John Butler reveals the greatest acoustic guitar performance of all time

Posted On October 27, 2025October 27, 2025

If you’re ever in Australia, it’s a scientific certainty that within 12 hours, someone will have shown you John Butler’s performance of ‘Ocean (Live)’ from 2009 on their phone. It’s a point of national pride, and when it’s finished, they will correctly point out, ‘It’s the greatest acoustic guitar performance of all time, ay’.

So, with that in mind, we wondered what Butler himself thinks eclipses his own 12-string effort from the halcyon 2000s. After all, the acoustic guitar is all too often overlooked. Every major poll and list of guitarists nearly always omits the humble folks who don’t hide behind pedals and fancy effects, but simply exhibit pure, soulful technique.

Butler has that in spades, and ahead of his forthcoming dates in the UK, which you can find here, we asked him what he views as truly inspired, in turn. He opted for a Promethean moment from the counterculture past.

Richie Havens was a folk icon who inspired the likes of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and more in the Greenwich Village folk scene, and Butler dives into his crowning performance below.

John Butler on the greatest acoustic guitar performance

John Butler: “The first mind-blowing acoustic gig I was privileged to see was watching the original ’69 Woodstock video. There was this mountain of a man sitting down, playing acoustic guitar and playing like his life depended on it. Sweat dripping down his face, his guitar worn away by years of wild and rigorous right-hand rhythms.

“The man’s name was Richie Havens. He was singing his flagship song ‘Freedom’. I didn’t know why his guitar playing sounded so fresh yet old, ancient and RIGHT! Years later, I realised he was playing in a D open tuning. I know now that this was my first inspiration to the sound I now inhabit with my own relationship with open tunings.”

“That documentary opened and closed with guitar prophets that have shaped, guided and inspired my playing consciously and unconsciously ever since. Opening with Richie Havens and closing with Hendrix.”

“To round off the story, I was lucky enough to play a two-act bill in Italy with the one and only Richie Havens. In the mid-2000s. He played first, and my trio played last. It was in an ancient Roman Amphitheatre. Such a profound setting to be performing with one of my first inspirations. I got to share the stage with Richie singing Bob Marley and the Wailers ‘Get Up Stand Up’ together during my set.”

“One bright-eyed bushy-tailed beginner, one folk legend, two acoustic guitars, two voices singing a classic folk song. I couldn’t pinch myself enough. I still have to remind myself that it actually happened. I feel very lucky to have this memory stitched into my history.”

While Havens’ profound moment in the biggest spotlight is a stunning showcase of what a skilled musician can do with so little, Butler’s own blistering performances have channelled that mix of poignancy and humility ever since he first saw the Woodstock clip in his formative years.

Since then, he’s not only played with Havens but with a legion of other musicians.

And as any proud Aussie will tell you, incessantly, it’s uncertain whether any of them could ever compete with the Butler clip below.

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