Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad: Despite A Band Down, The Bands Still Boost The Digits And The Spirits At TD Place, Ottawa, Canada, December 6th

Raging!

Number crunching!

Head colds?

Whenever I’m not out at the German Ambassador-approved Ottawa Christmas Market counting the number of visitors decked out in an elf outfit that would even put Will Ferrell off of the holiday season entirely, I’m bringing Christmas cheer in the form of online traffic to KNAC and more publicity to TD Place.

And cringing inside each time someone utters the TikTok-popularized and dreaded two-digit number that was only ever cool when a local hockey team conned the name 58 years earlier:

“Six-SEVEEEEN!”

“Josh is gonna rage!” (except it was Josh who called out “Six-SEVEEEEN!” over the walkie-talkie while we were reporting our guest numbers, it was later revealed)

The first half of my double shift at the actual Market couldn’t end fast enough that night. To the somewhat understaffed merch booth for the rest of the evening! Yet unlike the couple of sudden last minute no-shows for the merch booth to the night’s event, someone actually had a valid excuse for being too ill to tend to their rock ‘n roll duties: HEADSTONES frontman Hugh Dillon, sidelined on doctor’s orders not to perform after a bout of the flu took out his voice, and prompting both the other HEADSTONES members andJeff Martin from one of the other bands on this 90’s CanCon-approved bill to make the announcement that there would be an extended performance by the other two bands that same evening.

Let us properly rage from here on out in this review over some numbers worth remembering.

Being unabashed prog rock fans at heart, co-headliners FINGER ELEVEN would benefit the most from their unexpected increased stage time and promptly made use of it. Opening with the echoing doom of “Above”, the quintet, comprised of Scott Anderson (vocals), James Black (lead guitar, backing vocals), Rick Jackett (rhythm guitar), Sean Anderson (bass) and Steve Molella (drums), are musically proficient on their breakthrough 1999 hit. Their initial sound hadn’t immediately separated them from many of their erstwhile alt rock peers and they’d even found themselves lumped into the nu-metal scene for a brief moment, but FINGER ELEVEN appeared to take the song to unforeseen progressive-sounding heights. Scott Anderson’s stage presence was dominantand calculating while James Black and Rick Jackettshared riffs and solos – and near-synchronized guitar flipping that would make CC DeVille envious – with remarkable ease. It’s safe to say that FINGER ELEVEN were a distant cry from their early JNCO and downtuned power chord years from when I first saw them on the side stage at EdgeFest nearly three decades ago; at this show, they were definitely more comfortable embracing their modern prog rock influences to both old and new fans. Newer songs such as “Adrenaline”, “Together Right”, “The Mountain”, “Blue Sky Mystery” (with James Black subbing for Richard Patrick’s vocal role) and the title track of their latest disc Last Night On Earth were brimming with greater depth alongside the band’s early catalogue such as “Falling On”, “First Time”, “Slow Chemical”, the acoustic ballad “One Thing” and a rousing rendition of “Paralyzer” which birthed from another neat acoustic rendition of GENESIS’ “That’s All” and combined with a couple of subtly-infused riffs from AC/DC’s “Back In Black” to close out the show.Even their brooding cover of PINK FLOYD’s “Welcome ToThe Machine” showcased the band’s musical growth from their early halcyon years as Scott belts out the song with David Gilmour’s vigour.Truly the sound of a band giving their all that night as FINGER ELEVENwere flexing their digits overtime.

https://fingereleven.com/
https://www.facebook.com/FingerEleven
https://x.com/finger_eleven?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/finger_eleven/?hl=en

Setlist:

“Above”
“Adrenaline”
“Falling On”
“Living In A Dream”
“Quicksand”
“Pieces Fit”
“Blue Sky Mystery”
“Together Right”
“Last Night On Earth”
Guitar solo
“One Thing”
“First Time”
“Slow Chemical”
“The Mountain”
“Welcome To The Machine” (PINK FLOYD cover)
“Good Times”
“That’s All” (GENESIS cover)/”Back In Black” (AC/DC cover)/”Paralyzer”

Souk!

Rock!

And bows!

Headliners and self-appointed travel guides the TEA PARTY really do know how to take their audience on a mesmerizing musical voyage in great comfort and even greater volume. And more so for frontman/guitarist Jeff Martin, after being tasked in having to deliver the regrettable news about HEADSTONES frontman Hugh Dillon’s last-minute cancellation, he could finally get on with the real job of delivering a performance in honor of his temporary sidelined colleague in CanCon alongside his bandmates Stuart Chatwood (bass/keyboards) and Jeff Burrows (drums/percussion). Opening with “Writing’s On The Wall” that night, the 30+ year old trio delivered on their promise to “endeavor to fill the very big void with a great night of rock and roll”. They also delivered on the musical journey by channeling both Istanbul and Constantinople with the authentic exotic sounds of “The Bazaar”, featuring an actual Middle Eastern dance troupe whirling as many dervishes as they could throughout the song; even describing the well-performed dance experience as the Turkish version of MOTLEY CRUE’s “Girls Girls Girls” wouldn’t quite capture the essence of the experience, but given that both bands were sharing a stage together for the first time at the Ottawa Bluesfest in 2024, maybe the idea of having exotic dancers performing alongside the band was inspired from that particular occasion. It was definitely the first time in my own previous occasions of seeing the trio in concert in which they had someone share the stage with them.

Not just content with incorporating distant cultures within their music, the TEA PARTY also incorporated lots of musically sonic Easter eggs within their biggest hits. Technically, “The Messenger” has always been a Daniel Lanoistrack to begin with, but credit to the TEA PARTY for marrying it up with “Bobcaygeon” by the TRAGICALLY HIP that night in between. The similarly haunting vibes of the band’s first single “The River” also received similar treatment as the band neatly snuck in the throbbing bass riff intro from TOOL’s “Sober” and featured Jeff Burrowseven trying out a couple of Danny Careydrum rolls in between for literal good measure. And pretty sure that if they’d been up for it as well, the band’s rendition of their actual breakthrough hit “Save Me” could’ve followed through with a ZEPPELIN song or two – but that probably would’ve been too obvious given how the TEA PARTY have gone through more classic rock comparisons than they want to remember during the early stages of their career. Instead, we’re treated to a proficient yet rather awesome-sounding bow solo by Jeff Martin. It was focused without coming off as flashy or even forced, and moreso, the wavering sonic alchemic sounds that Jeff was getting out from that bow was mostly improvised – and made for a neat segueway into the lush tones of a medley involving the band’s own “Heaven Coming Down” and U2’s “With Or Without You”. If you’re covering Daniel Lanois’ work, it would only make sense that you include his most famous production talents as well, which happened to be honing the sound for Bono and company’s entire 80’s catalogue featuring their biggest-known hit.They would even close their set with a rousing version of “Sister Awake” with a medley of two songs back to back: “Paint It Black” by the STONES and DAVID BOWIE’s “Heroes”. Beyond them being all good songs, there wasn’t much of a link between the band’s hit and a more slowed-down version of both Mick Jagger’s song about his interior decorating skills and Aladdin Sane’s ode to heroism and dolphins. Granted, they’re also songs whose vocals are of a low-sounding baritone, which is perfect for Jeff’s own vocal style, as were the other song medleys he’d crooned that night. Still a perfect way to end a show which, despite the HEADSTONES’ absence, allowed for the other two bands to showcase their catalogues more thoroughly beyond an amended schedule.

And I’m also presuming that “Winter Solstice” was also dedicated to the hard-working Christmas Market elves such as myself for braving low temperatures while doing visiting head counts.

If you’re the type of music fan who doesn’t want a whole lot for Christmas beyond the master tapes of the godawful MARIAH CAREY yuletide “classic”and a working central oven, I recommend catching any upcoming tours in your area that this CanCon package may someday be hitting up.

https://teaparty.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theteapartyband
https://x.com/theteapartyband
https://www.instagram.com/theteapartyband/

Setlist:

“Writing’s On The Wall”
“The Bazaar”
“Psychopomp”
“The Messenger” (Daniel Lanois cover)/”Bobcaygeon” (TRAGICALLY HIP cover)
“The River”/”Sober” (TOOL cover)
“The Halcyon Days”
“Save Me”
Bow solo
“Heaven Coming Down”/”With Or Without You” (U2 cover)
“Temptation”
“Winter Solstice”
“Sister Awake”/”Paint It Black” (ROLLING STONES cover)/”Heroes” (DAVID BOWIE cover)

And while they couldn’t actually perform that night, the HEADSTONES did get halfway through their rehearsal before the decision was made to sit this show out, so they still earned their spot in this review:

https://headstonesband.com/landing-page/
https://www.facebook.com/HeadstonesBand
https://www.instagram.com/headstonesofficial/
https://x.com/theheadstones