The Butterfly Effect - Gig Review & Photo Gallery 6th February @ Kings Beach Tavern, Caloundra QLD

The Butterfly Effect
Kings Beach Tavern, Caloundra QLD
February 6th 2025
Support: Hands Like Houses

‍Begins Here. Happy 21^St

^‍If you didn’t know, The Butterfly Effect are currently touring their butts around regional Australia celebrating 21 years of their debut album Begins Here. Visiting just about everywhere from Darwin to Bunbury, Wollongong to North Queensland and more. I was lucky enough to catch their Sunny Coast show at the Kings Beach Tavern. It’s been a good 20years since I’ve been to Kings Beach and I have to say, it has definitely had a serious makeover. Nice big band room, air conditioning, located right near the beach, clean toilets and pretty decent security staff. Best of all, a nice low stage with a barrier. The room was already packed by the time I arrived.

Tour supports Hands Like Houses were up first and it was clear they had a lot of fans in the house. This was my first time seeing the five-piece and they rocked our socks off as they warmed us all up nicely. The band's new album A T M O S P H ER I C S is out now and the new songs sounded great in a live setting. The band gave us 45-mins of solid energy with a mix of classic tracks such as 'The Water' and plenty of new tunes, with new frontman Josh Raven seemingly fitting as if he'd been in the band since day one.

As for The Butterfly Effect... What can I say? No matter where or what they play, they rock. My last time seeing the band was at Wallapalooza on the Gold Coast in 2021. In comparison, that night consisted of pouring rain, humidity and the stage towering way above my head, making it hard to see. Not this time around. Trading the big giant open air stage for KBT (which you can still pack a decent sized crowd into), I crammed myself down into a tiny gap between the stage and the barrier for prime photo position. By now the room is packed like sardines – getting to the back or the other side of the room is now a mission (almost) impossible, but by the time TBE hit the stage, none of that seemed to matter for the crushed fans up close and personal. Begins Here is my favourite album. I have a CD stashed away somewhere...

I don't recall how I came across the band, but the first time I heard 'Crave' I was sold. How often do you get to see or listen to a band play your favourite album in full live? Not often and it was way better than that CD. Kicking off in order with the intro there was no mucking around. Every single person in the crowd was singing along with every single song. On a big stage at a festival, you feel a bit of a disconnect from the action on the because you're so far away from the stage and it’s a different vibe. This show, however, was the opposite. 100’s crammed into a room with the barrier space between crowd and band less than a metre apart - making them feel like they were part of the show too.

The boys from Brisbane played their hearts out with frontman Clint Boge having a chat with the crowd in between songs, telling a few tour stories, thanking us all for being there and noting the vast array of ages in the crowd; the younger generation finding their music later and the older ones of us (like me) who have been around since the beginning – "it’s been 21 years but we still look pretty good" he said with a smirk.

After the album played out, Clint did what I can only describe as a 'get you in the heart' acoustic rendition of 'Gone'. Standing alone with all of these lights surrounding him. The crowd sung along to every single word, with many people pulling out lighters and phones - it was one of those moments you'll never forget. As the show came to a close, the band excited stage left, but the lights didn't turndown. A few of us wondered if there'd be an encore and much to our approval, The Butterfly Effect returned once more to give us a few more favs from other albums, coming to completion with 'World on Fire' - another personal fav.

Want to throwback two decades with a band that still holds up after all this time? Go and see The Butterfly Effect on this regional run where you can. Tickets here