“What a Great Night to Be in a Really Old Theater Together”: Buttercup Celebrates Release of Send More Yellow
Buttercup at Empire Theatre. Photo by Alejandra Sol Casas
San Antonio indie mainstays Buttercup celebrated the release of their tenth album, Send More Yellow, with a fantastical performance at the Empire Theatre on Friday night.
Opening the evening was jangle pop band, John Charlie’s Heavy Love, who unsurprisingly transformed the stage into a living pop-art diorama. White-masked prop masters drifted on and offstage, hoisting oversized eyes and lips. They later reappeared in padded bodybuilding suits, dancing, twirling streamers, and lifting inflatable barbells alongside Buttercup and friends, who briefly joined Heavy Love onstage for “My Dude,” a not-yet-released psych-pop ode to emotional candor.
Buttercup made their own entrance in appropriately theatrical fashion. With pine trees and a glowing campfire arranged onstage, the theater plunged into darkness as each member emerged one by one from inside a camping tent. Dressed in lumberjack flannels, they launched into “Epithalimamum,” a pop ballad from their 2005 album Sick Yellow Flower.
The band’s visual palette has long leaned into yellow as a guiding aesthetic, evident in their band name, album titles, a yellow spray-painted drum set, and a lone bouquet of yellow roses perched on the drum stand. The color insists on warmth and brightness, much like their sound, which they describe as “art rock,” blending playful psychedelia with a touch of post-punk angularity. Even as the lyrics wander into more shadowed emotional terrain, the music remains buoyant, carried by the tight musicianship of frontman Erik Sanden, guitarist Joe Reyes, and bassist Odie.
The band soon veered to material from the new album, including “Texas Sun” and “Uncle John.” Ringleader Erik Sanden explained that the latter was written in memory of his late uncle. The song relies on airy guitar textures and steady drums reminiscent of 1980s new wave, creating a sound that feels light on its feet but emotionally heavy, with lyrics such as “everything I ever let go of has claw marks on it.” As Sanden explained, the song expands beyond a single person. It reflects on the many other “Johns” who have shaped his life and on the ways the people we love continue to live on through theit influence on us.
Buttercup quickly shifted gears with “Angel Dust,” whose disco-tinged groove and slapping bass turned the tight theater seating into a dance floor. Audience members who had been seated until then stood and danced as the band shed their flannels for shimmering black sequined suits. Odie opted instead for a yellow tapestry blazer and his signature straw cowboy hat, ringed with a sprig of mountain laurel.
Mid-celebration, Sanden shared a small logistical hiccup. The vinyl copies of Send More Yellow had not arrived in time for the show. According to the delivery notice, they were due sometime that night, though he did not know exactly when. Undeterred, the band promised to personally deliver any records purchased that evening to buyers in San Antonio.
“Coliseum” came with a pointed scolding about collective phone obsession. Leaning into the bit, Sanden delivered lo-fi vocals during the bridge of the song through a bright red landline telephone microphone.
Before closing the set, Sanden paused to reflect. “What a great night to be in a really old theater together,” he said. “…it smells like 1914, as it should.” The theater, in fact, was built in 1914.
If Send More Yellow is any indication, the band is still finding new ways to color outside the lines, making the strange feel joyful and the joyful a little strange.
