After decades touring with Human Nature, Phil Burton has gone solo. It must be a daunting prospect, stepping out from one of Australia’s most beloved acts, especially one that relies so heavily on harmonies. He admitted to the crowd at Lizotte’s, his very first solo show, that he was terrified. But he kept those nerves in check and proved that he doesn’t need the safety net of Human Nature to wow music lovers.
Phil’s Songs That Shaped My Soul tour concept is a simple one, but a real crowd-pleaser. It makes sense, given Human Nature’s recent success playing Motown covers, that he’d stick to popular songs rather than originals. However, this show gives Phil the freedom to branch out from that box and present a much wider range of music that made him the man he is today. He told us about discovering his father’s record collection and flashed us a few of its gems. Albums like “Dark Side of the Moon,” “Hotel California,” and “Silk Degrees” – my dad had them all too. Having a similar musical upbringing, I loved hearing his covers of tracks like “Lido Shuffle” and “New York State of Mind”. His version of John Farnham’s “Comic Conversations”, the song he used to perform to show off, left no doubt that he’s a vocal talent to be reckoned with. These are songs that would never make a Human Nature set, and he clearly relished performing them for us.
Of course, Phil couldn’t totally ignore his part in Australia’s biggest boyband. After realising a song like Tellin’ Everybody, where he simply provided harmonies, wouldn’t work, he took the lead on “Wishes” and “Every Time You Cry.” He also brought us plenty of soul, including those Motown songs that packed out the houses in Vegas.
Since this was Phil’s show, he could cherry-pick the songs that meant the most to him, and the gig was stronger for it. I was a massive Human Nature fan in my teens, but they kind of lost me with the Motown era as I felt it was a little by the numbers. While it sounded good, it lacked a little heart for me. Here though Phil was in his element.
I saw this show with my parents. It occurred to me that Dad hadn’t seen Human Nature since he happened upon them by chance supporting Celine Dion at the very start of their careers. He’d never felt compelled to see a show, even though there was a time his daughter didn’t miss one. He initially wasn’t going to come to this date, but after seeing Phil being interviewed on one of the morning TV shows, he realised he would play plenty of the songs he loved and asked if we could add a seat at our table.
My mother has gone to a handful of Human Nature gigs with me over the years. Yet I’ve never heard her rave about one of them as she did the other night. I lost count of the number of times she leaned over to excitedly say “He’s so good!” She was one of the many people up dancing by the end of the night.
As for me, the passionate Human Nature fan back in the day, I felt an immense sense of pride. I loved the nostalgia of this show, hearing a few Human Nature classics but also the songs I grew up listening to. Phil’s voice was flawless, proving that while he sounds great harmonising he can more than hold his own fronting his own gig. As word spreads about his solo shows, I have no doubt that he can keep on packing out venues as he did with Human Nature. For now he’s clearly testing the waters with New South Wales dates, but hopefully he’ll get the confidence from this run and announce shows in the other states. Until then, you can catch him at these remaining dates:
16 February 2023 – Camelot Lounge, Bulanaming/Marrickville
25 February 2023 – Brass Monkey, Kurranulla/Cronulla
Image source: own photos