It’s been just over a year since Tim Hicks rocked the main stage at RBC Bluesfest ahead of Tom Petty but on Thursday night he was back in Ottawa with a new album and fresh new tour which featured special guests Madeline Merlo and Tebey.

Madeline Merlo performs at TD Place in Ottawa – photo by Trina Stewart

Madeline Merlo kicked things off and easily charmed the packed crowd at TD Place. The BC native has been steadily rising up the ranks in Canadian country music since breaking out onto the scene about 5 years ago. I’ve been lucky enough to see Madeline several times over the last 5 years both on stage and every tour her stage presence gets ratcheted up a notch. Having guys like Tim Hicks on the same label and a stellar band backing her up definitely helps. Madeline has been on our watch list for a number of years now and I look forward to watching her career progress in the next few years.

Tebey performs at TD Place in Ottawa – photo by Trina Stewart

Our friend Tebey kept the energy up as he made his grand return to the stage following Madeline. Tebey is probably one of the most versatile entertainers in the music business, as a performer he’s released 4 albums and 15 singles. His latest release Love A Girl was released in the spring and has already spawned 2 top 10 singles “Denim on Denim” and “Who’s Gonna Love You”. As a songwriter Tebey has written songs for One Direction, Cher, FLORIDA, Fifth Harmony, the Veronicas and Justin Moore to name a few. It was his song “Somebody Else Will” performed by Justin Moore that netted Tebey his first Billboard Country #1. It’s been a few years since we saw Tebey on stage so it was great to see him back and even better to see him in a position to get a packed venue pumped up for Tim Hicks.

Tim Hicks rocks TD Place in Ottawa – photo by Trina Stewart

Tim Hicks is sporting a “New Tattoo” these days…or at least an album called New Tattoo. The album, his fourth studio or fifth if you include his Live album, was released in June and could be the biggest album Tim’s ever put out. The songs that appear on the album are written with the corresponding live performance in mind so it was exciting to see how they would translate to the actual performance. This production is Tim’s largest to date with a huge stage and, at some venues, even pyro (unfortunately not in Ottawa). Tim delivered all of his hits and pretty much every song on New Tattoo. The show was loaded with surprises including a surprise visit by Kira Isabella who joined Tim to perform The Worst Kind (the song features Lindsay Ell on the album). As part of the grand finale Tim brought Madeline and Tebey back out onto the stage to perform, one of my favourite songs on the album, “What A Song Should Do”.

Tim Hicks at TD Place. Photo by Laura Collins.

When you think of what a tour needs to be successful there are a few key ingredients that it must have. The beat must be alright, it must be loud, it should serve stronger beer, you should get a feelin’, it should make you go Hell Ya, Me Too, Alright, All Night that’s what a tour should do. I walked out of that show pumped up, that’s what a tour should do!

Tim Hicks rocks TD Place in Ottawa – photo by Trina Stewart

Ottawa was only the 3rd stop of the 16 date tour so there’s still plenty of opportunities to catch this one before it’s over including another stop in Eastern Ontario next Saturday night in at the Leon’s Centre in Kingston. For tickets and tour dates visit: http://timhicksmusic.com/tour/

More Photos