Live Review: John Butler Trio, The Stray Sisters, Richard Walley, Emma Louise

It was a beautiful starry night out at Belvoir last Friday, with an almost packed-out crowd keen to get their groove on. 

First up was Aussie sweetheart Emma Louise. Originally from way up north in Cairns, the charming youngster proved she has talent in spades with her stunning set showing off her wide vocal range, and her sweet, candy soprano had the crowd cheering right up until her last song, breakout track, Jungle. During the break, the audience was treated to a special guest didgeridoo performance from Indigenous performer Richard Walley, followed by a very loving blessing, which was met with raucous applause. 

Up next were The Stray Sisters; you may remember them as The Waifs, and boy did these girls bring it. Supported by two other musicians, including Scarlett Stevens of San Cisco fame, the two ladies played an upbeat, folk-country set that had the crowd up and dancing the night away. With voices that blended together as smoothly as rich chocolate and caramel, their impeccable vocals soared high and proved that sisters really are doing it for themselves. A particular favourite was Waifs' track London Still, which had almost everyone singing along and was incredibly well received. 

Coming onstage to a pumped-up, rowdy crowd, the John Butler Trio jumped straight into an ethereal rendition of Revolution that immediately had the audience up and dancing again. Butler's skill with a guitar was evident in every song that followed, his brilliant finger-picking goodness oozing out through every bone in his body. His latest single, Only One brought the funk to the Valley early. Then he took it down a notch for slow tune, Bullet Girl. Stepping up for a solo performance of crowd-favourite, instrumental track Ocean, he brought the house down about four times at each potential end-point in the almost-ten-minute song. Telling the story behind his track How You Sleep At Night and the certain WA Premier to whom it's directed had the crowd yelling profanities at said Premier for most of the song, with a very strong message about the fracking up north and the damage it's causing. Finishing off (pre-encore) with older tune Zebra had everyone singing at the top of their lungs and ended with a skat-off between Butler and the audience. As always, Butler's charm and talent was astounding and it was obvious to everyone in the crowd how much he enjoys what he does, supported by the tight, flawless performance of the trio once again.