Philzone.org - Philzone Phansite Community Discussion Board: Setlists and Reviews: Non GD Related Reviews: Archive: Hot Buttered Rum, Fillmore, 1/9/09

Hot Buttered Rum
1/9/2009
Fillmore Auditorium
San Francisco CA


Absolutely, incredibly, awesome show!! I've always loved Butter (last night was my 50th show!), never even considered a lineup change, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So Zac leaving the band had me a bit nervous, I was down for rock n roll butter, they've been flirting with it more and more in the past year, but I'm not sure about Matt Butler. He's a lot of high hat rat-a-tat-tating, it gets on my nerves. When that's all you've got, it's falls flat, comes off as basic and amateur. It gives me reservations. Well, I'm happy to report, it was better than that last night

The show has so many highlights, it's hard to know where to begin! Opening with Desert Rat is always a good move! This has been one of my favorites since the first time I heard it! Zac was definitely missed, the first set had two songs with mando references--lost in the embrace of amanda lynn (a mandolin, get it?) and 'we NEED a mandolin' from In These Parts. Clearly Zac was on a few minds but musically, there wasn't a hole left where he should have been. Asher Fulero (keys from opening act Blue Turtle Seduction) sat in for the nearly the entire show, he added a lot~gave the songs a lot of ambiance and space.

I was impressed with the new tunes I heard--Stillhouse and Brokedown. I'm especially fond of Brokedown, much like Queen Elizabeth, a soulful Erik Yates ballad. Although this one is a duet, Nat and Erik trading verses, love it! The first set also brought us a few highlights from their Denver NYE run in the form of Talking Heads tunes, life during wartime, burning down the house, gotta love that! They were well done, having Asher on keys helped! Naive Melody! Always love covers of this tune! Excellent first set! and the crowd was perfect, full but plenty of dancing room in the back! A super chill crowd that was young! and ready to dance!

Second set started with a bass solo, the rest of the band eased in, along with Tim Carbone! YAY! and Matt Eakle on flute, from David Grisman's band. I've seen him with lots of Butter side projects, always nice to see him again. As the bass solo morphed into Every Stone We Lay, Matt Butler did his conducting thing, this was perhaps his most annoying moment of the evening. There was a great jam going, and he jumped in and squashed it, he brought it back and it was great, but I dunno...I just don't like the schtick. It was only one song, I'll give him that much.

Limbs Akimbo was a second set highlight, I'm convinced that verses are just Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes with new lyrics. That's a good thing though, turns out I love Paul Simon! They jam it out way more than Paul Simon ever has though and it gets the crowd moving! Oddly enough, I don't think people actually know what akimbo means. The dancing was wild and flailing, the kids were cutting a rug. But akimbo actually means hands on hips. Silly kids

I've Got a Feeling....Can't got wrong with the Beatles, I'm only sleeping would have been good too. The set ended with Summertime Gal, a great starting point for so many jams that I've seen! This one was no disappointment, the jam broke down into wild spacey jam! When they came back around for the back half of the Summertime sandwich, Erik's vocals were slow and eerie, so soulful, really pushed the song in a direction I'd never thought about it. Loved it!

So, for my 50th show, I was once again bowled over! I love this band! I'm really looking forward to next weekend in Caspar, last night was a great party, fun songs, great guests, amazing music, they projected really well into the space! But ya can't beat the intimacy of a small room that overlooks the pacific ocean


Set 1

Desert rat
Tear my Stillhouse down
CA king
Amanda Lynn
Turn the wheel
In these parts *
Life during wartime $+
Naive melody +
Burning down the house +

Set 2
Bryan solo, then Aaron, then Matt B, then Eric, jam >
Every Stone We Lay > EO Jam # %^&
banjo RR #%
Hugs not Handshakes
Swing & Sway
Brokedown
Sexy Bakery Girl
Limbs Akimbo ~
I've Got a Feeling
Summertime #%

E: Beneath the Blossoms <<

* Erik on sax and flute
$ Erik - Electric banjo
+ dancing girls like in Denver. But this time they were front &
center, not off to the side!

# Tim Carbone (RRE) -fiddle
% Matt Eakle - Flute
^ Adam Navone (Blue Turtle Seduction) -drums
& Matt Butler conducting
~ with Perry, Nat's Ghanian friend
<< Erik on baritone and his regular (tenor?) sax

Enjoyed the show, was kind of bummed that we missed Blue Turtle, had to get my friends some pizza...Great to see you Em....There was a very long line of folks buying tix, longest line I've ever seen at the Fillmore for same day tix sales, once inside, good sized crowd, but plenty of room, more than I am used to, which was great...I was telling my friends who had never seen them that they were basically a Blue Grass Band, not any more I guess....I loved the Heads tunes...

Tim the greeter told me walk up sales were half the crowd, much more than typical, but that's what always happens for Butter

I always thought that song sounded like Diamonds on the Soles of Your Shoes also.

Looking forward to seeing them next weekend.

Hot Butter Drum?

thx for the review Em

>>Matt Eakle - Flute
one of my favorite flute players
I love him with the DAWG

from an e-mail I just got from the HBR listserv...

FREE FILLMORE SHOW DOWNLOAD
Our recent show at San Francisco's famed Fillmore Auditorium has been drawing rave reviews from fans. If you weren't with us in person that night, we have good news for you--we've posted a high-quality soundboard matrix recording of the show on the Live Music Archive, both for streaming and download. Many thanks to our front-of-house engineer Josh Osmond for making us sound so good both in our live shows and on recordings like this one. You can find the recording here:
http://www.archive.org/details/HBR2009-01-09.sbd.m tx.flac16

been listening to it a lot! still sounds like a great show!