Review: John Butler @ Her Majesty’s Theatre 10/10/25
John Butler treated fans to a magical evening of music, connection and memories on the opening night of Adelaide Guitar Festival, delivering an emotionally charged set that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
Words Oliver Raggatt // Photo Kyahm Ross
John Butler w/Emma Donovan @ Her Majesty’s Theatre 10/10/25
Music has a way of pulling you back to moments you thought were long forgotten. I didn’t expect to be writing that line when I walked into Her Majesty’s Theatre for the first night of Adelaide Guitar Festival, but John Butler proved otherwise.
Seeing Butler play for the first time in over a decade, I expected a nostalgic blast from the past. He’ll amaze me with ‘Oceans’ and then play the crowd favourite ‘Zebra’. But the warmth, kindness and true nature of the singer-songwriter shone through and captivated the audience to the point of getting this ol’ reviewer close to looking like he was cutting some onions.
Opening act Emma Donovan made an immediate impact. Her powerhouse voice carried so much force and emotion that each song felt like a finale in itself, only for her to keep building and outdoing herself. Few singers can conjure a false ending purely on vocal strength, but Donovan managed it with ease throughout her brief but mesmerising set.
John Butler nonchalantly walked out and greeted the fans with the background lit up and closely resembling guitar strings. He opened with ‘King of California’ off his new album Prism and immediately had the crowd nodding along.
Having mostly seen musical theatre at Her Majesty’s, I wasn’t sure how a four-piece band would translate in the space, but the sound was immense – rich, layered, and clear. And one of the joys of being in a theatre – there was barely a phone in sight. Surrounded by the sound created by Butler and his band, consisting of two percussionists and a multi-instrumental keyboard/bassist, the quartet captured the full attention of everyone in attendance.
‘Going Solo’ came out like a thundering train on a 12-string with the opening riff resembling Leo Kottke’s ‘Vaseline Machine Gun’. Butler’s guitar work started to shine through with his intricate fingerpicking and alternating pedals, making it hard to believe it was all played through the one guitar.
Butler’s personality also started to show. Warm, caring, and jovial – jokingly telling the audience, “I’ve got one more new song until you get some relief.” He discusses escaping society and going to the country to “do some fracking,” said ironically, of course. Butler says he should have had a trigger warning, which was, “You’re gonna get all of me!”
He picked up the banjo and started a hoe down straight out of Deliverance, describing his music as “intense bipolar folk music.” He started another song by saying, “This song’s called ‘Smoke on the Water” – it clearly wasn’t. Butler was humorous while also breaking down barriers. He opened up about living with ADHD, his father’s palliative care, his respect for Indigenous elders and his heartbreak over the Middle East – “Palestine deserves to be safe. Israel deserves to be safe. Free Palestine.”
‘Better Than’ was the first throwback of the night, taken from his fourth album, Grand National. Shortly after Emma Donavon came out to perform Archie Roach’s ‘We Wont Cry’. Her vocal ability once again stole the show. Butler thanked her and told the crowd to “buy her CDs, even if you’re staring at them while streaming. Come on, it’s the price of like two beers!”
‘Trippin On You’, ‘Wade in the Water’ and ‘Outta My Head’ followed. Then came the 12-minute guitar masterpiece that is ‘Ocean’. A beautiful song with no vocals, just 12 strings and the body of the guitar for percussion. My notes simply read: “Words can’t describe.” And that’s the truth – it was impossible to look away long enough to write more. The skill in his guitar work was unlike anything I’d seen live, transporting me back to my poor attempts at playing the same song at the age of 17. As the piece built faster and faster to its unforgettable climax, the sold-out theatre erupted in applause.
The band returned, and then came the first hints of my forgotten memories. The early signs of a slide guitar, a sense of familiarity. I couldn’t conjure up the name, but I recognised it. ‘Treat Yo Mama’ – a song that I had honestly somehow all but forgotten, but it took me straight back to being a teenager in the living room watching the film clip with my brother. Simpler times when the internet was ‘good’, when we used to play demolition derby on our BMX bikes with our neighbours and long before smartphones, Trump and adulthood. Before “The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry,” to quote Brooks Hatlen in the film The Shawshank Redemption.
Music can take you back to a moment in time and invoke memories that have been sitting dormant for over a decade. Butler did just that through ‘Treat Yo Mama’, an unexpected – not even very emotional – song.
I collected myself just in time for ‘Zebra’. The instantly recognisable opening riff started much to the crowd’s delight and to my delight – also his delight! It seems rare these days to have someone seem so excited to play their biggest hit, but Butler was having the time of his life doing so.
After ‘Ragged Mile’, the band walked off stage, but the lights didn’t turn back on. The audience knew that at nearly two hours, we still had more to come.
The encore opened with one of Butler’s most stripped-back acoustic pieces, ‘Peaches & Cream’ – a lament that at first felt melancholic, but shifted to something sanguine as he sang of his daughter’s birth “filling his half-empty cup.” ‘Leave the Rest to Earth’ was the second song of the encore, before he finished with the upbeat crowd pleaser ‘Funky Tonight’.
Before walking off stage, Butler took the time to thank everyone who made the night happen, from Guitar Festival directors, his backing band, lighting, sound, management and even those manning the merch desk, all by name. A final gesture that summed up the generosity and authenticity running through the night, it was a fitting close to a performance that felt both powerful and deeply human.
