Live Review: The Tea Party – Fire And Majick Descend On The Fortitude Music Hall

HEADLINER: The Tea Party
SUPPORT: Nathan Cavaleri
VENUE: The Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
DATE: February 13th 2026
REVIEWER: Andrew Treadwell Photography
PHOTOGRAPHER: Andrew Treadwell Photography

When you have been in a band for over 35 years, it’s often hard to retain the fire you once had when you started. Not only have The Tea Party retained the fire, they have poured gasoline on it, and had the balls to name their electric shows after it. The band hit Australia for their Elements Tour. This included shows in Sydney and Melbourne with Symphony Orchestra’s  (Wind) and also 3 full throttle rock shows (Fire).

Their mix of industrial grit, swampy blues, and haunting Eastern mysticism, made Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall the place for their congregation to gather to go on yet another musical journey unlike no other.

 But first to kick off the evening was Nathan Cavaleri

His sound stretches past classic blues into surf-rock, psych-tinged textures and alt-rock edges. Live, he threads stories between songs — Cavaleri takes the time to reveal the personal tales that shape his music, from fights with leukaemia to struggles with mental health — forging a bond with listeners. His take on Cold Chisel’s “Rising Sun” is raw, unvarnished, full of  grit and feeling.

Another standout is “Tilba”, a blues piece born from a pivotal visit to the NSW South Coast after a cancer scare. It’s an ode to clarity, trust and calm that helped him through deep burnout and anxiety from a turbulent childhood-prodigy career.

He was embraced by the Brisbane crowd, who I hope will catch Nathan when he returns to Brisbane at The Old Museum on Thursday May 7th.

Now on to the main event. A strange transformation takes hold of the air when The Tea Party takes to a stage. This isn’t your standard rock-and-roll checklist type of show.; It is a loud, visceral rite of passage. They didn’t arrive to merely browse their catalog; they came to inhabit it, casting aside any notion of a “greatest hits” victory lap in favor of something far more immersive.

The night ignited with the aggressive, driving pulse of “Writings on the Wall.” It acted as a sharp, electric jolt, clearing the senses before the band’s signature sounds began to permeate the room. As the exotic, serpentine melodies of “The Bazaar” filled the space, the music felt like liquid flowing through us all majestically

The middle of the set descended into a triptych of obsidian beauty: “Correspondences,” “Requiem,” and “Psychopomp.” The track carries a somber, psychic gravity that seems to have only grown more profound and bruised as the years have passed.

While others from their  era remain tethered to their 90s origins, this trio proved their more recent compositions possess an equal, haunting power. “The Ocean At The End” served as a massive pillar of cinematic sound. Martin’s vocals were commanding, demonstrating a rare ability to tear through the listener’s composure with the same precision he wielded decades ago.

A beautiful shift occurred during “Heaven Coming Down.” Martin’s double neck SG shimmered, and with amazing clarity. In a stroke of genius, they wove in INXS’s “Never Tear Us Apart,” merging the two into a singular  anthem before returning to the source.

“Save Me” hit with the force that could have collapsed the room. It was massive, dark, and saturated with that abrasive, spiritual friction that has always been the band’s true north.

“Temptation” is just raw energy. The rhythmic thud and the snarling guitar work turned the crowd into a unified, swaying force.

“Sister Awake” becomes less a song and more a psychedelic pilgrimage. By bleeding into a frantic “Paint It Black” and then spiraling back into the original melody, the performance is delivered with hypnotic intensity.

Amidst the strobes and the low-end vibration of the guitars, the finale felt the end of a  trance. It was a staggering, exhausting reminder that few bands can command the darkness quite like this.

I have been fortunate to see The Tea Party on every Australian tour since their reformation and I do not say this lightly, the sound on this show was by far the best I have ever heard. The mix out front was simply gorgeous, with every single instrument (and trust me, these guys use a lot) being allowed to shine with clarity, and yet not lose that bombastic volume that we love about TTP Live. It was perfect.

This powerhouse trio operates without safety nets. They construct a massive, enchanting wall of sound fueled by the bone-rattling bass and keys of Stuart Chatwood, and surgically precise yet bombastic percussion of Jeff Burrows, and the Musical Majick of Mr Jeff Martin on lead vocals and guitar

Australia has become second home to The Tea Party, they love us as much as we love them, and as they took their final bow, Jeff assured us, this was not their final visit home. And with the band working on new music,  I am sure as the crowd filtered out of the venue, they were already dreaming of next time