Photos and a review of The Tea Party and Bif Naked at Ottawa’s New Hard Rock outpost

[Matt Berard to take pictures while Nick Wrixon-Wood wrote the review. – AC]

Excitement mounted at the Hard Rock Casino in Ottawa, Ontario, on July 4th, as eager fans gathered to witness The Tea Party, along with special guest Bif Naked, take the stage. It was a delight to count myself amongst them, shaking in my seat and clutching my pretzel as the seconds ticked down toward the show.

Dried ice and blue light draped the stage long before the band stepped out, yet the tension was thick enough that the audience would erupt into cheers at even just the sight of the stage crew.

The first to take the stage was the always amazing Bif Naked — who arrived to a roar of applause and quickly burst into her set. They opened with ‘Jim’ a strong introduction with big energy; loud, hard rocking instrumentals; and Bif’s iconic vocal prowess.

Bif followed her opener with ‘Choking on the Truth,’ fluctuating between sweet melodic and harsh grunge vocals before charming the crowd between songs with her sweet personality, engaging them with anecdotes from their tour and at one point pulling out her set list playfully so that she “didn’t forget” what to play next. The audience laughed along and cheered almost as loudly for her antics as they had for their songs.

She pulled the crowd back in with ‘Champion,’ a proud rock anthem that perfectly set the mood with thunderous drums and vicious guitar riffs as Bif bellowed the chorus — “Rock ‘n’ roll or die!”

After dedicating ‘Let Down’ to her sisters, Bif took a moment to introduce the musicians performing with her tonight, including bassist and manager Peter Karroll, guitarist Doug Fury and drummer Chiko Misomali.

Bif dedicated her next song, ‘Lucky,’ to all of the nurses in the room, citing her experience as a breast cancer survivor and her successful recovery to the support of all the nurses in her life that saw her through that difficult time. The song itself was a dark and powerful experience, inspiring feelings of triumph through adversity.

The next song, ‘Tango Shoes,’ was introduced as “a song about getting rid of a boy.” The song in question was upbeat and energetic. Bif danced excitedly from start to finish, inviting the audience to dance with her.

A psychedelic warble brought us toward the conclusion of Bif Naked’s set with one of their all-time classics, ‘Spaceman.’ Finally, they closed out with ‘I Love Myself Today,’ Bif’s powerful vocals, accompanied by Doug’s electric guitar solo, shook the venue and had the crowd screaming along with her.

As Bif left, the crowd was screaming for more and missing her before she’d even left the stage, seeing her off with a standing ovation. Her act was a force of personality, effortlessly sweeping the crowd along with her rhythm and hyping up the room for The Tea Party.

The Tea Party’s instruments lit up, shining on the dark stage as their red and black logo emerged in the centre, heralding their arrival. They opened their set with ‘Writing’s on the Wall,’ grabbing the audience’s attention with a rousing call, warning of impending calamity and rock devastation to come.

When the song settled, The Tea Party took a moment to speak to the audience and let us know that tonight they were going to play some deep cuts that they haven’t played on stage in quite some time. With that being said though, lead singer Jeff Martin stressed the importance of first playing a collection of their essentials, beginning with a trip to ‘The Bazaar.’ A transcendental piece showcasing their distinct, Moroccan-inspired rock and roll sound.

Following that, The Tea Party began their deep dive with ‘White Water Siren,’ a beautiful song that featured sitar-inspired guitar tuning to create a sound that was as unique as it was powerful.

Next, they played a song inspired by Greek mythology and poetry, ‘The Psychopomp,’ with bassist Stuart Chatwood on keyboard. The song was a tale about being guided deep down into the dark before being taken back into the light. Appropriately, it featured moody, dark instrumentals and pleading, almost desperate vocals seeking deliverance from perdition.

They moved on to play their much-beloved cover of ‘Somewhere Only We Know,’ originally by the band Keane. The cover is emotionally charged and heavy, offering a more operatic, rock and roll–fueled take on the song.

Giving us another of their deep cuts, Jeff introduced ‘Mantra’ by pulling out a double-neck guitar — which was fucking awesome to be blunt. From there they moved on to ‘The Ocean at the End,’ the title track from their eighth album of the same name with a funky Moroccan synth backtrack and impassioned instrumentals.

Now, imagine my delight when Jeff brought the double neck back out, only for him to begin introducing their first number-one hit — ‘Heaven Coming Down.’ The song lived up to the hype and proved why The Tea Party are one of the all-time great Canadian rock bands.

‘Temptation’ — one the band’s most beloved classics — was introduced with an homage to all the other great Canadian rock bands. The song kicked off with otherworldly riffs and a heavy, suffocating beat. As the song slowed, Jeff took to the microphone and asked the crowd, “Tell it to me straight: do you want some more?”

The crowd bellowed their answer and the band kicked back into gear, continuing ‘Temptation’ for a few precious moments longer until the lights went down. The band left the stage and the audience roared — and they continued to scream for minutes until The Tea Party returned once more.

The encore began with a free-form acoustic jam that slowly built into ‘Winter Solstice,’ an older, acoustic instrumental track from the band’s work in the ‘90s.

The energy continued to mount as they performed their epic rock symphony ‘Sister Awake,’ introducing it by proclaiming to the audience, “Unfortunately, in the world we live in we have politicians who think they have absolute power — bullshit. Have you ever wondered what absolute power sounds like?” The song featured a carefully woven medley including excerpts from ‘Paint It Black’ by The Rolling Stones and ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie.

In their final moments, the band thanked the audience for coming out and played us off with one final blast of raw rock thundering their music through the Hard Rock and into the heavens above.