THE TEA PARTY

with

The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

The Jack Singer Concert Hall
November 4, 2002

Also with:
Marc Ouellette
Ritesh Das
Joanna Das
Sheila Hannigan
Christine Williams
Ekaterina Arnaoutova

This concert was one of the best Tea Party concerts I've ever been to. It could have been that we had assigned seats, and didn't have to worry about being crushed; or the songs they played that I never thought I'd hear TTP play live in concert again; or the awesome accompaniments they had. I think all of these things made the concert great.

I get ahead of myself....We started out by driving to Calgary (ahhh 3 hours...) and arrived maybe at 545p. Since the concert started at 8, we passed the time by wandering around downtown. On the way to the parking garage, we passed by the Hyatt, where Steph pointed out TP had stayed last time she saw them in Calgary. Ironically, the minute she said that, we saw Stuart walking by the hotel's front doors with a couple other people. After we had parked, we went to the theatre, so that we knew we couldn't get in yet, and then went to an A&W nearby. As we were sitting inside the restaurant, I looked out the window and saw Stuart walking by again. Let the stalking begin! (Even after we came back to Deadmonton, I expected to turn around and see Stuart walking by). We wandered around a bit, and Erika decided she wanted to make a phone call; so we went into the Marriott to use the pay phones. As we were walking out the revolving doors, I looked out and saw (no, not Stuart) Jeff Martin. Steph went: "Look, there's Jeff M", and Erika vehemently opposed this person to be Jeff M. Turns out there was a post in her way and she only saw the guy he was talking to. So we walked past him (musta been less than two feet, they were almost blocking the entrance), and as I walked past, I just heard him go: "I mean, JESUS CHRIST MAN!" I said to myself, roight, let's NOT stop to talk to him!

We got into the theatre, where I bought a most delectible T Shirt, and Erika purchased a hoodie. Our seats were in the third balcony, but the space was most acoustic friendly. They played "Transmission", which was the highlight of my night, as I haven't heard them play that live since '98, I think. The orchestra in general went very well with the music, especially on "Transmission", "Correspondences", and "Psychopomp". There was a former Cirque du Soleil ribbon-climber-faller-person and her performance was awesome! I haven't seen a non-children's circus ever, and it was just peachy. Our vantage point was great, I liked it mostly because I watch Jeff B at their concerts, and this way he wasn't obscured by Jeff M or the drum set.

Overall, great stuff. I really really hope they make a live CD out of these shows, as I was moved deeply by the music. (You laugh now, but I'd like to see YOU up against the most beautiful music ever) Second best TP concert I've seen.


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