Review and photos by Craig Eriksson.
It was around this time last year that I went to see The Butterfly Effect (TBE) – 20 Year Anniversary Show of their iconic debut album Begins Here at The Forum. It was an epic show that had many tongues talking about how incredible it was. The overwhelming response and hype from fans has led to TBE currently doing a 2025 Regional Tour around Australia.
On Saturday night we attended one of my old stomping grounds from back in the 80s and early 90s, The Village Green in Mulgrave to see The Butterfly Effect perform their 21 Years of Begins Here Regional Tour. I thinks it’s so cool when bands do these Live at Your Local gigs reaching out to a different demographic of fans by playing in smaller venues making them more affordable and intimate than the larger venue shows.
TBE are an Australian progressive, experimental, nu-metal, alt-rock band from Brisbane, Queensland, formed back in 1999. They released a self-titled EP in 2001 and then Begins Here was released in Australia on 4 August 2003. Crave was the first single released from the debut album and independent radio stations got on board and put this song on high rotation which catapulted the band to significant mainstream exposure. I purchased this album and went along to TBE’s early gigs with friends Tadius and Irene and TBE became one of our favourite ‘must-see’ live bands. Here we are tonight 21 years later still rockin’ out to them.
Hands Like Houses (HLH) from Canberra, Australia were the support tonight. They play a similar genre as TBE. Melodic-hardcore, experimental and alt-rock and lead singer Josh Raven and the band certainly engaged well with the audience and warmed up the crowd ready for TBE. Raven had a few technical issues with his microphone towards the end of their set, but he soldiered on and overall we really enjoyed HLH.
The Butterfly Effect (TBE) band:
Clint Boge – lead vocals / occasional guitar
Kurt Goedhart – Lead guitar
Ben Hall – Drums
Glenn Esmond – Bass guitar / backing vocals
Ian Peres – Keyboards. Ian is a sessional member and has been touring with TBE. Ian has also played with The Whitlams & Wolfmother.
Lead singer Clint Boge has a very distinctive voice that sends chills down your spine. Clint sings with such raw emotion, he literally feels and bleeds every word and looking around the bandroom, the crowd hangs off every word. It’s a sight to see as these die-hard fans sing along with such love and devotion for TBE. Honestly, you have to hear Clint’s voice to believe it plus hearing him sing live launches it to another stratosphere.
TBE sang Begins Here from start to end in order as it appears on the album. The INTRO has the band jamming together that seems to put fans in some sort of deep dark trance. At the end of INTRO, Clint appears on stage and launches into PERCEPTION TWIN. The start of this song has very gentle, melodic vocals with heavy riffs and blast beat drumming. The song builds up and becomes a full-on metal song. The song is so incredibly powerful with its sound highlighting Boge’s upper vocal register, clarity and emotional depth.
CONSEQUENCE is next and continues with this large sound and early into this set, the crowd is already headbanging hard and singing with gusto. Picture the crowd going apeshit and being swallowed up by TBE’s music. When you think it can’t get bigger than this, ONE SECOND TO INSANITY follows and reminds me a bit of Faith No More. This song is a fave of ours from this album and the energy and heaviness of this song and Clint’s vocals are mindblowing.
Crowd favourite CRAVE is next and shifts into a more commercial sound with harmonious backing vocals. Clint’s vocals continue to amaze and stun the audience and he is so mesmerising to watch perform. Boge’s vocal range is effortless in its scope and range as he reaches heights beyond belief. One minute Boge has a heartfelt, intimate and emotional connection with the crowd and the next minute he is rockin’ out just as hard.
We were right upfront at the front barrier in the moshpit and you feel like you’ve gone into battle. Everyone is rockin’ hard, body slamming each other, grinning with craziness, crowd surfing and inhaling the music. The energy and vibe in the bandroom was electric. Having seen TBE so many times in the past, we felt at times throughout the show that they were experiencing some technical issues as the guitars and vocals sounded distorted.
BEAUTIFUL MINE was next, a beautiful and powerful ballad from the album. I’ve always admired the strong musicality of this band. FILLING SILENCE INTRO is another dreamy trance-like intro that has driving drum beats and haunting guitars. This leads into FILLING SILENCE with Boge’s soaring vocals and heavy guitar riffs and thumping drums.
ALWAYS was another crowd favourite. Boge bleeds out the words like he is brooding, consumed and still suffering and reliving the bitterness of a past relationship breakup. The lyrics in this song are so strong and powerful:
“I can feel you against my skin, I feel you like the poison seeping into my veins, Numb with the pain, sick and guilty is the sadness you’ve given to me. I can feel you …. always”
WITHOUT WINGS is a gentle ballad sung by Boge with raw emotion and pain about not being able to live life as you’re without wings. Feeling like your life is fragile and you’re being held under water and unable to fly. Powerful! That leads into OVERWHELMED which continues on with this theme and is about being deeply hurt by a loved one.
As we head towards the end of the album, A.D is a beautiful song with haunting vocals and what can best be described as prog rock. OUTRO completes this musical journey we’ve just been taken on and is a fitting ending to this album as the band plays a dark, meditative, trance-like, driving beat and then walks off stage.
TBE played a 4-song encore with a few tracks from other albums. GONE from the Imago (2006) album, WINDOW AND THE WATCHER from Final Conversation of Kings (2008), NIL BY MOUTH is their most recent release in 2022. The show concluded with REACH from Imago.
An incredible evening with fans coming away saturated and content from rockin’ so hard to such an amazing band. The concept of The Butterfly Effect is the idea that small events can have much larger consequences.
SET LIST:
Intro
Perception Twin
Consequence
One Second To Insanity
Crave
Beautiful Mine
Filling Silence Intro
Filling Silence
Always
Without Wings
Overwhelmed
A.D.
Outro
Encore:
Gone
Window and the Watcher
Nil By Mouth
Reach
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT REGIONAL TOUR: DETAILS
