Review: The Church at Astor Theatre

The Church at Astor Theatre
Thursday, December 5, 2024

When The Church were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame a decade and a half ago, the band’s former guitarist, Marty Willson-Piper, noted how hard The Church had worked at crafting a persona of being aloof and enigmatic. But frontman Steve Kilbey’s sprawling, off-the-cuff, and waggish acceptance speech instantly dispelled all that. That new-found liberty had already infused itself into the band’s live performance, transforming Kilbey from a brooding lead singer into an engaging bandleader, breathing new life into the veteran ensemble.

Last Thursday night, Kilbey brought the latest incarnation of The Church to Perth as part of the band’s Already Yesterday Tour. The tour saw the current six-piece line-up, which has now been together for five years, revisit The Church’s first four albums—Of Skins and Heart, The Blurred Crusade, Séance and Heyday. While a handful of these songs had worked their way into the setlists of previous tours over the years, it has been almost four decades since The Church have performed an entire concert featuring songs of this ilk.

Having released over 30 albums across that period, The Church have never been a band given to retrospection, but with Universal Music about to re-release the four albums on vinyl, they have taken to the road for a series of concerts dedicated to the band’s EMI/Parlophone years. And when the ensemble launched into the evening’s opening song, When You Were Mine, sure, it came with a hefty serve of nostalgia, but it quickly became apparent the band’s musical intent was more than leading us on a trip down memory lane—it was about celebrating the foundations of one of the most impressive oeuvres in Australian contemporary music.

Presented as an evening with The Church, there was no support act. And with the ensemble carving out almost 30 songs across two sets, the band’s three-hour performance remained vibrant and unwavering. As When You Were Mine wound down, Kilbey welcomed the assembled before asking them if they were ready for “Three hours of artery-clogging rock n’ roll nostalgia.” The answer from the sold-out audience was an emphatic yes, giving the band leave to launch into Tear It All Away. Driven along by Kilbey’s caressing bass, the song sparkled through the haze of stage fog before the smoke dissipated, and Already Yesterday bathed in both its evocative execution and the blazing light display.

The earliest Kilbey composition within The Church’s expansive catalogue, Bel-Air, was introduced with a story. Apparently written while still living with his parents in their Canberra home, Kilbey penned the song late one night against the backdrop of his mother repeatedly telling him to stop playing music and go to sleep. Bel-Air gave way to Life Speeds Up, a song released as a B-side to Almost With You and not included on any of the original four releases.

Here the song was given a life all its own. Tim Powles’ brooding keyboarding joined Kilbey’s flurry of bass guitar to provide a haunting introduction over which Ian Haug and Ash Naylor unleashed their exquisite guitar interplay. Jefferey Cain chimed in on acoustic guitar while drummer Nicholas Meredith not only drove the song along but also provided perfectly placed accents. Add to this Kilbey’s inflicting vocals, and never has Life Speeds Up sounded better, which was pretty much the case for everything that followed.

The set bounced around between the four albums. Just for You started with a gentle gust of acoustic guitar followed by the obligatory door knock (courtesy of Haug tapping on his acoustic guitar). Disappear? was driven along by a combination of dual acoustic guitars and Kilbey’s emotive hand gesturing. Fly continued the acoustic alchemy but added a little melancholy, while One Day rounded out the back catalogue deep dives, allowing Electric Lash, She Never Said, and Almost With You to return the audience to more familiar terrain. Rounding out the first set was the hypnotic You Took.

After a short intermission, the evening’s second set started with the murmuring keyboards of It Doesn’t Change, with Kilbey’s vocal contribution as weighty as the whirring electronics. The guitar interplay on Myrrh was as impeccable as the song’s chosen tempo; Secret Corners was short and sad before Columbus hastened the pace once more. Tristesse, a song that never disappoints, merged into the schizophrenic Is This Where You Live, where brooding atmospherics evolved to a sonic guitar assault—something The Church does so well.

One of the evening’s standouts was unquestionably It’s No Reason. A sublime piece of songwriting, the song’s recorded form has sadly languished due to its production. With Kilbey’s engaging vocals wafting out over a simple swirl of sermon-style organ from Caine, drums, acoustic 12-string guitar, and a wash of electric guitar entered the fold. When Powles joined in with keyboard and vocals within the chorus, It’s No Reason delightfully blossomed into all its exquisite beauty.

Travel by Thought, For a Moment We’re Strangers and An Interlude followed before Kilbey uttered the words, “Now here’s this one,” and as Haug picked off the instantly recognisable introduction to Unguarded Moment, cell phones were instantly raised in salute and dancers took to the aisles. While Naylor empathetically embraced lead guitar on Unguarded Moment, it was Haug that blazed away on Tantalized. Pulsating and relentless, Tantalized provided eight minutes of pure sonic escapism. And with that, Haug and Caine’s gentle acoustics underpinned Kilbey’s sultry vocals to round out the second set with Don’t Look Back.

The Church were never going to get out of the Astor Theatre without an encore, and for that, the band drew upon the Arista/Mushroom era of its back catalogue. As the sweeping downlights panned both the stage and audience, Metropolis made a surprise appearance before Under the Milky Way beautifully lulled the evening to a close.

Before congregating at the front of the stage to take their well-deserved accolades, Kilbey introduced the band. As the six bowing musicians at the foot of the stage displayed, The Church have undergone quite an evolution across its 45-year history. But tonight’s performance was a heartfelt and empathetic testament to Steve Kilbey’s faith in the band, its songs, and a musical crusade that’s far from blurred.

BRETT LEIGH DICKS

Photos by Linda Dunjey