The Butterfly Effect, 11/10/2013, the Esplanade Hotel

They're back! To be honest, even though The Butterfly Effect clearly stated that they did intend to carry on with a new singer, after their final tour with Clint Boge last year, deep down I thought that they would struggle to continue and wouldn't have been surprised if they did eventually give it up. Certainly I didn't expect them to return so soon. But at the start of September they announced this run of shows, with the revealing of their new vocalist Paul Galagher and brand new single Eyes Down coming a few weeks later - and before I knew it, I was at the good ol' Espy Gershwin Room getting ready for an exciting new chapter to begin. So yeah, when a band with three solid albums under their belt makes the very difficult decision to replace THAT VOICE who contributed so much to the band and those albums, you really have to try and go into a gig like this with lowered expectations. And Eyes Down, while undeniably catchy and powerful, certainly didn't quite hit the mark like their previous work. So, what would this gig turn out like then? Well, you only have to look at the tune they opened with to know that tonight, TBE certainly weren't here to fuck around - they wanted everyone to know that despite losing a (bloody great) vocalist, they hadn't lost the magic of their band! Paul's voice certainly isn't a perfect match for Clint's, but in some ways I think that's what you want when these kind of things happen - someone who can do the old songs justice in their own way, rather than just being a carbon copy of what came before. The only thing that was a little disappointing about this show was, well, I'm sure you can see it - just thirteen songs? It certainly seemed a bit short. But other than that, this show certainly felt like the band are ready to move on, and that they're going to succeed in doing so. I can only hope so, anyway.

SETLIST:
Interlude (over PA)
Filling Silence
One Second of Insanity
Phoenix
Window and the Watcher
Room Without a View
(New song)
Gone
Perception Twin
Reach
(New song)
A Slow Descent
Eyes Down
Crave 

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE