Will Bernard’s After Party with Tea Leaf Green and Galactic
Can I hear somebody say WHO DAT??? I say, can I hear somebody say WHO DAT???
Terminal 5, a dark, poorly designed venue in Midtown West Manhattan was the scene of the jam that night. I personally do not let a venue dictate whether or not I will go see a show but numerous friends of mine were not attending this show primarily for that reason. It’s a shame because they missed a brilliant throw down. Tea Leaf Green started their set playing to a half filled venue but the fans on that dance floor were loyal followers, singing along to every word and dancing to every note. Always the acrobat, during “Germination Seed,” keyboardist Trevor Garrod danced around the stage finally getting up on 
his piano bench to sing the remaining measures falling back, girl scout-trust style into the arms of a readied stage hand. The crowd ate it up and Garrod went back to playing the keys wrapping up with “Let Us Go,” where his harmonica did most of the raging and Josh Clark shredded the guitar solo.
By the time Galactic came out on stage, the venue was packed and buzzing with excitement! Being from New Orleans, the energy of the pending Super Bowl the following weekend was raging through NOLA’s funkiest band and we were all pumping with Saints pride ourselves! Promoting their new CD Yakamay, Galactic’s guest on stage that night were Cyril Neville on vocals and percussion and Rebirth Brass Band’s Corey Henry on trombone.
Henry led the stage that night with wonderful interaction climaxing when he jumped off the stage. Parting like the Red Sea, he leapt over the security railing and into the audience. The crowd went WILD! Weaving through the audience, Corey played along for 3 minutes only to come back to the stage directly on my right where we all helped him back to his rightful place on stage. Corey was the clear stand out that night rocking his shades and beaming with NOLA and funk pride!
Cyril Neville, on percussion and vocals for most of the night, sang a few songs, rocking some awesome Wizard of Oz type blue sparkling loafers under his stove pipe pants. Singing “No More Okeydoke,” with a bold horn rifts and fun drums, we all danced in unison .
When they invited Tea Leaf Green on stage, you could clearly feel the crowd’s energy level go up. Tea Leaf’s Josh Clark led the band with his guitar in “Don’t Do It” before RAGING into a cover of The Rolling Stone’s “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’,” where Stanton, getting to his feet, flippin’ and breaking sticks, slammed out those drums and the heavy horn section just spit it like no other. THE best song of the night in my opinion!
Numerous sticks were broken that night as Stanton, as usual, blew it up on the drums. Rocking a ridiculous drum solo during Ooh Nah Nay, his facial expressions can only be described as passionate as it was so clearly evident he was having the time of his life on stage at that moment. Feeling that Saints power.
The encore was definitely above par for your average encore. “From the Corner to the Block” ushered forth Butterscotch, the nation’s top beat boxer. It took me a good 5 seconds during the Jam with Butterscotch before realizing the horn sounds were coming from her and not the band. This was one of those “In-the-moment” moments where you had to be there to appreciate it! And it was when Corey started chanting “Who Dat, Who Dat, Who Dat say they gonna beat them Saints?” that the place absolutely erupted. I felt overwhelmed at the passion for NOLA at that moment. When “The Saints Go Marching In” started, emotionally overwhelmed, I just stood there with my video camera running and not paying attention to whether I was capturing any of it or not, but completely enthralled with the chanting and community that was being created in that room for the future 2010 Super Bowl Champions. There was no doubt in my MIND that night that The Saints were going to win.
