Butch Walker at the 40 Watt with Ponderosa

So if you haven't seen my last entry, you may want to check that out first. Click on the title of the entry to see more photos!

Ponderosa opened for the Black Widows last night. I had listened to a few songs on MySpace, but had not heard them live. They were a lot of fun and definitely looked like they have a lot of fun together. I actually re-met an acquaintance of mine, John Dance, who plays keyboards with the band. He'd been in a couple bands with my good friend Mike London, and it was nice to see him again.

So last night's show was possibly the most fun Butch Walker show I've ever been to. Athens is a fun town for any venue, but especially for Butch--lots of people come in from Atlanta, and if you've ever driven down 316, you know that you actually have to want to drive to Athens to even attempt to come up. The show was high energy all the way through--no typical solo Butch acoustic set in the middle. I used my phone to text myself the set list throughout so I could get time length on each song. What I did was text myself the second I recognized what song was coming up (usually within the first five seconds or so), so the times on here will give you an idea of how much time was spent on storytelling and improv.

1. Going Back/Going Home (10:32)
2. Closer to the Truth and Further from the Sky (10:37)
3. Uncomfortably Numb (10:41)
4. Pretty Melody (10:45)
5. Trash Day (10:50)
6. Vessels (10:54)
7. Laid/The Taste of Red (10:58)
8. Canadian Ten (11:06)
9. Here Comes The... (11:10)
10. Ponce de Leon (11:16)
11. House of Cards (11:22)
12. She Like Hair Bands (11:26)
13. Race Cars and Goth Rock (11:29)
14. Maybe It's Just Me (11:35)
15. Best Thing You Never Had (11:39)
16. The 3 Kids In Brooklyn (11:51)
17. They Don't Know What We Know (11:56)
18. Rich Girl (Hall & Oates Cover) (12:02)
19. When Canyons Ruled The World (12:06)

The camaraderie between the band members on this tour is just amazing--the friendship between the Let's-Go-Out-Tonite's was palpable on stage, but was nothing compared to this. Between the smiles, the quick swapping of instruments, and the communal bottle of liquor, it was clear to anyone watching that these men are amazing friends.

So the set list as you can see was pretty well balance over the last four albums and 1969's "Maya". No Marvelous 3 stuff or "Left of Self-Centered" songs, but definitely the most upbeat set list I've ever witnessed at a Butch Walker concert.

The cover of "Rich Girl" was an absolute surprise. When Butch got out the banjolin, everyone assumed they were going to play "You Belong With Me," and he even kind of playfully mocked us for that. The banjolin really added a fun component to the already awesome Hall and Oates song.

He closed the show with Canyons, which is pretty rote at this point. Ponderosa came back out to help get the audience pumped. Canyons is not usually my favorite song, but it definitely is fun for getting the audience involved. This time was really special, though. Even after the band had left the stage, the audience was singing the boys v. girls round at the end and Butch came out to conduct us for a while.

After the show, we were told where the bands were going for drinks, so we headed over first to Manhattan Cafe and then to Little Kings Shuffle Club to see the bands hanging out. Ended up back at the Manhattan to say goodbye to some folks before getting home around 3 AM. All-in-all, it was a wonderful night. I got to hear "House of Cards," which was really the only thing that could have left me disappointed. The 40 Watt is such a great venue and it was just amazing to do something so quintessentially Athens even after living here as long as we have. If you haven't picked up "I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart" by now, you really should. I swear you won't be disappointed.