Words & Photos by Anthony Abu-Hanna
It’s been nearly 20 years since I’ve seen John Butler. The Capitol Theater in Port Chester felt like the right place to finally fix that. His music was formative for me as a teenager still figuring out my own taste. The second he hit the stage, I felt transported back.
The sound is more mature but still his. Hearing old favorites felt comforting. The new stuff live was even better. With a mostly new band, he commanded every instrument like a wizard. His sound is unique: distorted electric tones from acoustic instruments, primarily a 12-string guitar. The biggest surprise of the night was the reunion with original drummer Michael Barker, who played with Butler in the original John Butler Trio lineup.
They opened with Miss Your Love and a land acknowledgement, then went into Going Solo, a funky banjo jam, and a rocking Better Than before hitting Revolution. A strong four-song run that reminded the room exactly who they came to see.
Butler talked between songs about camping in the Australian Outback with nothing but food, water, and guitars, along with some things that couldn’t be mentioned. Driving into the desert until he had no service and was two days from a major city. Out-of-body experiences watching the fire. The Milky Way glowing overhead. “I’m colorblind but that’s fucking Mars. What the hell is the big deal about Mars?”
He busted out a slide guitar for The Way Back, a rhythmic melody leaning closer to hip-hop than his normal tunes, with a tight drum part from Barker. A song that makes you bob your head whether you want to or not. Wade in the Water followed, a twangy rocker with attitude, shredding the slide guitar through weird chord progressions and scales that had no business working as well as they did.
Then a bit about the algorithm. An asshole teenager that looks like an adult but has no frontal lobe. He tapped on his guitar like a keyboard, pretending to be in an internet argument, before going into Doing Just Fine. The crowd was with him the whole way.
The highlight was his solo performance of Ocean. The song showcases his guitar prowess, commanding an entire room with just a 12-string. The whole guitar becomes the instrument, not just the strings. The body becomes a percussion tool as he moves through an ocean current, waves building before reaching a crescendo and crashing on the shore. The room went dead silent in the best way. “Never had self-indulgence been so self-indulged.”
The full band came back for Tahitian Blue, an upbeat jam about a lucky life, before Butler joked his way into a 90s pop NSYNC-style ending that had the crowd laughing and dancing at the same time. He took a minute to talk about 25 years of marriage, water under the bridge, mostly good but the bad was bad, before jumping into King of California, a song that carried the full weight of that.
“It’s gonna get a little Braveheart-y in here.” A banjo solo, then Barker came in on a tom-heavy groove leading into Ragged Mile. Dark brooding interludes were a theme all night, and this one led straight into Treat Yo Mama, a showcase for Barker with a breakdown that was as close to a drum solo as you can get without calling it one.
Tripping on You was funky and weird. Staccato keys and guitar keeping everything just slightly off balance.
Zebra closed the main set with a lot of call and response from the crowd, who knew every word. They kept rolling with Peaches and Cream, a soft slow reggae ballad about his kids, and Funky Tonight, a full dance party to end the show.
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TheWaster.com | Port Chester
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