Butch Walker and the Let’s Go Out Tonites
All photos from heartonastick’s flickr photostream
Went out and caught this show live at Irving Plaza last night and not only does his band win the award for “Best Freaking Band Name EVER!” but they immediately rocketed to the top of my list as one of the best live shows I’ve seen in ages. In fact, I’m hard pressed to remember another show where I had this much fun. And heard music quite this good.
If you have no idea who the hell Butch Walker is then you aren’t reading the credits of your Arvil Lavigne, Pink and Lindsay Lohan, etc. albums–for shame! This man has become the go-to person for well written, pristinely produced power-pop, and while I don’t enjoy any of the above listed “artists” it’s hard not to appreciate his song writing and producing skills. And they are mad skills indeed.
Butch has released two other solo albums since he left the band Marvelous 3, the insanely-catchy and anthemic power-popesque “Left of Self-Centered” and the slightly overbearing emo-refic “Letters”, but now he’s back with a full band (there’s 7 of them onstage) and he’s strutting his stuff to a T-Rex/Bowie 70’s glam kinda awesomeness all his own. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he penned this album after watching the film “Velvet Goldmine“. Some of the tracks on this album “The Rise and Fall of…” are so damn T-Rex-ified that at a bar the other night my boyfriend commented that the song playing sounded kinda like Butch’s new stuff. I told him it was the other way around, since said song happened to be the classic “20th Century Boy” by the aforementioned T-Rex. Yes, I know my 70’s glam cold.
More butchness after the jump…
As you can probably imagine, it’s impossible not to have a good time at a Butch Walker show. The Atlanta based band started things off right by catering to the NYC crowd, changing the lyric in one song about his disdain from people from Buckhead (an affluent, yuppified section of Atlanta) to Midtown. That got some huge screams. Fuck Midtown! At one point Butch even did what I always hoped a singer would do when people are talking on their cell phones during a concert. He the phone and sang directly into it for a good 30-45 seconds before hanging up and tossing it back into the crowd.
He also did some fantastic guitar pick acrobatics, tossing his pick up in the air and catching it at just the right moment, even tossing it into his mouth and spitting it back out in the most choreographed but utterly cool sorta way. This unbelievably amazing show ending with Butch hoping into the crowd and instructing the audience to “gather round the campfire” and “lose their NYC cool” while “dancing their asses off” even thought they were all “white crackers” And they did. And it was awesome.
Sample some of his songs at his MySpace page. How can you not like songs with titles like “Hot Girls in Good Moods” and “Too Famous To Get Fully Dressed”
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Butch always puts on the best shows. He definitely knows how to entertain and was soo glad he came to play on Wednesday.
yeah, can’t wait til he comes back. Didn’t he say they would be back in November?
Just a heads up…the reason Butch took the phone is because for the song “Best Thing You Never Had”, he used to tell people to call the person who broke their heart, and he would tell ‘em how you feel (not because someone was being rude and yapping on their phone). He doesn’t say it anymore, but people still call and hold up their phones…and he still takes a phone from the audience and sings directly into it. That’s my phone right there. :) He has a fondness for my phone.
Sounds like a great underground band but they have a long way to go if they want to pull away from the rest of the field. Sorry but there is no substitute for expierence. I have the ticket stubs to prove it.
They sound like a great underground band but have a long way to go if they want to pull away from the rest of the field. Sorry for the criticism but there is no substitute for expierence. I have the ticket stubs to prove it.