Although initially advertised to start at 8:00 pm, the organisers had decided it would be better to start the gig earlier, at 5:30 pm. This meant that a lot of people arrived late, also because they were probably still sleeping after a big weekend at Stonefest . Some may also have forgotten to reset their watches, with daylight savings kicking in the day before. But the eager fans made sure they had checked the John Butler Trio MySpace that morning, just in case they missed any last minute detail, and they were lucky enough to score the front row.
Blue King Brown kicked off the gig, with a lovely sun still shining. As the band usually headlines their gigs, they seemed to take a while to warm up, as did the crowd. Their first song was not particularly energic and it was not until just over halfway through their set, as the crowd started flowing in, that they finally started getting into it and bopping a little on stage. The band comprising of two drummers, a horns section, back up vocalists, bass and of course the sultry front-girl Natalie Pa’apa’a, was definitely not short on sounds or people to make them. The highlight of their set was when Natalie handed over her mic and spotlight to one of the backup singers to perform a beautiful randition of Good Good Loving by Bob Marley.
The John Butler Trio made a delayed return to Canberra, after skipping our lovely city a few months ago when drummer Michael Barker became sick. They did however make sure that the sun was down before gracing the stage with a 30-40 minute interval. By this time, the crowd was so massive that if you hadn’t parked yourself into a good spot near the front, chances were that you wouldn’t be able to see much at all. Fortunately, a big screen projecting live footage helped the crowd to see John Butler’s amazing guitar play at work.
They opened with Used to Get High which made the crowd roar. Nobody seemed to mind that an annoying alarm was going off somewhere on the uni campus. The energy just kept going throughout the entire set (two hours worth) with a great mixture of old and new songs that were well placed throughout the set to give diversity and an even pace. John kept it interesting by mixing up his amazing collection of acoustic guitars and slide guitars – not to mention some other instruments such as ukulele, harmonica and banjo.
John Butler has always been known for increasing public awareness about serious issues such as politics, global warming and creating harmony between different cultures. This concert was no different and John took a moment to put forward his thoughts. He spoke about peace, love, respect and unity. He also spoke words of Martin Luther King, making a point that sometimes silence most the most powerful statement. On that note, John delivered the most amazing and transfixing version of Ocean. Completely solo and instrumental, on just his old warn guitar and a simple stompbox. From finger percussion on the guitar’s body to extremely skilled finger picking, the audience was completely silent and mesmerised.
Ending the set with Good Excuse, drummer Michael Barker took all limelight and stunned the crowd with an epic and truly amazing drum solo that made you forget that there were other members in the band too and earned an amazing amount of respect from the crowd. The trio came back for an encore to finish with a beautiful version of Peaces and Cream, the current radio plugged song Better Than and Funky Tonight. I have no doubt that this Canberra audience will be counting the days for when The John Butler Trio returns once again.
