Boston Tea Party Archive

BOSTON TEA PARTY ARCHIVE

Background
This is a website dedicated to the archival of concerts held at the Boston Tea Party in Boston, MA from the beginning in 1967 through 1970. Ray Riepen (principal owner), opened the Tea Party on January 20, 1967 at the location of an old Unitarian meeting house at 53 Berkeley Street. Apparently in early 1967 it was very difficult to promote rock concerts in Boston as violence at earlier events had them “banned.” Until he finally received a permanent license, twelve months after he opened, they had to obtain a license for each night’s show. In mid 1967 Ray Riepen hired Steve Nelson to manage the Tea Party. Nelson (president and co-founder of the Music Museum of New England – MM/ONE) managed the Tea Party until mid to late 1968 when he was replaced by Don Law, who was to later become Boston’s premiere rock promoter. Their timing was perfect as they were plugged into the exploding rock scene in 1968 and the Boston Tea Party soon became a required stop for all the up and coming rock acts in the world. In 1969 a competing venue opened known as The Ark. The Tea Party management purchased a controlling interest in The Ark in mid 1969 and moved the Tea Party to its location at 15 Lansdowne Street behind Fenway Park. The last show at the Berkeley St. location was July 11, 1969 and the next night, July 12, they opened at the Lansdowne St. location. They operated the Tea Party for about another 18 months and then closed it in early 1971 as the face of rock & roll was changing to larger venues. The Tea Party’s demise followed that of Philadelphia’s Electric Factory and shortly preceded the same for the two Fillmore’s. The history is told much better at the Boston Tea Party reference on the Music Museum of New England website mmone.org/the-boston-tea-party. Also for a great interview with Steve Nelson check out these links:

www.berkshirefinearts.com/index.php?page=article&article_id=2115&catID=21
www.berkshirefinearts.com/index.php?page=article&article_id=2144&catID=21
www.berkshirefinearts.com/index.php?page=article&article_id=2197&catID=21

Over time we hope this archival collection will include setlists, photos, ticket stubs, posters, performance reviews, number of shows and cancellations,etc. We will only achieve this with your help. Here is the Boston Tea Party Concert Archive as it exists today:

Tour Archive

The shows included in this archive have been independently confirmed by The Tour Archive. NONE OF THE DATES INCLUDED IN THIS ARCHIVE WERE TAKEN FROM THE SPURIOUS LIST AT http://www.theamericanrevolution.fm/boston-tea-party-schedule-1967---1970.html. If a show was taken from some other source than independent confirmation it is noted.

In Search Of
Our goal is to assemble the most accurate, comprehensive archive for the Boston Tea Party from the beginning in 1967. Ultimately we hope to confirm all dates with newspaper ads, performance reviews, ticket stubs and posters. If you have any information on any Boston Tea Party concert during this time period please let us know. Send us an email of your information, or scan or send a copy of a newspaper ad, performance review, ticket stub or poster. If any of the information in the tour archive is incomplete or inaccurate please email us with the corrections.

You must provide us some independent confirmation to assure us that the source is not the spurious list noted above.

We will also like to include a set list for each show, so if you have a tape of a show or otherwise know the set list, please email us so we can include it. Email us at: [email protected]

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