A lot of musicians claim never to read press about them, but in Steve Kilbey’s case, he read at least one instance. Towards the end of The Church’s first set of material focused on their singles, he related that one Australian reviewer’s reaction to “It’s No Reason” was likening it to “‘Puff The Magic Dragon’ on bad acid.” I’d be a bit more charitable to the single that came off of their third record, Seance, but Kilbey said their US label head at the time wasn’t too impressed and decided to not release it in America when it first came out, judging it too depressing. Such are the up and downs of a band that’s been putting out dreamy psychedelic music for the last four and a half decades.
While it was a little surprising that they didn’t play their very first single, if you count EPs are fair game in the pile of singles, Discogs lists fifty releases so you can’t play them all. That said, the band give a generous two set “evening with,” so casual fans and diehards were appeased alike. The twenty three song set also provided a broad look across their career; fourteen different records and two songs from their next to-be released record were showcased. If “Sacred Echoes (Part Two)” or “Western” aren’t released as singles, could a class action suit be filed?
I personally got some redemption, right from the very start of the show. In late 2024 I happened to be in Melbourne, coinciding with a short Australian tour that The Church did, focusing exclusively on their first four records. Of the six shows they did, Melbourne was the only one where “Columbus” wasn’t played, even though it was on the set list. Heyday for me is their no-skip crowning achievement and that song could be a long-lost R.E.M. track, perfect in mood, lyrics and guitar playing.
Speaking of, founding guitarists Peter Koppes and Marty Willson-Piper have not been part of the band for some time now, but their replacements Ashley Naylor and Ian Haug fit seamlessly in the gauzy songs that Kilbey primarily penned. Jeffrey Cain, third guitarist/multi-instrumentalist who would stand back next to the drums was unable to play tonight so the band’s tour manager was pressed into last minute duties and admirably held his own. Longtime percussions/vocalist Tim Powles was in his usual spot tucked over in stage left rear.
“Go buy some of our pretentious merchandise. Buy it for someone you don’t even like.” Kilbey’s dry wit was on display tonight, with another story relaying how they blew up after playing “The Unguarded Moment” on some Aussie TV show, playing a show in the remote reaches of New South Wales, really not liking the crowd and denying the audience the pleasure of hearing that song. Tempers flared, vandalism occurred and the promoter burst in their green room saying “I don’t know what they want but you’re going to give it to them.”
The single that now most resonates with even the most casual of fans is of course “Under The Milky Way,” a perfect collision an effective video that got tons of airplay on MTV, a beguiling chord progression on an acoustic 12 string guitar, and the only song I can think of that sparked the question “Is that a guitar or a bagpipe?” It also got a cross-generational bump when it was featured in the handful of years later in the 2001 movie Donnie Darko.
Once the band left Arista, they lost a bit of their profile and radio hits vanished (at least in the US), but they did not stop writing compelling music, and hearing ’00s songs like “Block” and “Numbers” were much appreciated. It’s easy to lament the lineup changes but the fact remains that Kilbey has put together an exceedingly capable band and being able to share the sheer quantity of imaginative songs from throughout his career was a special moment.
