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On a warm Tuesday night in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, the locals have turned up in force and filled The Tivoli to see one of our country’s most talented musicians do what he does best. A sense of uncertainty is in the air as both new material and two new members of the trio are tonight making their debut, but as the venue empties after hours of pure entertainment there is no doubt that our adopted son still knows how to work a crowd.

Apologies to support act Brett Dennen; I was only able to arrive about halfway through his set. By this stage the Tivoli was almost at capacity and by chatting to a couple of punters, “he was alright, not too bad.” His blend of acoustic pop would have fit in perfectly on the current rotation of Corona Television advertisements; a setting sun, cold beer and sun soaked twenty-somethings. Although his songs were not familiar to me, Dennen’s EP is definitely on the shopping list and it is easy to see why US Rolling Stone magazine has labelled him as one of their ten acts to watch for 2010.

After a short intermission as the stage is set up for tonight’s main act, John Butler walks onstage with short hair, plain t-shirt and signature 12-string guitar over his shoulder. With new band members Nicky Bomba and Byron Luiters providing percussion and bass, the trio explored their back catalogue, getting the crowd moving to recent hits like Better Than , Zebra , Used to Get High and a stirring version of Betterman. The mid-song jams and drum solos were complimented with a light show completely different from his previous tours. Red, blue and purple lights soaked the stage while five light stations lit up the room at the crowd’s eye level. The band continued with the introduction of the slide guitar, banjo and crowd favourite Good Excuse. New songs John is Gone and Revolution received only a warm response from the crowd but this simply due to them being an unknown quantity as opposed to their appeal.

While Treat Yo Mama , Daniella and Funky Tonight all got the crowd moving, the highlight of the set was instrumental number Ocean. The twelve minute record version is amazing on its own, but as Butler took creative control of his own work he turned a song into a moment. The band departed leaving the crowd waiting for the obvious encore, as they had not yet played their current radio single. Butler came back onstage alone and instantly began Peaches & Cream , much to the crowds delight. The sing-a-long quickly turned into cheering and applause as the rest of the band joined him onstage for a cover of The Jackons Five’s, I Want You Back. Concluding with current single One Way Road , The John Butler Trio proved that they are musicians at the peak of their powers, playing for over two hours and giving the crowd one of the best value for money tickets of the year, less than two weeks into it.