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

The Butterfly Effect, 08/06/2012 @ Hi Fi Bar and Ballroom (final show with Clint Boge)

So, it's the end of an era. After seeing The Butterfly Effect on their ten year anniversary tour last year, I couldn't help but feeling that something wasn't right within the band, and I was definitely not surprised with the announcement earlier this year that vocalist Clint Boge was leaving after all this time. Thankfully, the boys gave the fans a chance to say goodbye and announced one last tour with Boge. So despite the fact that I didn't enjoy them all that much at the last show, I knew I'd regret it if I missed this chance, so I bought myself a ticket to the Palace show - and then this show at the Hi Fi was announced. I thought I'd probably give it a miss, as there was another gig I wanted to attend and I thought the setlist would probably be much the same; eventually the gig sold out so I didn't have much choice in the matter. However, on the night I decided I wanted to give my recording gear to a friend for this show, because you know, it was The Butterfly Effect's LAST SHOW with their singer of ten years and I thought it'd be good to have it captured, as the other gig I was planning to attend all involved bands who are still very much active. So I was on the train on my way to the Hi Fi to drop off the magic box before going elsewhere, when my friend messaged me saying that Hi Fi had put some tickets on the door, and I instantly knew that I would be going there instead. And I am so very glad I made that decision. There WERE two extra songs added to the set, it has to be said that the support bands were so much better than those at the Palace show, and well, who would really want to miss such a special evening? I won't deny it, there were tears in my eyes at the end of it.

The first of those aforementioned awesome support bands were Perth's The Siren Tower, a newish band formed by former Heavy Weight Champ frontman Grant McCulloch. I'd never really got around to checking out HWC but I had heard very good things about them, and from what I'd heard, The Siren Tower were also a band worth giving a listen. Suffice to say, I had high expectations of them before going into the gig! I wasn't really sure what to make of them as the set was happening on the night, but once it was over, I realised I had really enjoyed them and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where they go next. Also, on their Facebook during the day, they posted a photo of them on the plane on the way over, and I was quite surprised to see former Birds of Tokyo bassist Anthony Jackson! And yep, turns out he's the live bassist with the band at the moment. So it was great to see him back in action. But as for the band as a unit, I think, after preordering the album the next day and going to see them at the Espy on that night, that it's safe to say I'm a new fan!

SETLIST:
The Banishing of William McGuiness
Letter from the Edge of the Earth
City of Light
I Could Tell You Things That Would Break Your Heart
Floods
Last Apple in the Big Man's Orchard

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

So it's been a little while since I've seen The Khyber Belt, and I'm happy to report that they are still pretty damn awesome. I was a little bit sleep-deprived on this particular evening but I knew that as soon as I saw Forbes McKail onstage being his usual bouncy self, that it'd give me the boost I needed, and thankfully I was right. It took me a little while to warm to these guys since their first shows last year, but the EP is a solid listen and they're a pretty rockin' live act. After The Siren Tower's chilled out start to the evening, it was good to have this act pick up the pace a bit in anticipation of TBE. Great set; loved the two newies too.
SETLIST:
Sun
We The People
(Unknown new song)
(Another unknown new song; the same one they played at Creepshow though)
Don't Look to the Sky
London

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

And then, it was time for the big one. The tour had come to an end, but it was the end of far more than that. The shows on this tour have clearly shown the band at their best (in contrast to last year, as I mentioned), and really, what better way is there to go out? Can't really fault the setlist for this tour either, though it's been identical in each city until tonight. When Clint came on for the second encore and announced "this is the last three songs you're gonna see", my friend and I looked at each other with the biggest smiles on our faces, because though we were hopeful that there would be some extra/different songs, we weren't really expecting it to happen. There's not much else to say. Hope everyone really enjoys this as much as I did; it's only the third time I've seen them, and this is definitely the way I wanted to remember them. So, this is it. If The Butterfly Effect are hanging up the axes after this, then they went out on top. But I'm still curious to see if they will replace Clint.

SETLIST:
Beautiful Mine (Clint solo with piano backing track)
Window and the Watcher
A Slow Descent
Phoenix
Perception Twin
Final Conversation
Aisles of White
Crave
Wilma's Rainbow (Helmet cover)
Room Without a View
Reach
Consequence
Everybody Runs (acoustic)
One Second of Insanity
Worlds on Fire
----Encore 1----
Gone (acoustic)
The Cell
The End
----Encore 2----
Sweet & Low
Take It Away
Always
Goodbye (I thought it would be better if I put Clint's last words as a separate track to do them proper justice.)

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

The Butterfly Effect @ Pier Live, 21/10/2011

Well, it was The Butterfly Effect's "10 Years" celebratory tour, but strangely enough, there was no gig in the immediate vicinity of the Melbourne CBD. Luckily some friends were attending this gig, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to finally cross TBE off the list. Supports were fellow Queenslanders Helm, and by the sounds of it, two other no-namers from around the Frankston area. My friend did his research and said we needn't bother turning up early for bad Karnivool rip-offs, so we didn't.
Helm
A very good friend of mine has been talking up this Queensland band for quite a long time, and I ended up seeing them at the Sonic Forge festival late last year and I was suitably impressed. Since then I've actually managed to listen to and become quite familiar with their material (again thanks to aforementioned good friend) and I was very much looking forward to seeing what they'd do tonight. As can probably be expected, there weren't many in the crowd getting into it but the Gold Coast boys were genuinely making an effort with their performance, and I, and the friends that I was there with, really enjoyed them. When I first heard their cover of Great Southern Land I thought, "Oh, another one of those "let's do a totally unexpected cover in a progressive rock/metal style"", but I definitely appreciate it a lot more now. It went down very well live and Lucas definitely sings it well. Great set all around really; in fact in my opinion they were the only thing that didn't make this night a complete waste of time and money. Can't wait to see them again soon; one to keep an eye on over the next few years I think.
SETLIST:
Burn the White Flag
Great Southern Land (Icehouse cover)
Bullets
At the Waters Edge
Soldier
Home
Collapse (with drum solo!)
Watch it Burn

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE

The Butterfly Effect
Oh my. I'd never seen this band before, as I got into them a little later than most, and did so kind of because I had to, being a fan of all the other bands in the scene, such as Cog, Karnivool, Full Scale, etc. I do really enjoy some of their stuff, but they've never really struck a major chord with me. I was hoping a solid live performance with a setlist packed full of their songs I really liked would properly convert me. I don't know what I was expecting from these guys, but it wasn't this. I was genuinely disappointed. Where to start? Clint's vocals were quite off the mark at times, and tellingly he was very often directing his microphone at the crowd to sing along. I'm not going to say it's a BAD thing that Clint (and indeed the others in the band) were really energetic onstage, but I don't think the way they were flailing around really suits their kind of music, as I've never really seen them as a "heavy" band at all, except for maybe their earlier material. Speaking of that, they decided to play an entirely chronological setlist, starting with a couple of songs from their first EP and then moving through a few tunes off each album, ending with the most recent. It was an interesting decision to make, but ultimately I don't think it worked, as all the heavier material was in the first part of the set and by the time they were closing with Worlds on Fire (one of their best songs), it seemed like people had very little patience or energy for a sprawling seven-minute long prog-rock song. Mixing it up would have definitely been a much better idea. It was also disappointing not to hear any new material, and there were a few other album tracks (read, not just the usual "popular" anthems) I would have liked to hear. I thought I was just not enjoying it because we were a little way back in the crowd and I was tired but everyone whom I saw on the night (some of whom were in the "pit") agreed that they have played better shows in the past. So yeah. If you're a TBE fan you might enjoy downloading this, and I for one am willing to give them another chance (because I KNOW they can't be this bad all the time), but yes, it certainly did not live up to my expectations.
SETLIST:
Black Lung
Take it Away
Perception Twin
Crave
One Second of Insanity
Always
Aisles of White
A Slow Descent
Gone
Reach
Room Without a View
Final Conversation
Window and the Watcher
Worlds on Fire

DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE