CREDIT: KARDINAL OFFISHALL-STEPHANIE ANN HICKS. ALL OTHER PHOTOS COURTESY OF GEORGE MARAGOS.
Jeff Martin, lead singer of the Canadian band The Tea Party, rocked the stage, during the ONtour concert series at Victoria Park on Aug. 3. Acts including legendary rock musician Kip Mitchell and hip-hop artist Kardinal Offishall also performed at the event, which honoured Ontario's 150th anniversary.

The ONtour concert series made its way to London, Ont., and helped kick off the city’s Ribfest at Victoria Park.

The concert was put on by the government of Ontario, to celebrate Ontario’s 150th anniversary. Hosting the event was Etalk reporter and Much Music affiliate Liz Trinnear, along with Canadian beatboxer Emilie Carrey Sparx, who in 2015, was the first female beatboxer to compete at the Canadian Beatbox Championship.

Along with hosting, Sparx gave the audience a beatboxing appetiser.

MPP for London North Centre, Deb Matthews was introduced at the event, payed her respects and honoured the Indigenous communities.

Not long afterwards, it was time to pump up the music and the crowd.

The multi-Juno award winning rapper Kardinal Offishall was the first performing artist, but he didn’t come out right away. Instead, a DJ warmed the crowd up with old school hip-hop classics “Next Episode” and “Still Dre”.

Next up came “Gold Digger”, which the audience recited the lyrics almost verbatim.

The hip-hop vibes were starting to click and the song choice became more modern with “Wild Thoughts”, “Controller”, and “24K Magic” played as the audience sung along.

The music transitioned to a reggae sound with a mix of electronic dance when all of the sudden, Offishall erupted on stage with an explosion.

The song “Truck on the Road” followed by “Clear”, provided a dancehall version of CPR, resuscitating the at times, quiet crowd.

“Beautiful” featuring Akon was a hit as the audience all sung together, “You’re so beautiful...”, with the song ending as the background instrumental fell silent and Offishall sung acapella.

“I’m a Star” started off the next set of songs and the audience at this point was fully engaged.  Offishall went back to the roots of hip-hop covering the songs “Be Faithful”, “It Takes Two”, “O.P.P” and “Hip-Hop Hooray”.

Offishall also dove into “Everyday (Rudebwoy)” and the audience sung right along to lyric such as “We… are everyday people”.

Next on the set was “Ol’ Time Killin’” followed by “Numba 1 (Tide is High)”.

Throughout the performance the audience participation was impressive and Offishall finished his set with the top billboard hit “Dangerous”.

Canadian legend Kim Mitchell hit the stage with a thunderous introduction and without skipping a beat, began performing “Lager and Ale” followed by “Rocklanwonderland”, which featured an incredible guitar solo. 

Talking about his past and how far he’d come, Mitchell brought up his old band Max Webster as “High Class in Borrowed Shoes” started to play.

The next song “I’m a Wild Party” was chanted by all, while “That’s a Man” was followed by a soft transition to slower songs.

“Easy to Tame” began to play and the crowd could be heard shouting and seen fist pumping. With an epic roar, a classic and obvious fan favourite, “Patio Lanterns” played as the sun began to set.

With “All We Are” as the next soothing tune, the audience was surely getting a rock and roll serenade.

After the band members were introduced to the audience, they performed one more song and ended their set with “Rock & Roll Duty”, before thanking the audience and wishing them a good night.

The audience cheered for an encore and they came back out to perform “Go for Soda”, which concluded with a blockbuster bass solo that captivated the audience.

Next up was The Tea Party, with lead singer Jeff Martin appearing on stage while the drummer played a bass line and the band began their performance with “The River”.

The next song, “The Bazaar”, was a hit as the audience sang, “Tell my lover to come back to me”, at each chorus.

Playing “Psychopomp” next, Martin’s animated body movements and facial expressions added feeling to the songs.

The performance took on a somber scene as they played “Messenger”, “Fire in the Head”, and “Save Me”, before closing out singing “With or Without You” and “Temptation”.

The band exited the stage with Martin saying, “We’re the Tea Party, You’re the Tea Party,” but the Londoners wanted more and once again, called for an encore. The band did not disappoint, closing the night out with “Sister Awake” as rain began to fall.

The ONtour concert brought a variety of entertainers that attracted a monumental crowd to kick off the first day of Ribfest on a Thursday preceding a long weekend, helping to make the weekend start a little sooner. Click on the thumbnails below to view a larger version of each image.