The John Butler Trio @ O2 Academy, Eglinton Street, Glasgow. Saturday 26 April 2014

I first heard The John Butler Trio in my local about 3 years ago and have enjoyed much of their music since. I have been especially interested in John's guitar technique and his ability to play the instrument has clear resonances of the late, great Jimi Hendrix.

And so it was with much anticipation that, on a balmy, late spring evening, we approached the venue, passed through the ever increasing ranks of security and found ourselves a good vantage point to take in the show. If you have read my previous blogs, you may recall that the venue is a former 'picture hall' which still possesses some of it's former grandeur and has become a regular on the live music circuit in Glasgow. The downstairs section was filling up and a real buzz was evident long before the band appeared at 21:00.

The various bars were doing a grand trade as the audience geared up and fuelled up for a great night ahead.  So before we get to the main course, here is a little entrée:

The John Butler Trio is an Australian roots, blues, funk, rock, folk and jam band led by virtuoso guitarist and vocalist John Butler (born in L. A. County in California). They formed in Fremantle, Australia on 27 December 1998 and have produced six studio albums and released three live albums to date. The trio has been big in Australia for the past decade, however, it seems that at long last the rest of the world is catching up, particularly fuelled on by the live shows and tonight was to be no exception.

From the outset John Butler bamboozled and perplexed us on Revolution from 2010s April Uprising album as he drew out the sound of strings and electric guitar from his acoustic instrument!  The other two band members Byron Luiters (bass, keyboards & vocals) and Grant Gerathy (drums, percussion & vocals) were an integral part of the sound. Byron pumped out a solid grounding over which Grant and John wove their blend of magical, musical tapestry. Grant, who hails from Byron Bay, New South Wales (a magical place where I have had the pleasure of watching the sun rise!) previously played with Byron in Ray Mann Three before they teamed up with JB. Serendipity, surely!

 

 

Looking like an antipodean version of Mathew Houck (Phosphorescent), JB stood as the left hand book end, with Byron Luiters the right, to Grant Gerathy stationed in the back and middle of the stage. JB was surrounded by a plethora of gadgets which enabled him to make his banjo sound like an acoustic guitar, his acoustic guitar sound like his electric guitar and his electric guitar sound like, well, his electric guitar on speed at times! There is a feeling of the master class to some of his playing, I don't mean that in a negative way, but I found myself often trying to work out how he achieved certain sounds, rather than just wallowing in it and groovin'.

 

The audience in front of me certainly were propelled along by the music which in turns was pseudo reggae, hard rock, Celtic and bluesy. It is no surprise to discover that the band's musical influences include: Black Sabbath, Bob Marley, Paul Kelly, The Meters, De LA Soul, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Jimi Hendrix, Beastie Boys and Jane’s Addiction to note but a few. I was bowled along by it all, however, some of the songs were given extended workouts without adding much to the overall merit of the song in my humble opinion.

On a positive note, I really enjoyed Grant's laid back, country, rail road rhythm drumming on Spring To Come the opener from the current album Flesh And Blood; Byron's thrumming, strumming double bass playing on Better Than from 2007's album Grand National and JB's mock reggae and extended psychedelic guitar blazing on Blame It On Me the longest track from the current album.

However, the highlight really had to be John's solo acoustic section where he (predictably?) played a staggering version of Ocean from 1998's John Butler. The original is a 12 minute 28 second masterpiece and was the first song of his that I heard and so I was doubly pleased to hear it played live, sublime! This piece has tinges of Raga within it, the Indian classical music which literally means "colour, hue" but also "beauty, melody" which describe the tune perfectly. Incidentally, I suspect that playing this tune takes some major powers of concentration and focus and it was the first time that I have seen the style of playing (since Hendrix) where much of the work is done by the 'left' hand on the neck of the guitar, and the body provides the percussion. (John Gomm is a fine exponent of the style as well).

There was one more highlight for me and that was the drum beat intro to Devil Woman, another from the current album, and it really got the audience dancing along to the staccato guitar cords and mantra-esque chanted chorus.

At around 22:30 the band left the stage after the funky Zebra and, following a short interval, they returned to perform a 15 minute, 2 song encore starting the second part of the show with the second track from the latest album and culminating with 2007's Funky Tonight. These three songs stoked the audience into a swirling, grooving, vibrating mass and finally, after some 90 minutes, the band left the stage to rapturous applause. Another throng of happy, satiated music fans shuffled out of the O2 Academy and onto Eglington Street and the warmth of a late spring night in Glasgow.

 

 

Set List

21:00

Revolution

Used To Get High
Cold Wind
I'd Do Anything (Soldier's Lament)
Spring To Come
Only One
Hoe Down
Better Than
Blame It On Me
Pickapart
Ocean (Solo)
Don't Wanna See Your Face
Devil Woman
How You Sleep At Night
Zebra

22:30

Encore

Livin' In The City

Funky Tonight

10:50