Here’s a riddle: Why did Tea Leaf Green’s three-night run at the Blender Theatre at Gramercy leave me hungry for some Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats?
It’s because the adult in me wonders why they opted for three nights at a smaller venue, selling the same amount of tickets and generating in three nights what they could have with one night at Irving Plaza, where they’ve played twice. But the kid in me loves the fact that they marched into town, set up camp and blew the fuckin’ Blender doors off with three full nights, seven fantastic sets over 10 hours, 62 electric originals, 13 acoustic tunes and one sick cover of Don’t Do It.
It’s been exactly two years to the day of Tea Leaf Green’s first headlining land gig in New York City. In that time the California-based band has journeyed east for some truly memorable gigs: two nights and six sets at Coda in November 2005, a three-set rager at CBGB for the 2006 Green Apple fest, and a sold-out show at Irving Plaza, to name just a few of the previous two years’ highlights.
When we look back in five years, however, none of those epic-in-their-own-right shows and runs will hold a candle to the milestone weekend in Manhattan that just transpired. So what if they barely filled the venue on Thursday and failed to sell out on Friday and Saturday — that doesn’t much matter. The carnage this foursome left in its musical wake cannot be measured, and the shows cannot be accurately reviewed without phrases like “Good God, that was smokin’!” and “Motherfucker…they killed that.” This is a band on top of its game.
To read more of Tea Leaf Green’s NYC run, head on over to Hidden Track
