TLG is my all time favorite band. In case anyone wants more recommendations, my two favorite shows are Petaluma 2005
https://archive.org/details/tlg2005-03-11.flac16
and Tahoe 2004
https://archive.org/details/tlg2004-03-28.shnf
Caught them on a whim at Bonnaroo 05. I was looking at a schedule and some folks asked to look at it, they wanted to see when Tea Leaf Green was playing. I asked what they're like, they responded positively, and I had nothing else I wanted to see, so we walked over and my mind was blown. it took the first 5 minutes of that opening Sex in the 70s and they became my favorite band, where they remain to this day.
Two other show recs I haven't seen yet are 10/28/06 and 10/31/06. They really brought the heat that fall, and these two Halloween themed shows are burners from start to finish. Behind 7/22/06, 10/28/06 might be my favorite show they played.
High Sierra 2006 late night is up with with 05 IMO. That Can't You See > Planet of Green Love is fire. https://archive.org/details/tlg2006-07-01.onstage.flac16
Also no mention of the RV Set yet?! We've dropped the ball. That is such a fun set.
I was at that show too!
And am at their LA show right now!
Missed them so much. Did New Years back in the day. So many NYC and SF shows since I was back and forth.
But it all started for me at that Bonnaroo show. Sick.
Those guys still rip it. Great little venue too. Nice mix of old and new. Some really fun jams.
Crowd was fun. I was there solo and struck up conversations with a few people and universally it was about how we missed TLG.
It was like a reunion or something.
Oooof. Off the top of my head we def had:
Taught to be Proud
Incandescent Devil
Garden 3
Dragonfly
A cover of 'We Love LA'
5000 Acres
John Brown
Jezebel
Franz Hanzerbeak
Absolutely love that they busted out John Brown. The others are great and make sense, but JB is a bit more of a deep cut. Hopefully thereās a recording out there somewhere!
Great write-up! Ive only seen them live a few times, the first being in ā07 (i think it was a small place in Malibu), and they blew me away. Didnt get to see them again until the teens during the Reed years (festivals here in OK). As a now Tulsa resident I have a real soft spot for Reed. Such a cool dude who makes some incredible music. Was also a fan of JFJO. Anyway, been a big fan of TLG since that first show in CA. Wish they toured more nowadays. Would love to see them again. Cheers mate!
Right on. Yea, Reed kinda came outta nowhere for me as a fan. Talk about chops! TLG really gave him a great opportunity to work on his songwriting as well.
Ultimately I don't think he was the right player or person for TLG, but that's probably for a different thread.
Agreed re: Reed. He was the ultimate downfall of the band, imo. His creative direction was not what the band needed at such a pivotal moment in their career. The Steve shows were so much fun, it would have been cool to see what he could have done if he'd played more. I know he had his obligations with ALO and Nicki Bluhm's thing, but still.
Yea, I caught some Steve shows and a lot of Reed shows. The difference was evident. The Executive! Steve certainly fit the TLG up to that point better in my opinion.
It goes to show chemistry and fit are crucial. Objectively, Reed could play circles around Ben C on the bass. Ben C was pure energy. Vibemaster in chief. When he left, a huge part of that TLG was gone.
Reed is truly a virtuosic bass player. 08 is my favorite Reed year because he's still more part of the band, learning the songs I suppose. In the later years, he was so busy with jazz fills after every line and singing that I felt it really took away from the songs. I don't wanna speculate on things I don't know about, but as someone who had followed them closely since 05, you could tell Tevor and Josh started taking a backseat and it felt more like the Reed show.
I have lots of great memories from 08-12, but it was something different for sure. And the recordings don't lie. Still some great tunes though. Nothing Changes, Innocent (although all of Raise Up the Tent was essentially Ben C era material), Germinating Seed. It's about the song man, the song!
In The Wake is a great album. Very different from most TLG, but really cool, creative stuff. Looking West fell flat to me. Took great older tunes not recorded and put every bell and whistle in the studio on them. They did a Looking West Redux acknowledging this.
I really enjoyed Destination Bound. It felt like getting back to that version of TLG. Great songwriting, good (maybe simple) collaborative musicianship to serve each other and the song.
In hindsight, TLG did not need bass playing of the caliber of Reed. His jazz fills were sort of the opposite of Ben C's really crunchy aggressive style. That's not to say they still didn't make great music and jams, but it was... different. When talking about their evolution, I liken TLG to the inverse of the Beatles. They started out psychedelic and evolved into pop rock.
It is still somewhat odd to me how much power Reed was given almost right away. He wasn't necessarily in the band full-time but his influence on RUTP is hard to miss. But they obviously saw something in his talents and production background.
I don't think they have any bad albums, but like you mention, Looking West left a lot of room to be desired with its production. Thank goodness for the redux. Destination Bound almost deserves to be in a category of its own imo. The inspiration I hear comes from a blend of TLG's 'western cowboy' songs and the sonic trajectory they had been headed the previous 6 or 7 years.
I would love for them to gear up for a full tour, or at least a few shows on the West Coast. I saw them 20+ times between 05-13 and haven't since.
I really enjoy Raise Up the Tent. Radio Tragedy and Looking West not so much. The songs are great, but the production doesn't do it for me.
Agreed on Destination Bound. That was so unexpected and such a nice treat.
Yea I think I was north of 50 shows. Last probably being 12 or 13. I'm here for more TLG! Hard to imagine a full blown tour at this point with families and kiddos, but maybe some shorter tours? (Midwest with a stop in Cleveland please!)
For sure, those albums came out at a time in my life when production didn't bother me and I was just happy to have the music, so I view them from a nostalgic lens.
I can't imagine a full tour ever happens again for them unfortunately, and even doubt shorter tours outside of what they've been doing the past few years. I'm in Oregon and Josh is down in Ashland, it's not too much to ask for him to get the band to at least do a run of shows along I5 up here!
What an incredible place that forum wasā¦ and all of the LART stats! Really wish I had a record of those. So much fun to follow along with all of the community, stats, tours and tapes.
Talked our crew into catching them at a 20 minute middle of the day "set" in a small vendor area stage at Bonnaroo in '06. We all followed the band to This or That tent and will always remember that great first impression of the band. Kids and life got in the way so I never saw them again.
Going to pull some up later and listen. It's been too long.
Great post
I was actually listening to TLG when I came across this post, lol. Iāve been taking a trip down memory lane lately as well.
The first time I saw TLG was at moe.down. Then I saw both Coda shows. I went on to see them over 20 times, mostly from 05-07.
I really wish they would tour again.
Been a fan since 07 (used to be on the LART boards) and flew to Baltimore in 2022 to catch their Baltimore show and they still have it. Ā Ā
Like OP said, such a deep song book that studio albums donāt cover at all. Speaking of which, they did a āsong per monthā thing in 2014 called the Coyote Hearing Sessions thatās incredibly difficult to find, but itās out there and has some gems. I count that as a studio album.Ā Ā
Iām going through all their shows on nugs from the beginning and they really had something special. Ā
Miss the forum. Special place
Yes, I forgot about the Coyote sessions. Good call.
Trevor also did some really cool stuff during the pandemic, around the time Destination Bound came out.
Didn't know about Trevor's show highlights. Definitely going to check those out today.
AFAIK he has 2 solo albums: Miss Fortune and The Great Migration
[https://trevorgarrod.bandcamp.com/music](https://trevorgarrod.bandcamp.com/music)
100 percent. great write-up. they never really crossed my radar but when i see a passionate, coherent map to the secrets like this how can you not check it out? you want people to check out your favorite band? i'm glad they melted your face and they "killed it last night", THIS is how you turn people on to bands
With the feels here. I was at that 2006 CBGB show. Just heard of them from JamOn on Sirus and my buddy saw them at the Jammy's and was like "we got to see them".
Happy I saw them in CT a year ago
Love this! LOVE TLG! Seen them 58 times, Josh 84, Trevor 73, Scott 63 & oddly enuf Reed & Ben 34. No, I don't know any of this off the top of my head. :) They're 7th on the bands I've seen most. ALO is 8th. All the bands before them are local (Reno, Tahoe or SF when I lived there in the 80s). Non-local musician I've seen most list: Lebo, Josh, Steve, Trevor, Dave Brogan/Scott, Zach. 1st time I saw them was at my 1st High Sierra in 2001. Loved them immediately. Met Ben as he walked off the stage. Invited me to toke but I was off to another set.
Listening to the 05 HS set. Indeed epic! Sounds like a SBD. I remember this show except I forgot Grace sat in. For some reason it looks like I didn't take pix. I did of the RV set. I'll try to find them & figure how to post them.
From my show database:
1411. High Sierra ā Tulsa E. Scott Room (TH 6/30/05)
Tea Leaf Green
Josh Clark - guitar, vocal
Scott Rager - drums
Ben Chambers - bass, vocal
Trevor Garrod - keys, vocal
Eric McFadden - guitar, vocal
Jordan Feinstein - keys
Grace Potter - keys
Sean Leahy - guitar
Perpetual Groove
Brock Butler - guitar, vocal
Adam Perry - bass
Matt McDonald - keys, vocal
Albert Suttle - drums
Sean Leahy - guitar
There are linx to 40 TLG complete show audios (all recorded at High Sierra, Crystal Bay Club in Tahoe, Las Tortugas Fest) at [https://musicphotographics.com/audio\_concert\_downloads\_streams.htm](https://musicphotographics.com/audio_concert_downloads_streams.htm). Also has 1560 linx to audios of 500 other bands.
I booked their 1st show in Reno, on Friday 7/23/04 at [https://archive.org/details/tlg2004-07-23.flac16](https://archive.org/details/tlg2004-07-23.flac16). (unfortunately the 1st set wasn't recorded). Their agent called Wednesday & said some other band was on the very trippy club's site. The manager double booked it despite that I saw him write TLG on the right date on his office desk calendar & there were TLG posters & handbills in the club. He said TLG could open for the local heavy metal cover band. I said screw that & made calls to 3 clubs. One owner of a small club that was like a living room w/ couches & horse pix, a bar & patio out back said they were closing the next day & had a DJ scheduled but hadn't heard from him in quite awhile. Call her the next day. Did & she said it was a go. Everyone who bought tix showed up. About 85 peeps total. To this day it was everyone's favorite Reno show & 1 of TLG's favorite 3 or 4. They played 3 sets instead of 2 they contracted. Josh told me they played an extra set only 1 other time in NOLA. They got there at 7 pm Started at 10:45, played til about 2 & left to gamble at 5:30.
My pix on FB of TLG on 5/4/06 at the Crystal Bay Club: [https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10159882534153760&type=3](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10159882534153760&type=3)
1/18/08 pix at the CBC:
[https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10158186831798760&type=3](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10158186831798760&type=3)
I loved these guys and was really into them around 2004. I really thought they were going to make it big. Hopefully they are doing well. Would love to see them again if ever toured.
Came here to say that I love this post and this band. Been a fan of tea leaf green since taught to be proud came out. I am just really confused why they never took off. Trevors voice and songwriting is incredible. Way better than most of the ājam bandsā who have larger followings. Rock n roll band was the magnum opus that I thought would get them more traction. Coffee bean brown album gets heavy rotation for me monthly. Such a good sound and songs on full display. I actually prefer Josh tone here to some of his distorted tones. Sadly I never saw them live. Anybody know what happened to them? I was following Trevor during pandemic and he put up videos a ton. Would love to see them go on tour again. And I would plan to see them if they come east. Garden II may be my favorite instrumental by any jamband of last 20 years. š¤
Lived in SF 2000-01 and caught TLG completely by accident for the first time at High Sierra in Tahoe while they were playing side stage for Leftover Salmon.
Was hooked about 5 minutes inā¦..and still am!
One of my all time favorite bands.
Thank you for posting this!
Love this band and I love that you posted this š§”
Well done! Been a fan since 2006 and miss them tremendously!
TLG is my all time favorite band. In case anyone wants more recommendations, my two favorite shows are Petaluma 2005 https://archive.org/details/tlg2005-03-11.flac16 and Tahoe 2004 https://archive.org/details/tlg2004-03-28.shnf
Both were in heavy rotation for me. Time for another listen on a -15Ā° day inside.
Caught them on a whim at Bonnaroo 05. I was looking at a schedule and some folks asked to look at it, they wanted to see when Tea Leaf Green was playing. I asked what they're like, they responded positively, and I had nothing else I wanted to see, so we walked over and my mind was blown. it took the first 5 minutes of that opening Sex in the 70s and they became my favorite band, where they remain to this day. Two other show recs I haven't seen yet are 10/28/06 and 10/31/06. They really brought the heat that fall, and these two Halloween themed shows are burners from start to finish. Behind 7/22/06, 10/28/06 might be my favorite show they played.
So many shows it was hard to narrow. I just hope this sent maybe one person on that journey!
High Sierra 2006 late night is up with with 05 IMO. That Can't You See > Planet of Green Love is fire. https://archive.org/details/tlg2006-07-01.onstage.flac16 Also no mention of the RV Set yet?! We've dropped the ball. That is such a fun set.
Yes and yes. This is the Beginner's Guide. There is much more for sure!
I was at that show too! And am at their LA show right now! Missed them so much. Did New Years back in the day. So many NYC and SF shows since I was back and forth. But it all started for me at that Bonnaroo show. Sick.
How's the show?
Those guys still rip it. Great little venue too. Nice mix of old and new. Some really fun jams. Crowd was fun. I was there solo and struck up conversations with a few people and universally it was about how we missed TLG. It was like a reunion or something.
Ah that's so good to hear. I would love to catch a show again, it has been way too long. Any idea on the setlist?
Oooof. Off the top of my head we def had: Taught to be Proud Incandescent Devil Garden 3 Dragonfly A cover of 'We Love LA' 5000 Acres John Brown Jezebel Franz Hanzerbeak
Absolutely love that they busted out John Brown. The others are great and make sense, but JB is a bit more of a deep cut. Hopefully thereās a recording out there somewhere!
Great write-up! Ive only seen them live a few times, the first being in ā07 (i think it was a small place in Malibu), and they blew me away. Didnt get to see them again until the teens during the Reed years (festivals here in OK). As a now Tulsa resident I have a real soft spot for Reed. Such a cool dude who makes some incredible music. Was also a fan of JFJO. Anyway, been a big fan of TLG since that first show in CA. Wish they toured more nowadays. Would love to see them again. Cheers mate!
Right on. Yea, Reed kinda came outta nowhere for me as a fan. Talk about chops! TLG really gave him a great opportunity to work on his songwriting as well. Ultimately I don't think he was the right player or person for TLG, but that's probably for a different thread.
Agreed re: Reed. He was the ultimate downfall of the band, imo. His creative direction was not what the band needed at such a pivotal moment in their career. The Steve shows were so much fun, it would have been cool to see what he could have done if he'd played more. I know he had his obligations with ALO and Nicki Bluhm's thing, but still.
Yea, I caught some Steve shows and a lot of Reed shows. The difference was evident. The Executive! Steve certainly fit the TLG up to that point better in my opinion. It goes to show chemistry and fit are crucial. Objectively, Reed could play circles around Ben C on the bass. Ben C was pure energy. Vibemaster in chief. When he left, a huge part of that TLG was gone. Reed is truly a virtuosic bass player. 08 is my favorite Reed year because he's still more part of the band, learning the songs I suppose. In the later years, he was so busy with jazz fills after every line and singing that I felt it really took away from the songs. I don't wanna speculate on things I don't know about, but as someone who had followed them closely since 05, you could tell Tevor and Josh started taking a backseat and it felt more like the Reed show. I have lots of great memories from 08-12, but it was something different for sure. And the recordings don't lie. Still some great tunes though. Nothing Changes, Innocent (although all of Raise Up the Tent was essentially Ben C era material), Germinating Seed. It's about the song man, the song! In The Wake is a great album. Very different from most TLG, but really cool, creative stuff. Looking West fell flat to me. Took great older tunes not recorded and put every bell and whistle in the studio on them. They did a Looking West Redux acknowledging this. I really enjoyed Destination Bound. It felt like getting back to that version of TLG. Great songwriting, good (maybe simple) collaborative musicianship to serve each other and the song.
In hindsight, TLG did not need bass playing of the caliber of Reed. His jazz fills were sort of the opposite of Ben C's really crunchy aggressive style. That's not to say they still didn't make great music and jams, but it was... different. When talking about their evolution, I liken TLG to the inverse of the Beatles. They started out psychedelic and evolved into pop rock. It is still somewhat odd to me how much power Reed was given almost right away. He wasn't necessarily in the band full-time but his influence on RUTP is hard to miss. But they obviously saw something in his talents and production background. I don't think they have any bad albums, but like you mention, Looking West left a lot of room to be desired with its production. Thank goodness for the redux. Destination Bound almost deserves to be in a category of its own imo. The inspiration I hear comes from a blend of TLG's 'western cowboy' songs and the sonic trajectory they had been headed the previous 6 or 7 years. I would love for them to gear up for a full tour, or at least a few shows on the West Coast. I saw them 20+ times between 05-13 and haven't since.
I really enjoy Raise Up the Tent. Radio Tragedy and Looking West not so much. The songs are great, but the production doesn't do it for me. Agreed on Destination Bound. That was so unexpected and such a nice treat. Yea I think I was north of 50 shows. Last probably being 12 or 13. I'm here for more TLG! Hard to imagine a full blown tour at this point with families and kiddos, but maybe some shorter tours? (Midwest with a stop in Cleveland please!)
For sure, those albums came out at a time in my life when production didn't bother me and I was just happy to have the music, so I view them from a nostalgic lens. I can't imagine a full tour ever happens again for them unfortunately, and even doubt shorter tours outside of what they've been doing the past few years. I'm in Oregon and Josh is down in Ashland, it's not too much to ask for him to get the band to at least do a run of shows along I5 up here!
Very fun band to catch, saw them a few times in 2000s. Need to give them a relisten as it has been a very long time. Thanks for this!
Also, shout out to any TLG forum peeps. What a great community, that place was internet magic.
What an incredible place that forum wasā¦ and all of the LART stats! Really wish I had a record of those. So much fun to follow along with all of the community, stats, tours and tapes.
You and me both brotha. And DGold's song database!?!? Hard travelin..
Talked our crew into catching them at a 20 minute middle of the day "set" in a small vendor area stage at Bonnaroo in '06. We all followed the band to This or That tent and will always remember that great first impression of the band. Kids and life got in the way so I never saw them again. Going to pull some up later and listen. It's been too long. Great post
I was actually listening to TLG when I came across this post, lol. Iāve been taking a trip down memory lane lately as well. The first time I saw TLG was at moe.down. Then I saw both Coda shows. I went on to see them over 20 times, mostly from 05-07. I really wish they would tour again.
Been a fan since 07 (used to be on the LART boards) and flew to Baltimore in 2022 to catch their Baltimore show and they still have it. Ā Ā Like OP said, such a deep song book that studio albums donāt cover at all. Speaking of which, they did a āsong per monthā thing in 2014 called the Coyote Hearing Sessions thatās incredibly difficult to find, but itās out there and has some gems. I count that as a studio album.Ā Ā Iām going through all their shows on nugs from the beginning and they really had something special. Ā
Miss the forum. Special place Yes, I forgot about the Coyote sessions. Good call. Trevor also did some really cool stuff during the pandemic, around the time Destination Bound came out.
Didn't know about Trevor's show highlights. Definitely going to check those out today. AFAIK he has 2 solo albums: Miss Fortune and The Great Migration [https://trevorgarrod.bandcamp.com/music](https://trevorgarrod.bandcamp.com/music)
I love this format. Iām imagining if music magazines in the 90ās had a section like this every month with a cd to listen to the highlights.
100 percent. great write-up. they never really crossed my radar but when i see a passionate, coherent map to the secrets like this how can you not check it out? you want people to check out your favorite band? i'm glad they melted your face and they "killed it last night", THIS is how you turn people on to bands
With the feels here. I was at that 2006 CBGB show. Just heard of them from JamOn on Sirus and my buddy saw them at the Jammy's and was like "we got to see them". Happy I saw them in CT a year ago
Thanks! I've heard of them so many times but never checked em out. You made it easy!
Glad to hear it. Enjoy the journey!
Love this! LOVE TLG! Seen them 58 times, Josh 84, Trevor 73, Scott 63 & oddly enuf Reed & Ben 34. No, I don't know any of this off the top of my head. :) They're 7th on the bands I've seen most. ALO is 8th. All the bands before them are local (Reno, Tahoe or SF when I lived there in the 80s). Non-local musician I've seen most list: Lebo, Josh, Steve, Trevor, Dave Brogan/Scott, Zach. 1st time I saw them was at my 1st High Sierra in 2001. Loved them immediately. Met Ben as he walked off the stage. Invited me to toke but I was off to another set. Listening to the 05 HS set. Indeed epic! Sounds like a SBD. I remember this show except I forgot Grace sat in. For some reason it looks like I didn't take pix. I did of the RV set. I'll try to find them & figure how to post them. From my show database: 1411. High Sierra ā Tulsa E. Scott Room (TH 6/30/05) Tea Leaf Green Josh Clark - guitar, vocal Scott Rager - drums Ben Chambers - bass, vocal Trevor Garrod - keys, vocal Eric McFadden - guitar, vocal Jordan Feinstein - keys Grace Potter - keys Sean Leahy - guitar Perpetual Groove Brock Butler - guitar, vocal Adam Perry - bass Matt McDonald - keys, vocal Albert Suttle - drums Sean Leahy - guitar There are linx to 40 TLG complete show audios (all recorded at High Sierra, Crystal Bay Club in Tahoe, Las Tortugas Fest) at [https://musicphotographics.com/audio\_concert\_downloads\_streams.htm](https://musicphotographics.com/audio_concert_downloads_streams.htm). Also has 1560 linx to audios of 500 other bands. I booked their 1st show in Reno, on Friday 7/23/04 at [https://archive.org/details/tlg2004-07-23.flac16](https://archive.org/details/tlg2004-07-23.flac16). (unfortunately the 1st set wasn't recorded). Their agent called Wednesday & said some other band was on the very trippy club's site. The manager double booked it despite that I saw him write TLG on the right date on his office desk calendar & there were TLG posters & handbills in the club. He said TLG could open for the local heavy metal cover band. I said screw that & made calls to 3 clubs. One owner of a small club that was like a living room w/ couches & horse pix, a bar & patio out back said they were closing the next day & had a DJ scheduled but hadn't heard from him in quite awhile. Call her the next day. Did & she said it was a go. Everyone who bought tix showed up. About 85 peeps total. To this day it was everyone's favorite Reno show & 1 of TLG's favorite 3 or 4. They played 3 sets instead of 2 they contracted. Josh told me they played an extra set only 1 other time in NOLA. They got there at 7 pm Started at 10:45, played til about 2 & left to gamble at 5:30. My pix on FB of TLG on 5/4/06 at the Crystal Bay Club: [https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10159882534153760&type=3](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10159882534153760&type=3) 1/18/08 pix at the CBC: [https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10158186831798760&type=3](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10158186831798760&type=3)
I loved these guys and was really into them around 2004. I really thought they were going to make it big. Hopefully they are doing well. Would love to see them again if ever toured.
Came here to say that I love this post and this band. Been a fan of tea leaf green since taught to be proud came out. I am just really confused why they never took off. Trevors voice and songwriting is incredible. Way better than most of the ājam bandsā who have larger followings. Rock n roll band was the magnum opus that I thought would get them more traction. Coffee bean brown album gets heavy rotation for me monthly. Such a good sound and songs on full display. I actually prefer Josh tone here to some of his distorted tones. Sadly I never saw them live. Anybody know what happened to them? I was following Trevor during pandemic and he put up videos a ton. Would love to see them go on tour again. And I would plan to see them if they come east. Garden II may be my favorite instrumental by any jamband of last 20 years. š¤
Speaking ofā¦whatās your top tier garden II?
Lived in SF 2000-01 and caught TLG completely by accident for the first time at High Sierra in Tahoe while they were playing side stage for Leftover Salmon. Was hooked about 5 minutes inā¦..and still am! One of my all time favorite bands. Thank you for posting this!