The Church invited their fans to share an evening of celebration and nostalgia. Despite being sold out, it was an intimate experience. The ever charismatic front man Steve Kilbey commanded the stage immediately, starting with 'When you were mine' from their 1982 album The Blurred Crusade. Young and original fans were enthralled and delighted.
The band were polished and tight, its fair to say they've still got it but to be honest, they never really lost it. Over two and half hours they traversed four albums spanning 1981 to 1985, time traveling fans through a carefully curated discography of the band's lyrical and creative genius. When Kilbey speaks, we listen. Punctuating the set list with funny and whimsical stories of his songs origins, he shared a small window into the curious nature of love and life as captured through his song masters eyes.
The sound of the Church is expansive, big and all enveloping. The crescending guitars of Ashley Naylor from Even and former Powderfinger Ian Haug took centre stage, complementing and competing for fans attention with the bands clever time signatures and rhythmic melodies. The craftsmanship of Naylor was evident as he effortlessly guided through the set list with Haug providing the pace and lift. The magnificent guitar work of Jeffrey Cain on the 12 string acoustic and keyboards with Kilbey on bass, ensured they all did justice to the bands legacy of pure, jangling guitar alchemy. It would be remiss to not mention long time collaborator, drummer, percussionist and producer Tim Powles who was equally outstanding.
And now to the setlist. Covering 13 songs in set 1, for me the highlights were "Already Yesterday", "Belair", "Life Speeds Up", "Electric Lash" and "She Never Said" (a favourite of Kilbey's daughter Aurora). The short interlude was a welcome break to catch breath and grab some merch for Ausmusic T-Shirt Day next week. Diving straight into set 2, the band played 13 more songs switching between Of Skins and Heart, The Blurred Crusade, Seance and Heyday. The stand out songs were "Myrhh", "Is This Where You Live", "Tantalised" and of course, "The Unguarded Moment" which took us straight back to where it all began. The seated front section jumped to their feet during the encore to the classic hits "Metropolis" and "Under the Milky Way". A generous gift to fans who cheered and didn't want the night to end.
Don't miss this tour! Tickets available here
Setlist One: 1. When You Were Mine 2. Tear It All Away 3. Already Yesterday 4. Belair 5. Life Speeds Up 6. Just For You 7.Disappear 8. Fly 9. One Day 10. Electric Lash 11. She Never Said 12. Almost With You 13. You Took
Setlist Two: 14. It Doesn't Change 15. Myrhh 16. Secret Corners 17. Columbus 18. Tristesse 19. Is This Where You Live 20. It's No Reason 21. Travel By Thought 22. For a Moment we're Strangers 23. An Interlude 24. The Unguarded Moment 25. Tantalised 26. Don't Look Back
Encore: Metropolis and Under The Milky Way.
Words: Cathi Margherita
Images: Peter Dovgan
