The Church's new 2009 album/onslaught of releases

"What? No, no, we're not ABBA, what the..."

This is pretty great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFGjiZ9H3Pw

Enduring rock legends The Church will play a one-off show at the Sydney Opera House in April in celebration of their 30th anniversary.

The band, who were recently inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame (watch Steve Kilbey’s induction speech here), will perform songs from their back catalogue with symphonic accompaniment provided by George Ellis Orchestra. Ellis, a celebrated Sydney conductor who’s worked with the likes of Lou Reed and conducted the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games, recently collaborated with The Church on their Hall of Fame performance of 'Under The Milky Way':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSNGejPlTAo&feature=player_embedded

The show, dubbed "A Psychedelic Symphony", will take place at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall on April 10. Tickets on sale December 10

Also jim otm:

steve kilbey aria hall of fame acceptance speech

worth a watch

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=158396410867957

― dronestorm (electricsound), Friday, 29 October 2010 09:24 (1 month ago)

OH HELL YEAH

An Evening with the church

Future Past Perfect. Winter Tour USA 2011

Three decades of the church in three classic albums.

Untitled #23, Priest=Aura and Starfish performed in their entirety in one night. In an unprecedented touring event the church return to select cities in the USA to play not one, but three classic albums in one night!

The band, recently inducted into the Australian Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, will begin the night in the present, covering the last decade with the critically acclaimed Untitled #23. Proceeding backwards into the ‘90s the band will then perform perennial fan favourite, Priest=Aura (an album not supported by a tour when originally released in the USA). And, what better way to conclude the evening than with a performance of the all-time classic album, Starfish.

Come early, leave late and enjoy three great albums in succession played live and electric from one of the great inventive rock bands of our time.

Reissues of the band’s early albums will also finally be available in the USA alongside contemporary releases, all on the Second Motion Entertainment label. The reissues will come in luxurious digi-packs with rare photos and exhaustive sleeve notes written by Marty Willson-Piper.

Constantly releasing new challenging material, embracing their past and reinventing themselves in the present, touring across the decades, performing their music in many different ways, the church continue to evolve into a unique musical entity. This event is an experience not to be missed for music lovers of all ages, creeds, denominations and persuasions.

the church US Dates February 2011

2 – Los Angeles, CA. – El Rey Theatre
4 – San Francisco, CA. – Great American Music Hall
7 – Seattle, WA. – Triple Door
8 – Seattle, WA. – Triple Door
11 – Chicago, IL. – Park West
13 – Alexandria, VA. – The Birchmere
15 – Philadelphia, PA. – The Trocadero
16 – New York, NY. – Highline Ballroom
17 – New York, NY. – B.B. King’s
18 – Foxboro, MA. – Showcase Live

We need a separate thread for that!

WHO-OO-OAH!

omg come to texas you fuckers

seriously.

Damn I'd go see that. Welcome to Chicago!

Hmm... only around $250 round-trip to Chicago. That setlist would, I admit, be phenomenal.

*blink* *blink* OMG the show last night

Three and a half hours of constant epicness

That old MM review of P=A "sending all the shoegazers home crying to their mums for new effects pedals" is pretty. OTM

If only I could have gone! I'll yet again curse this cold or flu bug I've got.

Towards the end of "A Saucerful Of Secrets" in the Live At Pompeii movie, you see Roger Waters thinking "this just isn't awesome enough yet" and he grabs a mallet and pounds away on a gong through the ending.

The whole show last night was like that (every song is an epic) and given the format (new album, old album, famous album) it was like an old Pink Floyd show from the mid-70s with this crazy intense compelling power. I know I've expounded about them for forever and this will sound like my same old fan-boy hyperbole, but this was the best show of theirs ever. Still kinda reeling from it

Hard to pick any highlights because everything was a highlight... Well, Priest = Aura of course - sort of this slow motion trip through hyperspace complete with swirly-liquid backdrop light show straight out of, er, Pink Floyd. Big standing ovation for "The Disillusionist" - Steve shouting the lyrics out like a carnival barker's last stand. Too transfixed to take any videos and really, they would just be anti-climatic.

Big standing ovation for "The Disillusionist" - Steve shouting the lyrics out like a carnival barker's last stand.

Argh. THAT, along with "Chaos," was what I really wanted to see. Such a damn shame -- but knowing how I feel today still, I suspect I would have been simultaneously too out of it to fully enjoy it last night and absolutely hating myself right now for not getting the sleep I needed.

They're playing here on Friday...

Off you go, then.

Aye, if anyone is thinking of going let me make the decision for you. Go!

Can't embed here, but check out http://twitcasting.tv/abysswit/movie/1019420#

Two dates in nyc. Will prob make it to second of the two. So excited for this.

"The Disillusionist" at 18min into http://twitcasting.tv/abysswit/movie/1019492

I've got a couple tickets for the show in Chicago next Friday (February 11th) if anybody would like to buy them from me for a bit off the venue price. Was going to go up there, can't afford it now.

iiiiinteresting! do you have a deadline? i would be interested in going if i can find someone to go with me!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzTJR5S2dQE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08P-4Xw3sNw

man. so looking forward to these shows.

Hey La Lechera I sent you a message thing about the tickets. So jealous of whoever gets to go!

wrote u!

Meantime I'd like to note that my interview with Peter Koppes is now live at the Quietus:

http://thequietus.com/articles/05653-the-church-interview

i'm so excited about this show, but my friend pooped out on me so now i don't know who will accompany me :(

great article, ned!

Thanks!

gah why don't more people love the church? i can't find anyone who wants to go to this show with me
;_;

Where do you live?

chicago

Ok, not Boston area then. Sorry, would've gone with you! :-)

Man, I wish I could go to this show. On the plus side, I'm going to Alinea instead!

cmon chicago, i can't let this be rangda pt II
(that was the last time i overoptimistically bought two tickets to a show and no one would go with me)
on the upside, that was a great show, so..?

Would go to Chicago show if I was there. Annoyed that I'm going to be in NYC only a couple days after their two shows there.

Come on, Chicago people. It's the show of a lifetime!

If this were a just world, I would have a nerdy 12 year old niece or nephew to take to this show. Sadly, that is not the world I live in.
Pretty damn excited about this show regardless. I've never seen them and now that I think about it, I've been a fan since like 7th grade. That was a LONG TIME AGO.

mission accomplished! this ticket will not die in vain. in fact, it won't die at all.

another new interview with Peter. the bit about Kevin Keller as a patron is news to me and interesting...

http://blogs.suntimes.com/music/2011/02/what_fans_of_the_church_pray_f.html

"We've almost done it a few times," he explains. "We've done repeated tours in America with filming but never had the right footage or sound to achieve what we want – and we've got loads of footage now! No one has got the time and money to sit down and properly assess and edit it, though I've tried to keep track of it all this time."

Ah! Lets hope they will be able to release properly at least the Opera House concert - a gift for us, poor fans from neglected countries.

Hahah, that's fascinating about Keller. His textbook is on reserve where I work pretty much all the time.

Show was great! I enjoyed the consistently mellow vibe, outstanding professionalism, excellent musicianship and Kilbey's animated gothy arm motions. I thanked a nameless shapeless deity that I got to sit down because the show was Springsteen-length. Here is a picture I took:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5092/5439010836_6d1de6b494.jpg

Is that the Death Star?

on the subject of live recordings...both Seattle shows were heavily filmed by members of the crew (multiple cameras) and there were notices posted in the venue about the filming. I did not get a chance to ask for details on any potential release.

are the other shows being filmed as well?

I saw a professional looking guy taking stills but didn't see video.

Yes, that is the Death Star.

I thanked a nameless shapeless deity that I got to sit down because the show was Springsteen-length.

are they doing the three-complete-albums thing on this US leg? you wouldn't expect them to ramones through 'em

Yeah they did, and obvs I knew what to expect. I was just glad to sit because it's winter and I had a huge coat.