Butch Walker - Variety Playhouse 09/05/13

Last night Butch Walker played at Variety Playhouse in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.  I have been excitedly anticipating this night for months!  Now, I first saw Butch Walker in the 1990s at a music festival when he fronted the band Marvelous 3.  If you're not familiar with his early work, please remedy that.  You won't be sorry.  It's hard to choose my favorite song by them but I am posting a live acoustic version of Cigarette Lighter Love Song because it is beautiful, expertly performed and really shows you how incredible this man really is with his vocal range, songwriting and all around f*ck-awesomeness.

Now you MAY be wondering if Butch played this song last night.  I'm wondering that too.  You may be scratching your head and saying, "But weren't you at the show, Spank?" Well, yeah... I was.  For a while.

I'm a single mom (cue the violins) and so in order to hit up this show on a school/work night I needed to employ what is known as a babysitter.  By the way, my babysitter is HOT and my son is going to someday be thanking me emphatically that she got to put him to bed:

Relax people! She's costumed as the Queen of Hearts for Dragon*Con, not a quiet night at Spank's house.  After leaving my kids in capable (and beautiful) hands, I ventured out to meet up with my friend Julie and after passing the storage facility for that which will give Batman a solid advantage in the upcoming Man of Steel movie

we arrived at the venue.  I was so insanely excited about seeing Butch Walker that not even the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious drunk chick sitting beside us could sully my mood.  But something did.

8:00 p.m.

Opening acts.

First up was Josh Fletcher who played a 30 minute acoustic set.  The music was mellow and he proved to be an engaging opening act, incredibly talented and was perfect music to set the mood as the venue filled up.  

8:40 p.m. 

Second artist to play was The Howling Tongues.  I'm hesitant to say much about this band.  In fairness, it could have been that they performed a sub-par cover of U2's Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses or MAYBE it was that they played for a SOLID hour, but I did not enjoy them much at all. 

9:40 p.m.

At this point I'm staring at my phone and calculating in my head how much money I'm paying the Queen of Hearts to watch my kids and feeling the knot tightening in my stomach.  

10:03 p.m. 

BUTCH WALKER!!!!!

Finally.

He walked out onto the stage, sat at his piano and opened with Amazing Grace in tribute to his father who passed away less than two weeks ago.  It was intense and emotional, and to share that deeply personal moment with him and his family was an honor.

I have chills again..... and tears.

He played a lot of stuff off his new record which releases Tuesday titled Peachtree Battle, written in honor of his late father.  Now, y'all go to shows so you know the joke about when an artist starts playing new stuff that's time to go to the bathroom?  The marker of Butch Walker's talent is that when he played his new stuff WE. SANG. ALONG!  The crowd was roused and excited and enthusiastic.  He is THAT good!  He also played some older songs which stand the test of time.

11:07 p.m.

We had to go.  We didn't want to.  We had to.  But just as we were readying to leave I turned to my friend and said "let's just see what he plays next."  I'm so glad we did.  One of my top five FAVORITE songs was played, "She Likes Hair Bands."

Forgive the quality but I was super excited and couldn't really stand still during this song!

After the song ended, we had to leave.  Did not want to.  HAD to!  So I don't know what other favorites he played but I will say that for the time I got to share air space with Butch Walker it was incredible!

To sum up.

Concert ticket: $32.00
Babysitter:       $60.00
A night with Butch Walker (even abbreviated): PRICELESS!

Please support this amazingly beautifully talented man by downloading ALL his music, including his new effort Peachtree Battle!

And remember to come visit me at my regular home on the Interwebs!