Jeff Martin in Concert

Well yesterday was the day I had been waiting for. My idol, Jeff Martin, formerly of The Tea Party, was up on stage doing his thang. It was awesome to see his versatility with his instruments. He played a lot of Tea Party, some solo stuff, and a lot from his new album with his new band, The Armada. The place was rockin and people were getting into it. There was a bar in the back so people were drinking it up and having a blast. I was completely sober though, maybe to my disadvantage. Ha no I'm just kidding, he was amazing! Almost always on pitch and just a really great voice, belting out the tunes straight to the end with no sign of degradation. He looked in good form too, maybe a little older but definitely not fat, as some say he was a few years ago (chunky was what they were saying on the blogs). One of his songs he pulled out the cello bow and played his guitar Jimmy Page style, pretty awesome. In another song he doubled his voice in lower registered so he sounded like he was singing possessed!

I have missed out on The Tea Party while they were still in their heyday, so this was sort of like making up for it. Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows weren't there, but it was almost like being at a concert of the former band. He really loves to dig into his back catalog and the audience was singing along to all the old favourites. He even somehow mixed John Lennon's Imagine, The Doors Five to One, and Paint it Black in there. I'm sure there were some other references as well but I think I forgot them.

The opening act would JUST NOT GO AWAY and people were getting restless. He kept repeating his name to us, but I've forgotten it by now. He was a guy from Melbourne and his style was a strange morbid country rock. Unique, I'll give him that, but after 3 songs I had had enough. Unfortunately he went on way over his welcome. He doesn't have a bad voice or anything it's just not my style, and neither was it anyone else's. The mid-act was a belly dancer girl dancing to some flute music, she was pretty good, but by that time everyone already wanted to see Jeff Martin and we couldn't really wait much longer. The doors opened at 8pm but Jeff Martin and The Armada didn't start until around 10. And I had to be up the next day at 6!

So My ears were ringing on the way home but I did manage to buy his cd and listened to it. Surprisingly most of the songs sounded better on stage than on the cd. It feels a bit rushed and in one song he even misses his lyrics only to try again in the next bar (or stanza, whatever I didn't study music). It's a solid album but I do miss The Tea Party. Even though they were getting stale towards the end the eastern-twinged sounds melded with rock&roll were just something that really spoke to me and was the soundtrack of my life for a good couple years.

I will always remember that night and I look forward to what The Aramada has in store next. Hope all ya'll had a good weekend as well! Oh yeah my cousin didn't show up but... there'll be another time, he must have been busy.

Later!

_joe RAM inator