Missy Higgins & John Butler Say Their Co-headline Tour Is A "Nice Full Circle" Moment

A Missy Higgins/John Butler double bill gives audiences a two-for-one in terms of national musical treasures. They started their careers within a few years of each other and since then they’ve grown local and international fan bases, as well as contributing significantly to The Great Australian Songbook. Recent iconic double headline shows like Neil Finn and Paul Kelly have seen artists song swap, duet and tag – so can fans expect there to be lots of musical interplay (pardon the pun) with these shows?

“We’re not quite on stage at the same time,” Higgins explains as part of a conference call with Butler. “I think I’m on first and then John follows. I’ve got a newborn baby that’s probably going to be backstage in a pram waiting for me, so I’m at the more kid-friendly hour, and then John’s on after me to rock the house into the night.” “Rock the house into the night!” repeats Butler, laughing. “That’s fine with me. I remember very vividly having 16-month-old kids backstage in prams, and yeah, you don’t want to be playing late into the night.” As the logistics of playing music with family is discussed (Butler’s a veteran, having taken both his now 12- and 16-year-olds on the road often), he adds, jokingly, “I didn’t realise at the time, but now I’m realising I’ll be babysitting the kids while you’re on stage, but I’m ok with that. I don’t remember management telling me that, but that’s fine, I’ll just do my vocal warm-ups while bouncing little Luna [Higgins’ youngest]”.

Logistics of life aside, the chat reveals a real warmth between the two. Although Higgins and Butler have only collaborated musically very occasionally (see their version of From Little Things Big Things Grow), their paths have crossed in many ways over the last 15 years or so. “For me," says Butler, "I guess, it kind of just felt really right, coming together. We’ve both just released an album [Home for Butler; Solastalgia for Higgins] and we’re both of the same kind of school. We’ve worked side by side in many different ways, our careers have been parallel in many different ways. We’ve seen each other on campaigns we’ve worked on together as well over the years that we really love, but it did feel comfortable. For want of a better word, it is a nice homecoming.” 

Adds Higgins, “Yeah, there’s something really nice about doing it [performing] formally where you properly go out on the road together, because yeah, we’ve known each other for a long time, and we see each other, like John says, at lots of different causes that we both support. And at festivals and one-off shows, but I haven’t gone on the road properly since way back when he took me out on the road as a young support artist, and it was such an important and great help for me, it allowed me to get a leg up in the industry. So it’s a nice full circle to go back out on the road as co-headliners.”

"We’ve worked side by side in many different ways, our careers have been parallel in many different ways."

We know Higgins and Butler will play their own sets, but will there be any chance for some serious crossover during the gigs? A sneaky duet? A cover? A bit of Islands In The Stream, or Don’t Go Breaking My Heart?

“I’d love to hear John Butler do Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” Higgins replies immediately, momentarily fanning out. On the other end of the phone he obliges by singing the opening lines, before sharing, “We haven’t really spoken about it to tell you the honest truth. I just got back from being on tour in the States for three months… but if the opportunity arises…”

“Yeah, it’s probably one of those things that just happens naturally,” Higgins says. “I think just because musicians are notoriously disorganised, so it tends to be something that kind of naturally happens on the tour if you feel inspired. But I think it would be a very lovely thing to do.” When this writer suggests the audience would go mad for it (and may start going crazy with duet requests), she cheekily replies, “Well you never know what’s going to happen, so you’ll have to come to find out!”