Butch Walker Week: Fan Request Show

The trapeze act artists have to play with their fan base is a profoundly thorny one. No matter what level of success an artist reaches, they should always have a firm grasp on what makes their core group of fans content. I'm not saying you should follow their every request, but it's like any relationship in life, you build it and it's imperative to keep. Over the last decade Butch Walker has matured and his evolution as a songwriter and producer is staggering. There's more than gloss and sheen to his talent, but an acute depth and appreciation for all forms of music. Despite his incessant forward thinking, never relying on his past for a paycheck, he did something quite remarkable at his shows in Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta; a fan request show. People sent in requests through his Twitter account and Walker gathered them for his culminating set in each city. These shows would encompass covers, Marvelous 3 material, rare solo songs and even material from his 1969 side project. He covered the whole gamut of his career. Not stone was left unturned, no matter how old, embarrassing or insignificant, he dug in deep and everyone loved it. I honestly didn't feel he would reach as far back as he did, but I'm thankful, because there are certain songs I had forgotten about or dismissed and no matter how tongue-in-cheek some of the performances were, they were all delivered with the same intensity that Walker would give to his latest album. Opening the 1969 track "Wreck Me", from the 2008 album Maya, begun the festivities in a swinging full tilt opener setting the tone for the fan centered evening. The 1969 record is a three-piece group Walker created from his touring band with his guitarist and drummer. None of the material had been performed before these club shows and after seeing this one with just Walker and his acoustic, one couldn't blame Walker if he dug deeper into this album in the future. On "Wreck Me", he careened a superb visceral melody with strapping aggression immediately pulling the audience in for a remarkable evening. For the next twenty-two songs, Walker shifted between electric guitars, acoustic guitars and the piano weaving stories in-between. 

The jolting "Last Flight Out" from a 2004 EP teased the crowd as he tickled his six-string acoustic. "All Falls Apart", a bonus track from Letters, was a slow brooding ballad has only been performed a few times and everyone knew what they were witnessing was pure enchantment. I had forgotten about this song until this performance and it's a shame as it may be one of his greatest songwriting accomplishments. "Vampires in Love" was probably a song he was hoping people forgot, but it received too many requests for him to ignore it. He was a good sport and performed it (while cracking up a few times) and yet the Marvelous 3 song was rapturously received. "Beautiful" was performed with distinction on a twelve-string acoustic. He admitted it "sounds like a hair commercial", yet it worked in every way imaginable. On "Every Monday" (acoustic), "Cigarette Lighter Song" (piano), "Grant Park" (electric) and "Suburbia" (piano) the crowd took over and Walker didn't even need to sing a single note. He fully admitted to not enjoying some of these songs anymore but he performed them with gusto and punch as if they were new creations. Some of these songs haven't been performed in over a decade and yet they all felt fresh. Seeing these songs reminds us that there was innocence in these songs and no matter what he has accomplished in his life, it's refreshing to see the first baby steps that allowed him to mature and grow. Besides, some of these songs are absurdly appealing and can't be denied. 

Walker embraced his audience's requests while simultaneously taking them along on his personal journey. The cover songs were especially festive. Some were expected but many were not. "Always Something There To Remind Me" was spirited and sparse and had a great interplay between Walker and the crowd. "The Good In Everyone" (from the Canadian band Sloan) was revealing while "Suspicious Minds" evoked a camp fire sing-a-long. He couldn't let Elvis Presley's birthday go by unnoticed and he tore the room up with finger on the trigger strumming. Then there was the end of the set trilogy of covers that was nothing short of epic�yes, I used the word epic. The Monkees "I'm A Believer", the unanticipated but euphoric "El Scorcho" by Weezer (from their 1996 cult album Pinkerton) and capping the threesome was "Laid" by James, which has been a staple of his live set for a number of years. Its one thing to perform a cover to fill a gap in the set or to manipulate the audience into appreciation, but Walker induces idyllic delight in his liberation of these songs. 

I have watched bands with a slew of top-forty hits not muster a tenth of the energy Walker can. The relationship between artist and fan is a sacred relationship. There are ways to cater to your art and the fan's needs simultaneously and these shows were prime examples of what one can pull off. Walker has an innate ability to always make his crowd a part of the performance and not mere spectators. On the evening's finale, "Take Tomorrow", there was no microphone and it was Walker, his acoustic and a series of conjoined hushed voices bringing the series of shows full circle where Walker and the crowd became one. The most important thing for an artist to accomplish between themselves and their audience is a connection. I can say without hesitation that Walker does this better than anyone else on the road at this given time. You can manipulate someone to buy your record but you can't force them to follow you, be a fan or admire you. He has created his own paradigm built on the relationship he has with his fans. During the course of these shows, over half of the people I spoke to discovered Walker during 2004 and 2005, during his Letters campaign and the other half came from his Marvelous 3 days. Many of these people walked into a show all those years ago never having seen him but left as devout believers willing to walk days through a desert just to lap up what he has to offer. Shows as nostalgically entrenched at these could be traps for some, but as I was leaving the club, I thought back to the evening's second song, the Marvelous 3 ballad "Let Me Go". Walker sat at his piano and delivered a pensive and piercing rendition with an ultra weight on the line, "I won't be your shadow anymore". The song is about a torn relationship where one person wants to let go of the hold on them. It's about breaking free. There was a time in Walker's career where he probably felt trapped by his past, but inside Schubas, he sung this song with such ardor, it was as if he was closing one chapter and walking into another. As the song drew to a close, he hushed a whispered breath and moved on, just as he has and will continue to his entire career.
 

Anthony Kuzminski is a Chicago based writer and Special Features Editor for the antiMusic Network and his daily writings can be read at The Screen Door and can be contacted at thescreendoor AT gmail DOT com.

Butch Walker Week: Fan Request Show

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