Mellen Events are excited to present, as part of the Summer 2019 concert series in the picturesque Kings Park and Botanic Garden - John Butler Trio's ‘Coming HOME Tour' on Friday, Feb 1.
John Butler Trio will be bringing their good friend Missy Higgins along for the ride and joining them will be upcoming singer songwriter Stella Donnelly.
This not-to-be missed event will celebrate the release of the new album with John’s fan community, as well as showcase the hits that have made John Butler Trio the highest selling independent artist of all time.
John Butler Trio has expanded to a five piece band for the duration of the Coming HOME Tour, hence the name JBT+. It is taking the JBT live experience to a new level.
The latest single ‘Just Call’ drops with a stunning video today, adding more clarity to the puzzle that will be revealed with the ‘HOME’ album.
“Just Call is an earnest love song I've had for 13 years which I was finally able to finish in these sessions. This is the story of how I found my best friend and partner, out in a small town in the middle of nowhere, in a world of 7 billion people.” said John Butler.
The HOME album features the hit single of the same name which turned people’s heads for its complex mesh of poignant lyrics, industrial rhythms and a grinding electronic soul, finding its home on radio across the country.
The album is released globally on September 28 and takes listeners through an emotive sonic landscape, mirroring the vulnerabilities, joys and tensions of modern life that have shaped the last four years for John Butler.
“What you’re hearing is the destination but getting here felt like an odyssey; some rite of passage that I couldn’t go around, couldn’t go over, couldn’t go under; I had to go through.
This album is my most personal work yet and it feels like taking it on the road to connect with fans directly is the final act of delivering this body of work,” said John Butler. “This album touches on the anxieties and demons I’ve been grappling with since the last album, but it’s also full of joy, hope and redemption, and I’m looking forward to conveying the stories and passion of all of this journey one on one live with fans.”
The HOME tour will feature Missy Higgins with whom John Butler Trio has shared the stage many times over the years, creating the soundtracks to many precious memories as two of Australia’s most treasured artists.
After the top 5 success of her recent album ‘Solastalgia’ - and the birth of a baby girl just last month - Missy Higgins will return for a handful of big gigs in early 2019 alongside long time musical compadre John Butler and his new five piece band.
This special show will reunite two artists who have played a lot of landmark shows together during their formative years. For example, Missy was actually supporting John Butler Trio at Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion on the night that her debut hit ‘Scar’ went to #1 and a few months later they were pivotal early drivers for the ‘Wave Aid’ tsunami benefit show at the SCG.
The pair won their first ARIA Awards as ‘Best Male’ and ‘Best Female’ artists in 2004 and 2005 respectively and even shared their first Rolling Stone cover together.
Since those early days John and Missy have done numerous benefit gigs together and have stood side-by-side in several environmental campaigns.
Missy Higgins is one of Australia’s most beloved Singer/Songwriters. She has sold over a million albums in this country and her classic songs like ‘Scar’, ‘The Special Two’, ‘Where I Stood’, ‘Steer’, ‘Unashamed Desire’, ‘Everyone’s Waiting’ and ‘Futon Couch’ have earned her 23 ARIA Award nominations.
“It will be so good to get out of the house and get back on the road alongside John and his band”, said Missy. “I have great memories of all those gigs I did with him when I was first starting out and it will be great to play some really special venues together again after all these years.”
Stella Donnelly’s debut EP ‘Thrush Metal’ was written over the space of two years; a musical undertaking resulting in a bold and unapologetic repertoire of songs which has propelled Donnelly to the forefront of the new guard of Australian songwriters.
In 2017, the Fremantle resident won the inaugural Levi’s Music Prize, as the ‘Most Outstanding Talent’ at Brisbane’s Bigsound conference, a swathe of Western Australian Music Industry Awards, and triple j’s ‘Unearthed Artist of the Year’ award.
Donnelly’s relatable way of writing is her lens to the world in which we live, a glimpse into what it’s like to be a millennial woman in the age of Trump, Tinder and third wave feminism. With a debut album in the works, Donnelly has an astronomical year ahead of her.
This show and its stellar line up promises to be the ultimate evening of tunes and chill amongst the trees, this coming February.