Tebey and Matt Lang rock a full house on a snowy Thursday night in Ottawa

Concert tours are a lot like poker. You never know what hand you’re dealt until game day. Some nights you’ll have nothing in your hand and other nights you’ll get lucky and end up with a full house. Last night in Ottawa Tebey got just that, a full house.

Tebey is no stranger to performing in-front of Ottawa audiences having just passed through the city last year with Tim Hicks as part of his Get Loud tour but this time around was different. This time around Tebey, who has already seen massive success as a songwriter and 3 of his last 4 singles went into the top 5 on the Canadian Country Charts,was the headliner. As an artist one would have to ask the question “will people come out to see me?” Well, if last night was any indication, Tebey has a lot of fans in Ottawa.

I’ve covered many shows at Algonquin Commons Theatre over the years, of all genres, but I have to say that it’s been a while since I’ve seen a first time headliner come through that venue and manage to, not just pack it, but pack it with a lively crowd…on a snowy Thursday night to top it off.

Newcomer and Jayward label-mate Matt Lang, who we first met about 3 years ago at Festival Country de Lotbinière, kicked off the night and there’s no question he left Ottawa with a number of new fans as well. Lang might be a newcomer in Ontario but in, his home province of, Quebec Matt has been performing and touring for at least a decade before his English debut caught the ear of Tebey about 2 years ago. Proudly from Maniwaki (QC), Matt has always wanted to bring Nashville to Quebec – he performed over 100 dates in the past two years, performing in Ottawa was like an Ontario homecoming as Maniwaki is considered by many part of the National Capital Region.

Matt’s performance style and stage presence was more evidence of his experience leaving little surprise as to why he landed the coveted SiriusXM Top of The Country competition. Matt’s English debut language singles (“Love Me Some You”, “My Final Pour” and “Water Down The Whiskey”) have been streamed over 3 million times on Spotify, not bad for an artist who had virtually no English language presence when we first met him in June of 2018.

When Tebey took to the stage the crowd was on their feet. The energy in the room was electric, it’s been a long time since I felt a room respond to an artist like that in Ottawa. If I had to guess it probably would’ve been the last time Brett Kissel was in town.

For the better part of the next 75, or so minutes, Tebey took the crowd through all of his personal hits as well as some of the biggest songs he’s written including “Somebody Else Will” which went to number 1 for Justin Moore in 2017. The biggest crowd reaction came when he performed his, massively popular and successful, cover of Avicii’s “Wake Me Up”.

Only one date remains on the “Good Ones Tour”, a sold out show at Montreal’s Corona Theatre, but Tebey told fans last night that they haven’t seen the last of him and Matt in Eastern Canada with more dates to be announced in the very near future. We’ll be catching up with Matt again in June as he returns to headline opening night at Festival Country de Lotbinière with Jason Benoit, Kelsi Mayne and Manny Blu.

For information on Tebey and his upcoming shows visit https://www.tebeyofficial.com/, to follow Matt as his career takes off across Canada visit https://mattlangmusic.com/ and to follow Tebey’s record label visit https://www.jaywardartistgroup.com/

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