[.ca] Tea Party: Intimate and Interactive

Classic Performances. leaves you thirsty for more Tea.:
This DVD is a compilation of 2 performances for Much Music (you know that channel that used to play music videos), one 8-song set from '98 and a shorter 3-song set from 2000, and an interview from the '98 appearance. All the music is availiable in 5.1 Dolby (sorry no DTS) but the Dolby sounds great. I've only really watched the '98 set so far. It's a mix of their first three albums but leaning more heavily on Transmission and Edges of Twilight. This is amazing from "Army Ants" to "Psychopomp". I saw these guys just once on their last tour, they are one of the most pro live acts I've ever seen; for a trio, they do it all (and make it look effortless). I won't talk about how good it all is, if you're a Tea Party fan, you just need to get this. My only gripe here is about "Save Me". While the performance we do get is fantastic (Martin's vocals are top-notch, Burrows' drumming is the classic familiar amazing drumbeat that trips the listener into a trance and the Tabla ensemble compliments the whole piece), Stuart here is playing the Sitar. The sitar is somewhat complimenting too but he ends up trading the Sitar in for his amazing bassline (which was absolutely integral to the album version of the song and anchored the whole thing down). I really miss Stuarts' bass line and (maybe even moreso) Jeff Martin's Bow-playing. Those two elements were, again, absolutley integral. Anyways, Like I said this are two brief sets leave us hungry for another Live DVD (would be cool to have one of their long Aussie sets from 2001 or 2002, whatever it was) where we would hopefully have the bowed-guitar version of "Save Me". Better yet, these guys could regroup to "Save" us all with great live performances (sorry bad pun). I'm giving it 4 1/2 stars due to the version of "Save Me".