John Butler Trio

wow!

i went to see these guys play friday night @ headiners here in louisville and was completely blown away (i also lucky enought to see john butler do a pretty incredible short solo set @ ear x-tacy prior to the show). zach and i went, along w/a friend of his and we had a great time. the JBT is really one of those "unclassifiable" bands with roots in rock, jazz, reggae, folk, jam, etc. and they are truly amazing players w/butler on several acoustic guitars & banjo, shannon birchall- upright and elecric bass, michael barker-drums, possibly the most incredibly full sound i have ever heard from a 3 piece band (the police reunion @ $300+ per ticket & these guys @ $15 per show? i say, forget the police rehashing their old stuff & go see JBT 20 times w/the same money). and loud, damn they play loud.

lyrically his music is strong, topical, political and full of "social commentary" (but never "preachy") and perfectly matched with their playing. and my god, these guys love to play for an audience, they feed off of them like sharks, the more the audience gave, the more took and gave back ten fold, 2+ hours after they took the stage the place was in a spent frenzy, exausted, happy and content. as it should be.

their new record, "grand national" hit a couple of weeks ago and is (imho) excellent and was the focus of the set but they also pulled heavily from their (again, imho excellent) previous release "sunrise over sea" for a really great set. it's still early in their tour promoting the new record and the energy was amazing, if they continue to get stronger on the road, well damn, i i can't imagine... if you get a chance to see these guys play, go! seriously...GO!