Tonight, Tea Leaf Green takes the stage for the second of two shows at the 8×10 Club in Baltimore with their acoustic alter-ego Coffee Bean Brown opening each show. CBB shows off a completely different, mellower side of the group’s music. These rare Coffee Bean Brown sets are in celebration of the first release from their own Tea Leaf Green Partnership imprint on June 2nd, Coffee Bean Brown Comes Alive, which features music recorded at the now-closed Mo Pitkin’s House of Satisfaction in September of ’07.

I caught Tea Leaf’s two-setter at Irving Plaza on Saturday night and it got me thinking about the band’s past. TLG blew up in the New York City area in 2005. They first caught the attention of a number of my friends at a Rocks Off cruise after a Trey Anastasio show at the Hammerstein in May of that year and they packed the Knitting Factory and Coda on their next two trips to the Big Apple in September and November 2005. 2006 brought more of the same for Tea Leaf as they made the giant leap from the Knit to Irving Plaza in the blink of an eyelash and sold out the 1,000+ capacity venue upon their return at a magical show in March of 2007.

But just as quickly as it came, the momentum seemed to grind to a halt. TLG was scheduled to play two shows at the much smaller Highline Ballroom during Thanksgiving week last year and had to cancel one of the shows – which I’ll go ahead and speculate was due to lack of ticket sales. I caught the show they did play and let’s just say there was plenty of room for me to dance. READ ON for Scott’s thoughts on Tea Leaf Green at Irving Plaza…

Now, I enjoyed seeing Tea Leaf play but I’m far from being a die-hard fan. I never traveled to catch one of their shows, yet I always had a good time when they came to town. The San Francisco-based quartet returned to New York City and Irving Plaza on Saturday night and I went to see them. Not only did they do a surprisingly nice job of filling the floor, more importantly they killed everything they played in the best possible way. I’m not sure where all of my friends that kept on telling me how good TLG was back in 2006 were at on Saturday night, but they missed a fantastic show that showed real growth from the unit on the improvisational front.

From the minute they kicked off the action with a tender reading of Carter Hotel through the Tom Thumb’s Blues (if someone does this tune better than TLG, I have yet to hear it) encore, I saw some life and passion out of this band I haven’t seen since those glory days of 2006.

Singer/keyboardist/harmonica ace Trevor Garrod has embraced his role as frontman, dancing around the stage with Mick Jagger-esque swagger during a brazen Let Us Go that had more bite than usual. Lead guitarist Josh Clark had a few new tricks up his sleeve and was much more calculated and patient in his shredding especially on Jezebel.

TLG – Let Us Go (Live at Irving Plaza)

The show wasn’t without its flaws. I’m always excited to see bassist Reed Mathis play, but he didn’t seem excited to play on this particular evening. Perhaps he was tired from working double duty as the bassist for the Marco Benevento Trio’s opening set, but fellow HT Contributor Ryan put it best when he said Reed appeared to be hiding behind his hair. Don’t get me wrong, Mathis pushed his band mates with creative bass lines and bold fills but he looked distracted, as if he wanted to be some place else. Also, the older songs TLG played were still the best of the bunch as I’m still not a fan of most of the material from 2008′s Raise Up The Tent.

Yet, everyone on the floor seemed to be really into the show and I was surprised at the number of people who seemed to know every word to every song. I’ve never been too impressed by any of TLG’s segues but Josh Clark slyly snuck the opening riff to If It Wasn’t For The Money into his solo in Not Fit and the rest of the quartet quickly followed along and shifted tempo to begin the song properly – an impressive moment to say the least that elicited screams of joy from the crowd.

Regaining the momentum of a few years ago may prove difficult for Tea Leaf Green but if they keep playing the way they played at Irving Plaza on Saturday night it’s certainly possible.

Set 1: Carter Hotel, Incandescent Devil, Mistletwo -> Don’t Curse The Night, Papa’s In The Back Room, If You Gotta Go Go Now (Bob Dylan), Precious Stone -> Can You Guess It, The Devil’s Pay

Set 2: One Reason, Soldiers Of Kentucky -> Stick To The Shallows, Criminal Intent ->  Vote On Tuesday -> Let Us Go -> Jezebel -> Not Fit -> If It Wasn’t For The Money

Encore: Tom Thumb’s Blues (Bob Dylan)

Scott Bernstein

Scott Bernstein co-founded Hidden Track in October 2006 and was managing editor until taking over as EiC in January 2008. Scotty also writes for Relix Magazine and curates YEMblog.com.

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