantras and 2004's Seven Circles, The Tea Party just exploded vibrantly as they showcased their own unique brand of Moroccan Roll, untarnished with time.
It was a great start to their set certainly, but a few souls in the audience held back their enthusiasm. No small number of bands have been known to come back over the last couple of years at the smell of a dollar, only to viciously re-open fans' old scars when the easy money dries up and the band evaporates again. As strong and vital as The Tea Party appeared to be at the outset of this show, that's why some members of the audience weren't falling under the spell, and they didn't – until the band paused to bid their audience good evening and Jeff Martin let the secret slip:
“The Tea Party is back for good.”
At the definitive announcement of the band's return, the size of the cheer which went up was remarkable. In the last year, plenty of bands have generated excitement at Elements, but none in recent memory generated the size of the sound that the words “back for good” did. That reassurance was what every ear in the room needed to hear, and was all the excuse they needed to give themselves over to the band. After that, the audience drank in a set focused on The Tea Party's two largest records – Splendour Solis and The Edges Of Twilight – but which also featured passing glances toward 1997's Transmission and 1999's Triptych albums. Classic moments like the mid-set break where Martin and Chatwood picked up acoustic guitars for performances of “Heaven Coming Down” and “Sun Going Down” (with bits of The Velvet Underground's “Walk On The Wild Side” and Led Zeppelin's “Nobody Fault But Mine” woven in) were worked through just as they had been a decade and a half ago and it truly did feel incredible for those on the receiving end because not only did each moment feel genuine but, for the first time since the early Nineties, it actually looked like the band was having fun onstage; a lighthearted vibe endured even through some of the band's heaviest songs. Those heavy songs (most notably “Save Me” “Fire In The Head” and “Release”) came with greater regularity as the set progressed, but each only served to build the intensity of the show and the band ended on a spectacular high point with “Temptation” before leaving the stage. It was great, but not one soul in the room moved after the set ended; there would be an encore, and the audience would stand for nothing less. When the band members returned and began running about the stage playing as many instruments as they could lay their hands on, they knew what was coming, and when Martin finally settled with his trademark double-necked Gibson SG for “Sister Awake” (replete with a piece of “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones worked in) it was a powerful moment, the likes of which are not often seen anymore in a theater rock show; epic and grandiose, it was the only place this show could end. It was a powerful climax to a great performance and, as they left, everyone at the show knew what they'd seen: they'd seen the return of one of the greatest rock bands to emerge out of Canada in twenty years but, not only that, they'd seen the return of a band truly willing to put forth the effort to be back and not just appear to be adored. I'm sure I speak for everyone in attendance at The Tea Party's show at Elements in Kitchener when I say that I can't wait to see them again.
Artist:
www.teaparty.com/
www.myspace.com/theteaparty
www.facebook.com/theteaparty
Photos:
Photographer Mike Good's photo essay of The Tea Party's performance at Elements Nightclub in Kitchener, Ontario.
