One of those groups is the John Butler Trio, who happen to be from Australia. I forget how I first heard of these guys, but their albums have been in constant rotation in my car and on my iPod for many years now. As soon as I knew I was going to Australia via sailboat, I started looking up tour dates, hoping to be able to catch the John Butler Trio live. Their website is seriously outdated, and various internet searches returned nothing.
In Cairns, however, I spotted a poster for ReggaeTown, a two day festival in September... with the John Butler Trio headlining. Sadly, we planned to be gone from Cairns by that time. My search continued. In Darwin, hope was renewed at the Mindil Markets, which was hosting the closing ceremonies of the Darwin Festival. We ran into our friends from the boat Lilly Bolero at the markets, and they casually mentioned that a few of them were going to a John Butler Trio concert... that very night!
It took .05 seconds to decide that the admission price was worth it. How many times will I be able to see one of my favorite bands, the John Butler Trio, live in Australia? Adam and I combined the cash we had on us and were able to buy our tickets, with only change to spare. We entered the amphitheater and found good seats up front on the grass for our little group, made up of WTP and Lilly Bolero sailors. As the grounds filled up around us, we took in the sight of so many people and chatted, anticipating the moment when the lights would dim and the music begin.
The group Blue King Brown opened, and they amped the crowd up exceptionally well. There were a bunch of members in their band: drummer, percussionist, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, two backup singers, and a very energetic lead singer, who also played guitar and bongos in between the times she spent dancing around the stage and even through the crowd. I had never even heard of this group but was very impressed with the energy and talent they brought to the stage. And John Butler was still to come!
The lights came back on after Blue King Brown was done and the process of taking down their set and assembling the next one began. We didn't know how many openers there were, but guessed it would be John Butler next from the sheer amount of time it was taking to get all the instruments set up. There was one guy in the back corner whose sole job was to tune the multitude of guitars.
Sure enough, as the lights dimmed a second time we saw three people walk on stage, and then the sweet sounds of the John Butler Trio filled the amphitheater and spilled over into the night. Song after song was better live than any recorded version I had heard, and we joined with the rest of the crowd and danced to the music. John Butler is an incredibly talented guitarist, and even keeps the fingernails on his right hand longer so he can finger pick better. Intricate songs are played amazingly fast, and on top of all that he sings. The drummer was hilarious and clearly the prankster of the group. At the end of the show he repeatedly tried to dramatically break his sticks by throwing them high into the air and at the stage's floor, but was unsuccessful. He ended up just tossing them to the crowd, which was ecstatic about that. The bassist rounded out the trio, and surprised the crowd by playing both a stand up bass and a didgeridoo for one song.
This awesome show was surely a highlight of my time in Australia, and I can't wait to pick up some new music for my iPod... starting with more John Butler Trio!