The Tea Party @ Ulrich City Courtyard, Lockport, New York 8-24-12

The last installment of the 2012 LaBatt Concert Series in Lockport, NY welcomed Canada’s own The Tea Party to officially close out this year’s run. This is the 2nd year in a row they played and they still garnered a massive crowd like last year. In fact, vocalist Jeff Martin quipped “Did you miss us?” He then answered by saying “well… we missed you” as the band went into the opening of “The River.”

The trio of Martin, along with bassist Stuart Chatwood and drummer Jeff Burrows, rocked Lockport with a 13 song set. Some songs were extended to play snippets of some popular classic rock songs but overall, a masterful performance was turned in by the band. Martin was front and center and at times you could have felt you were watching the Jeff Martin show. He took over on a few songs playing various instruments including the sitar and bow on “Save Me.” He also played around with the theremin after the tune “The Bazaar.” A double neck was used by Martin on “Heaven Coming Down, ” and he introduced “Last Goodbye” by saying “This song made us shitloads!” as the band started to play the first few notes of the song. Lots of mid eastern tempos were included throughout the set especially on “Save Me.” As noted previously, Martin pulled out the sitar for it.

As Jeff upheld the rockstar showmanship throughout the performance, Chatwood and Burrows were content on holding down the fort to let Martin shine. In witnessing him perform solo in the past, as well as part of this trio, Martin may be the spice, but Chatwood and Burrows are additional key ingredients and all together, they make a very palatable recipe!

Set List:

The River
The Bazaar
Lullaby
Psychopomp
Correspondent
The Last Goodbye (Jeff Buckley cover)
Fire in the Head
Sun Going Down
Halcyon Days
Save Me
Heaving Coming Down (All Along the Watchtower –Jimi Hendrix and Stairway to Heaven –Led Zeppelin snippets)
Release
Temptation