John Butler Trio/Missy Higgins
Opera House Forecourt, February 14
Reviewed by Divya Venkataraman
4 stars
John Butler Trio and Missy Higgins have been appearing on the edges of each other’s vision for a while now. On a cloudless Thursday evening at the forecourt of the Opera House, they moved into focus.
The Coming Home tour represents a sense of returning for the homegrown artists who last toured together 15 years ago.
Opener Stella Donnelly warmed up the crowd with confessional, clear melodies. Higgins followed with casual charm and palpable, youthful energy – she still reminds you of the girl at the corner store – and electrified the stage even in more melancholic numbers such as Arrows and Ten Days.
“It’s not every day you get to play at the Opera House forecourt,” Higgins noted, as a band of gulls flew past.
She delivered for the setting, too, leading into The Special Two as the sun glowed over the Harbour.
She introduced the dreamlike, post-apocalyptic Red Moon by explaining how her climate anxiety peaked after having a child. Futon Couch was fun textbook pop, and guitar-soaked fan favourites Scar and Steer took the last two spots on her setlist.
As Higgins takes her music to the end of the earth, John Butler Trio’s focus contracts. Butler and his four-piece band shirked protest poetry for the devotional and echoing Faith, synth-heavy Home (the title track of their latest album) and love songs aplenty. Though they did project a "Lock the Gate" number between songs for punters to text to tackle fracking.
Missy Higgins performing during her tour with the John Butler Trio. Photo: Rick Clifford Credit:Rick Clifford
The Trio’s musicianship was first class, as ever. Ocean was a knockout, with waves of almost unbearable intensity that crested and crashed over into softly picked resolutions. Supreme bluegrass fingerpicking and percussion solos were out in fine form in We Want More, leaving crowd-pleaser Zebra for the encore.
Two Australian greats came home to where it all began. But it feels like they never left.
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