Want a hit? Visit the Hypnogogue!

It’s now an unbelievable 43 years down the track and Steve Kilbey and his merry band of minstrels are still out on the Old Coast Road, quietly sliding into town just for one night only, to astound and beguile as only they know how.

Experiencing yet another purple patch, the Church seem properly chuffed to be back in Melbourne touring their 26th album ‘The Hypnogogue’, with live shows and the album itself lauded by critics and fans alike. Tonight is their opportunity to showcase this rather ambitious proggy concept album, with 9 out of 12 songs featuring in the two and three quarter hour setlist.

For those dipping in and out of The Church’s career and now hastily playing catchup, their story is a long and chequered one. Steve has always been at the helm but long-serving members have come and gone, sometimes wobbling the foundations and less devout disciples can be forgiven for fearing an uncertain future…

All fears proved unwarranted because thankfully the hero of this story is constant in opal –  and kaleidoscopic in colour, pattern and clarity. Steve Kilbey is arguably one of the world’s most prolific, creative and enterprising songwriters with an enviable work ethic to boot. He’s also learned to never doubt his muse.

With reportedly more than 70 albums under his belt (and counting) – and a notoriously short creative concentration span – these days Kilbey chases his gold afternoon fix by habitually flitting from one interesting collaborative project to the next, all the while hoping his audience will be curious enough to follow along for the ride. I wager his diary must be perpetually full but thankfully for us, The Church remains a creative focal point and with Steve it’s always been about quality over frequency.

To keep it fresh this time around, the band have burgeoned to a powerful and vibrant 6-piece, featuring two drummers (Powles/Meredith) underpinning a 4-guitar attack (Kilbey/Naylor/Haug/Cain). Steve has played it smart, surrounding himself with the best in the business – adept, multi-skilled sidemen who he trusts to bring it every night. They have worked hard to win his confidence and now have the job of taking the back catalogue, unearthing under-appreciated gems and applying some fresh spit and polish.

Steve has delegated setlist choices to Ashley Naylor and Ian Haug (dual lead guitarists and massive Church fans in their own right) and they have campaigned smartly to promote their favourites from the back catalogue – some Steve was strongly averse to playing – classic songs that most strongly embody the essence of this band.

Tonight we’re very well looked after in that department and it’s a veritable smorgasbord. Of the songs played, we are treated to 9 songs from Hypnogogue, 4 from Starfish, 2 from Gold Afternoon Fix, Heyday, & The Blurred Crusade and then 1 each from Further Deeper, Magician Among The Spirits, Of Skins & Heart and Priest = Aura. It’s a magic carpet ride through an enviable canon of work.

The show is lengthier than normal shows of the past, a heady 25 songs in duration and despite the band considerately dividing it in two halves with a lengthy intermission, some punters with weak bladders and/or sore bottoms from the unforgiving Palais seats find this a bridge too far and a scattering of them peel off three songs early for a comfort stop. Ces’t La Vie.  

In a rather quaint programming touch the interval is bookended with the rarely played ‘Fly’ and ‘One Day’ from Séance. Two thumbs up from the trainspotters!

The production values of the Hypnogogue show also play a big part in helping take this enterprise to another level entirely. A combination of savvy lighting sets and evocative video montages imbue each song with a visual spice. Combined with great sound, tonight we’re treated to familiar material but in a totally new light, played respectfully but in no way slavish to the originals – slightly evolved in passages but delivered more powerfully and self-assuredly than ever before. The between-song repartee is also classic Kilbey, and he’s matured beautifully, effortlessly taking the piss as he introduces his least favourite song ‘The Unguarded Moment.’ The crowd warm to his friendly, self-deprecating manner and it sets a welcome relaxed tone for the evening.

These young Hypnogogue tracks are exquisite on first listen and slot in easily alongside their sibling counterparts, which is just testament to Kilbey’s consistent quality writing.

Despite being an overly long evening for some in the audience, tonight is an unmitigated triumph.
There’s really nothing quite as satisfying as rocking up to a gig by your favourite band and seeing them getting everything so damned right.

If you’re reading this Steve, now you’ve got the sound and vision aspect so beautifully realised, all that’s really needed now are the oil burners and incense sticks for the full sensory experience!

Happily, it would seem fresh chapters still lie ahead for The Church with rumours circulating that the next album is all but written and recording scheduled to take place at the end of the tour.

The Church’s ‘Hypnogogue’ show has a little something for everyone. As Kilbey himself so aptly put it on the night,…

“It’s part Human, part Animal, part Machine, part Drug, part Tantric Sex, part Occult, & part AFL!”  

In 43 years of live playing, the band have never sounded better…

For a certified hit, I can highly recommend a visit to The Hypnogogue!

***** Stars out of *****.

Set 1

Ascendence (Hypnogogue)

Destination (Starfish)

Metropolis (Gold Afternoon Fix)

Columbus (Heyday)

No Other You (Hypnogogue)

Kings (Priest = Aura)

The Unguarded Moment (Of Skins & Heart)

Flickering Lights (Hypnogogue)

The Hypnogogue (Hypnogogue)

Hotel Womb (Starfish)

Antarctica (Hypnogogue)

Old Coast Road (Further/Deeper)

Albert Ross (Hypnogogue)

Fly (Seance)

Set 2

One Day (Seance)

Comedown (Magician Among The Spirits)

Almost With You (The Blurred Crusade)

C’est la vie (Hypnogogue)

Under the Milky Way (Starfish)

Grind (Gold Afternoon Fix)

I Think I Knew (Hypnogogue)

Tantalized (Heyday)

Second Bridge (Hypnogogue)

Encore:

Reptile (Starfish)

You Took (The Blurred Crusade)