Butch Walker – a name in some circles that is synonymous with musical genius, and to others, despite his 30+ years in the music industry, is still a complete unknown. For me, it’s the former and judging by the sold out crowd here in Melbourne at the Northcote Social Club, it’s great to see so many others that feel the same way.
Josh Paul, formerly lead guitarist of now disbanded Aussie hard rock band Sunset Riot opened up the night, with a mighty generous 45 minute set. Following a similar trajectory to Butch himself, trading electric for acoustic and delivering a set of melancholy songs in storytelling type fashion. An instantly likeable stage presence, with a voice portraying the frailty, vulnerability and hopefulness of his songs. A perfect opening to what was to come from Butch.
Attending gigs from performers such as Butch Walker who have such a vast back catalogue of songs to choose a set list from, heading tonight’s gig, it really was a case of his fellow southern American Forrest Gump and his box of chocolates….”you just never know what you’re gonna get”. The pre-tour announcement promised an intimate evening with Butch Walker, which is exactly the type of performance that Butch has built his live reputation on.
Hitting the stage with acoustic guitar, the first four songs were delivered with such a haunting and attention grabbing awesomeness, with the buzz of the crowd noise dropping to a virtual silence. Aside from Butch himself it was only the sound of mine and my fellow two photographers SLR cameras that could virtually be heard. 21+ and Chrissy Hynde opened up, both lifted off of Butch’s Afraid Of Ghosts album. Diving right back to his early solo days, Don’t Move follow which has always been a favourite of mine, so an initial personal highlight early on. The tragic story of Diary of A San Fernando Sex Star as performed tonight in finger picking acoustic style, is almost unrecognisable from the blazing guitars and power pop of its recorded version, but boy does this live version suit the song so much more.
Moving over to the keyboard, as Butch himself warned us the “dark and depressing songs” continued, ATL was jaw dropping amazing, Butch’s voice filled with so much emotion. Now was it just me, or did that piano melody just slightly sound like a Roxette song? No piano stanza would be complete without the Marvelous 3 song Cigarette Lighter Love Song, which saw the crowd joining Butch on backing vocals. Marvelous 3 were an obsession for me back in the day across their 3 albums and hearing this song finally performed live, it was indeed a special moment.
Grabbing that big white Gretsch looking Yamaha guitar sitting at the back of the stage, now it was time for Butch to plug in and be joined on stage by band mate Todd on various forms of percussion and guitar. With the crowd now warmed up from CLLS, Mixtape gave another change for the crowd to sing along. Butch’s most recent album Stay Gold was one of my most played during 2017 and Wilder In The Heart and the title track went down a treat tonight, elevating the intensity and volume. With Butch and Todd Doing their best to cover all the musical bases, nobody can quite deliver the outro Bom, Bom, Bom from Alicia Amnesia like a 300+ strong crowd. As polite and respectful a crowd as Butch noted we were, when it came to audience participation, there was no doubt the crowd were digging this performance as much as I.
The Weight Of Her mixed with an interlude of Baba O’Reilly from The Who was an inspired move and gave Butch a few Pete Townshend type guitar moments, giving us glimpses 80’s shredding days with his hard rock band Southgang. Funniest moment of the night award goes to Butch’s introducing “the saddest song ever” which turned out to be a comical call and response broken down version of Bryan Adams Summer Of 69. A perfect prelude before launching into the foot stomping whooaaa, whoooaaa’s of the Butch Walker & The Black Widows “classic” Summer Of 89, talk about an electric energy during this one.
Obviously loving encores as much as I do, after a 10 second walk off stage, it was time for Butch to bring out a special guest in Dave Leslie from the Baby Animals to rip through a couple of Marvelous 3 classics in Every Monday and Freak Of The Week. The Dave Leslie connection dating back to 1999, when Butch and the Marvelous 3 tore apart the Evelyn Hotel, a gig that sadly I wasn’t at.
Record Store with Butch joined by a friend in Helen, with its hint of country indie pop, was stunning and had the crowd dialled back to virtual silence again. Finishing off with perhaps the most poignant song of the night, Coming Home which Butch had written about the impending death of his Pop, who sadly lost his battle with cancer one week from this songs release. Whilst Butch had earlier in the night apologised for his aloe vera covered sunburn face making his eyes water, during this song I think we could say those were some genuine tears.
Butch Walker has produced and co-written hit songs with the likes of Pink, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, Bowling For Soup, All Time Low, Fall Out Boy, yet performing his own songs in such a stripped down, intimate way is where he clearly is most at home. Butch’s performance tonight delivering a setlist that covered all the bases, was simply stunning.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Scott Smith: Lens Of Rock
