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Tea Leaf Green
Tongue & Groove | San Francisco | 03.23.02
"Uncontrollable madness!" The thought passed through my mind when I read with surprise the line-up for the late night tents at the upcoming High Sierra Music Festival. Fresh young talents Tea Leaf Green paired up with jamband veterans The Radiators to take us on a musical adventure through time.
Gearing up for the festival, local talents Tea Leaf Green confidently strolled through the tight confines of San Francisco’s Tongue & Groove and on impact, immediately raised the energy in the place to nicely coincide with the final climax of Brother Freak’s opening set. I’m trying just to keep up with magical musical adventure being created all over the streets of our fine city. You see, I’ve now seen full adrenaline TLG rock three different houses in about a month. The venues and cross streets change, but the same rule applies. The joint is packed, bouncing with energy way before the boys jump on stage, and this fuels that emotion inside all of us that spend too much time at bigger venues like the Warfield and the Greek. That rare and innocent pleasure of witnessing intimate moments between band and fan, right there on stage, feeling like you’re part of a Hollywood musical without the Hollywood.
 From the moment keyboardist Trevor Garrod stopped chatting it up with friends to go set up his rig – five feet away, to the innocent request for a beer from guitar maniac Josh Clark after the thunderous opener "Country Seduction," we knew we were part of a special night. Josh got his Anchor Steam in record time. A few minutes into a raging "Hot Dog" Josh and Trevor challenge the crowd, "people gonna get higher, higher…feeling the groove." Another fine moment in a small house, especially in no-cigs California, was the first rising cloud of smoke from the dancing masses up into the lights. "Mosquito" and "Bee Hive" added fuel to the out of control fire as  Ben Chambers bass heated up around the thumping sounds of Scott Rager on drums. Clark with his whistle wet, turned up the juice as the band rode through dark funky rhythms in "Hands of Invisible Forces", "Jubilee", and the anthem of the night, "Sex in the 70s." With Clark raising the levels to hysteria by screaming out in a moment of glory, "Tastes so Good" to the raucous crowd, I turned my imagination to the late night tents up at High Sierra, and the sure anticipation for TLG keeping me awake all night. Garrod brought me back to reality with a free-spirited "I Believe" to end a powerful first set.
 The shift out of set break was a challenge, going from soothing the Beatles back to Josh tearing it up within seconds into an epic "Panspermic De-evolution." I remember hearing a certain guitarist shred like Josh, with spine shattering power, but this guy is fresh, young, and totally in sync with his fellow bandmates. Each member brings a unique style to the floor, complimenting one another while being patient. Trevor added another rare moment when he ended his pleasant folk story "Ride Together." His voice calms and sooths the crowd, and everyone’s joins in the moment "well I say, we got good cards, but the wrong man is dealin’." Right the fuck on. The rest was like hot apple pie, my-t-fine and fun-lovin "Sea Monkeys", an intense "Baseball Jam" and the adventures of "Insidious Worm" and "Teguila" to end the best set I’ve seen of Green to-date. The nasty jam at the end turned itself over into a little 2001 teaser that begged for better venue lights!
And it was all good. The Tongue & Groove provided the close walls, the people rolled in ready to rumble, and the boys in TLG elevated themselves into local rock and roll gods.
Check out Tea Leaf Green outside the streets of San Francisco next weekend as they play on the slopes in Tahoe. Next up in the city is an opening stint for Umphrey's McGee at Slim's. Then it's onward and upward to the hills of High Sierra for two sets that will prove to be permanently etched in the memories forever.
For more info on Tea Leaf Green, well, go see the site. Mad thanks to Jonathan Koshi for supplying the killer pics.
Love & Light
Mark Davis
JamBase | San Francisco
Go see live music!
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