Butch Walker - North Star Bar - Philly

So I mentioned on air that I went to see Butch Walker in Philly Friday night. He's been called my man crush by many. I call him the best song writer today. The best Producer, which he was named by Rolling Stone in 2005. And one the best live performers you'll ever see. He's produced the likes of Avril Lavigne, Pink, Tommy Lee, Fall Out Boy, and Sevendust to name a few. So he came to Philly at a seedy venue called the North Star Bar. Basically a row home made into a small concert venue and a bar. He's promoting his new record, Sycamore Meadows. Show was sold out. Few hundred people I guess. There was a opening act, Jesse Malin. Stop telling stories that go nowhere. He wasn't that good either. Then Butch hit the stage solo on piano and opened with a new track called Atlanta. He switched back and forth from acoustic guitar and piano for a few songs, then his band came out and they ripped into the first track off the new record, The Weight of Her. He performed the entire new record, as well as alot from his 2004 release, Letters, a Neil Young cover, and one song, The Taste of Red, off of his last record, The Rise and Fall of... Alot of the new record is about his house burning completely to the ground and losing everything he ever had last November, which was burning when he was performing a show at Maxwell's in Hobokon that I was at, and lots of breakups. Butch isn't for everyone. If you wanna rock out, check out Left of Self Centered or any of his records with his old band, Marvelous 3. And if you have old cassettes from the 80's, early 90's, he was the lead guitarist for band named Southgang. I'm surprised by the amount of people I know that have those two records. Friday night was also his 39th birthday. The crowd sang him Happy Birthday before the encore. He can do it all. Ballads, rock songs, piano, guitar, or just sit there and listen to the crowd word for word every lyric of "The Best Thing You Never Had". That was really cool. It was a great night. Check out Butch. Buy or download a record of his. Go to Myspace or ButchWalker.com for more info on Bradley Glenn Walker, or Butch if you like...