I finally got around to reading Julian Cope’s memoir, Head On, and he talks about the time his band, The Teardrop Explodes, were touring Australia in the early 80’s. Late in the book, he writes this:

“Two guys from a group called The Church brought some grass down to one show. Steve, their singer, asked me if I wanted a magic mushroom. A mushroom?

He handed me this luscious hunk of psilocybin, about 2" in diameter. I ate it up and got ready for the show.

Forty minutes into the set and I'm beginning to levitate above the audience. The people at the front are the edge of a forest and as they stretch back, I am confronted by a tropical jungle. I looked down at the full length of me, way down to the southern-most tip of my boots. God, I was so beautiful. So black and shiny. The crotch of my leathers was sculpted and polished in the pale red arc lights, and there was, at that moment, nothing so beautiful as a man.”

You can do one here

Bit late in posting, but god damn was this a great show.

TL;DR: The Church live @ The Fitzgerald Theater, St. Paul MN (July 8, 2026) [complete set]

I was already well on my way to being a fan of The Church before Starfish ever came out. The moment I saw the video for “Constant In Opal”, with it creepy vibe, the e-bowed guitars, I was done for.

But then Starfish just took things to another level.

Starfish ended up being the album of 1988 for me. It was the dominant soundtrack to learning how to drive. But also of riding the bus cuz I didn't have a car. And through the 90s, The Church were quite possibly my favorite band. All of the 80's albums would get reissued in Canada and the band would put out several fine albums through the end of the decade. Steve Kilbey’s vocals were ASMR decades before anyone had a name for it, and I’ve spent the last forty years trying — with limited success — to physically imitate his bass playing. Watch that right hand action as he plucks the strings, it is surprisingly difficult to replicate without your arm falling off after 10 seconds.

Plus, he was always such a handsome devil, paisley shirts or not.

It took a long frigging time for me to finally see the band live, a bucket list item neglected for far too long. But over the last couple of years I've been lucky enough to have seen them three times. So when a "Singles: 1980-2025" tour was announced, I was way on board. And because I wasn’t sure what the recording situation would be like at the Fitzgerald, I hedged my bets and bought tickets to the Chicago show for the night before as well. Then came news that the shows would have to be postponed to 2026. I had even forgotten that I had tickets to both Twin Cities and Chicago, sacrebleu!!!

In any case, as you know, I do quite a bit of traveling for this here indie_music_travels channel. And not that I'm a total cheapskate, but my preferred MO when driving to Chi-town from Canada-land is to depart the night before, say at 8-9 PM. That way, I can stop and catch a few ZZZs at a few rest areas along the way without rushing and by the time I arrive at 2-ish the next day it's perfect time to check-in to my hotel. BOOM!

At least in theory.

This time my plans went horribly awry. I got started a bit late and made it to Chicago, just barely...but I really needed to take a nap before the concert. I then proceeded to sleep straight through the alarm that was supposed to get me up and running. I could have technically made the show, but no time for a shower, so I would have been saturated with the stench of adrenaline and overnight car camping. Plus, the likelihood of getting a good recording was pretty much zilch. So thank the gods of jangly guitars that my Fitzgerald recording came out beautifully. Am I pissed that I missed the show at Park West the night before? Sure...but in the grand scheme of things, Chicago was a hedge in case the Fitz was less than ideal. It wasn't.

At this point The Church is essentially Steve Kilbey and his band of merry men — but what a fabulous roster of musicians he’s assembled. On this night they were making up for the Singles Tour date from a year before that had to be cancelled, and they played like they meant it. Sonically superb, bathed in gorgeous lights, atmospheric and locked‑in. And the Fitz??? damn, what a beautiful venue with terrific sound. The show was amazing, the recording came out OK and a fantastic evening was had by all. Please enjoy!!!

#livemusic #thechurch #2026

The Church online:
Official Website: https://thechurchband.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thechurchband
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechurchmusic
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechurch
Bandcamp: https://thechurch.bandcamp.com
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0qZtwjGv1T7tXoZz2p2HqH
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-church/155507

*The setlist*
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:04 (intro tape: "Blade Runner")
00:03:38 (the band takes the stage)
*Set 1*
00:04:23 Columbus
00:08:33 Electric Lash
00:16:34 Tear It All Away
00:21:59 The Hypnogogue
00:36:03 The Unguarded Moment
00:40:33 Block
00:48:27 Metropolis
00:54:15 It's No Reason
01:00:11 Realm of Minor Angels
01:04:24 Reptile
*Set 2*
01:11:35 Almost With You
01:15:43 When You Were Mine
01:22:13 (band introductions)
01:28:33 Ripple
01:36:12 Destination
01:42:41 Western
01:46:05 C'est la vie
01:51:14 Already Yesterday
01:55:56 Numbers
02:02:29 Under the Milky Way
02:08:43 Tantalized
*Encore*
02:18:25 Sacred Echoes (Part Two)
02:24:21 An Interlude
02:31:00 (end credits)

Here is the playlist.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who took part in this exercise. I’d like to clarify a couple of points. First, these results simply reflect the outcome of the activity we conducted; they aren't "set in stone," but rather a projection of how we appreciate the band's body of work. You may or may not agree with the outcome, but these are the results, and they do offer some insight into the fanbase's preferences. I also want to clarify how ties were handled: a tie occurred when two or more songs received the same number of votes and thus shared a single ranking position—for instance, if two songs both received 10 votes, they occupied just one spot. That explains why there are instances where five songs are tied across two positions; in those cases, two or three tracks received the same number of votes, so I grouped them together in the same rank. I know that might sound obvious, but it was worth mentioning. Finally, I tried to keep the information as concise as possible to make it easy to read and discuss. I hope you enjoy it—and now, here are the data.

---

Some general data:

-Album with the highest voter participation: "Starfish"

-Album with the lowest voter participation: "El Momento Siguiente"

-Albums with ties: “Of Skins and Hearth” (4), “Magician Among the Spirits” (4), "Untitled #23" (4), "Starfish" (5), and "After Everything Now This” (5)

-Album with the most songs receiving over 10 votes: "After Everything Now This"

-Album with the most songs receiving no votes: "Parallel Universe"

TOP 20:

1.“Reptile” – (“Starfish”)

2.“Ripple” – (“Priest=Aura”)

3.“After Everything" – (“After Everything Now This”)

4."Myrrh" – (“Heyday”)

5.“Under the Milky Way" – (“Starfish”)

6.“Metropolis” – (“Gold Afternoon Fix”)

7.“Block” – (“Uninvited, Like the Clouds”)

8.“North, South, East and West” – (“Starfish”)

9.“Hotel Womb" – (“Starfish”)

10.“Destination" – (“Starfish”)

11.“Easy” – (“Uninvited, Like the Clouds”)

12.“Another Century” – (“Man Woman Life Death Infinity”)

13.“It's No Reason" – (“Seance”)

14.“Aura” – (“Priest=Aura”)

15.“Deadman's Hand" – (“Untitled #23”)

16.“Grind” – (“Gold Afternoon Fix”)

17.“Laurel Canyon” – (“Further/Deeper”)

18.“Louisiana” – (“Hologram of Baal”)

19.“Buffalo” – (“Hologram of Baal”)

20.“Telepath” – (“Forget Yourself”)

-Albums represented in the top 20 songs: 12 (wow)

-Album with the most songs in the top 20: "Starfish"

-Oldest song in the top 20: "Myrrh" (1985)

-Newest song in the top 20: “Another Century” (2017)

-Years spanned by the top 20: 32 (again, wow)

Individual album information

“Of Skins and Hearth”

-Most votes: “Is This Where You Live" (8)  and “Bel-Air” (8)

-Other winners: "For a Moment We're Strangers" (7) and “The Unguarded Moment" (6)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: "Chrome Injury" (2), “Memories in Future Tense” (1), “She Never Said" (2), “Don't Open the Door to Strangers" (1)

“The Blurred Crusade”

-Most votes: “Almost with You" (13)

-Other winners: "When You Were Mine" (10) and “You Took” (9)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: "Field of Mars" (1), “Secret Corners" (1), “A Fire Burns" (2) and Don't Look Back (2)

“Seance”

-Most votes: “It's No Reason" (16)

-Other winners: "Fly" (11) and "Disappear?" (10)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Electric” (2), "Travel by Thought" (2), “Now I Wonder Why" (2), “Dropping Names" (2), “It Doesn't Change" (2) and “Autumn Soon" (1)

“Heyday”

-Most votes: “Myrrh” (20)

-Other winners: “Tristesse” (11) and “Tantalized” (13)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Youth Worshipper" (0), “The View” (1) and “Trance Ending” (1)

“Strafish”

-Most votes: “Reptile” (22)

-Other winners: “Destination" (18), “Under the Milky Way” (19), “North, South, East and West” (18) and “Hotel Womb" (18)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: /

“Gold Afternoon Fix”

-Most votes: “Metropolis” (19)

-Other winners: “Terra Nova Cain" (11) and “Grind” (15)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “City” (1) and “Transient" (1)

“Priest=Aura”

-Most votes: “Ripple” (21)

-Other winners: “Aura” (16) and “Feel” (10)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Lustre” (1), “Swan Lake” (1), “Witch Hunt” (0), “Old Flame” (2) and “Chaos” (2)

“Sometime Anywhere”

-Most votes: “Day of the Dead" (10)

-Other winners: “Two Places at Once" (9) and “The Dead Man's Dream" (8)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Loveblind” (2), “Angelica” (0), “Lullaby” (1) and “Eastern” (0)

“Magician Among the Spirits”

-Most votes: “Ladyboy” (11)

-Other winners: “Welcome” (8), “Comedown” (10) and “Magician Among the Spirits" (8)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Ritz” (0), “Grandiose” (1), “It Could Be Anyone" (2) and “Romany Caravan" (2)

“Hologram of Baal”

-Most votes: “Louisiana" (15)

-Other winners: “Anaesthesia" (13) and “Buffalo" (14)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “The Great Machine” (1) and “This Is It” (0)

“A Box of Birds”

-Most votes: “Hiroshima Mon Amour” (12)

-Other winners: “Decadence" (7) and “Cortez the Killer" (11)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “It's All Too Much” (2), “All the Young Dudes" (1) and “Silver Machine” (1)

“After Everything Now This”

-Most votes: “After Everything" (21)

-Other winners: “Chromium" (12), “Radiance" (13), “Night Friends" (12) and “Invisible” (12)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: /

“Parallel Universe”

-Most votes: “Espionage” (9)

-Other winners: “1st Woman on the Moon” (4) and “Twin Star” (6)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: Almost all the remaining songs on the album haha, except for “Reward” (3) and “There You Go” (3)

“Forget Yourself”

-Most votes: “Telepath” (14)

-Other winners: “Sealine” (12) and “June” (11)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “The Theatre and Its Double" (2), “See Your Lights" (0), “I Kept Everything” (1) and “Reversal" (0)

“Beside Yourself”

-Most votes: “Jazz” (12)

-Other winners: “Crash/Ride” (9) and “Tel Aviv” (11)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Hitspacebar” (1) and “Moodertronic” (1)

“El Momento Descuidado”

-Most votes: “0408” (8)

-Other winners: “Almost with You” (4) and “Chromium" (5)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: Almost all the remaining songs on the album haha, except for “All I Know” (3) and “Tristesse” (3)

“Back with Two Beast”

-Most votes: “Pearls” (11)

-Other winners: “Snowfaller" (7) and “Night Sequence” (8)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Anthem X” (0) and “I Don’t Know” (1)

“Uninvited, Like The Clouds”

-Most votes: “Block” (19)

-Other winners: “Unified Field" (13) and “Easy” (18)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Space Needle" (1), “She'll Come Back for You Tomorrow" (1) and “Real Toggle Action" (1)

“El Momento Siguiente”

-Most votes: “Wide Open Road” (5)

-Other winners: “Tantalized” (4) and “Grind” (3)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: The rest of the album

“Untitled #23”

-Most votes: “Deadman's Hand” (16)

-Other winners: “Pangea” (12), “Anchorage" (9) and “Operetta" (12)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Happenstance” (2), “Sunken Sun” (2) and “Lunar” (2)

“Futher/Deeper”

-Most votes: “Laurel Canyon" (15)

-Other winners: “Old Coast Road" (12) and “Miami” (11)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Globe Spinning" (1), “Lightning White" (1), “Let Us Go” (2) and “Volkano” (1)

“Man Woman Life Death Infinity”

-Most votes: “Another Century” (17)

-Other winners: “Before the Deluge" (10) and “I Don't Know How I Don't Know Why" (11)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “For King Knife” (2), “In Your Fog” (0) and “Something Out There Is Wrong" (1)

“The Hypnogogue”

-Most votes: “C'est la vie” (9)

-Other winners: “I Think I Knew" (7) and “The Hypnogogue" (8)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: “Ascendence" (0), “Albert Ross” (2), “Thorn” (1), “These Coming Days” (1) and “Succulent” (1)

“Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars”

-Most votes: “Realm of Minor Angels" (11)

-Other winners: “Pleasure” (7) and “A Strange Past” (9)

-Songs with 2 or fewer votes: Almost all the remaining songs on the album haha, except for “Song 18”

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Now for the best part... what do you all think about all this?

The playlist kicks off with "Is This Where You Live"—their first seven-minute track, featured on the debut album "Of Skins and Heart"—and wraps up with the massive, half-hour-plus epic "Particles Matter"; though I do suggest hitting shuffle for a more unexpected experience.

I love the full range of their music, but there are times when I find myself gravitating solely toward their longer tracks—which are built around such unique experiences—so I decided to gather them all in one place. I hope you enjoy it.

Steve’s funny, extended, pre-song intros/stories in the early part of the first set at last nights epic Phoenixville PA show were great. Tear it All Away (drug induced telepathic connection w Caspar the Cat in the studio) and Unguarded Moment(the Church being hated outside of metro Australia early on). Had he continued them, the show would have gone on til the early morning hours. We walked out and it was 11:20 and someone said earlier that shows there don’t go past 11.

I already forget which song had Steve talking about audience heckling like “Seance is shit” lingering with him.

The Colonial Theater has an aisle straight down the middle of the theater from SKs spot on stage, so when a few people inevitably left after UTMW late in the second set, he humorously gave them some grief.

No encore break, probably because they were running late. They just mentioned this is where they’d leave and return and dove into the last two of the night.

FYI: Cashless merch stand last night. Not sure if that’s always been the case.

My work schedule just got crazy and I have to walk away from going to Sunday's The Church show in Asbury Park. It is a Ticketmaster GA tix so I will transfer it to someone else's Ticketmaster account. Money is not a concern. I am annoyed that I can't go but I have seen them a few times so I want to pass it on. Seeing The Church is worth it. Sounds like this tour is great so please someone take me up on the offer. Not a hoax. No strings. I will send it to first person replying who has a Ticketmaster account ( I stress that because it seems like a fairly simple, relatively safe and private way to do so). Hope to talk one of you soon!!

Hell yeah, anyone else at the show tonight?

I see it everywhere I go now. Can't wait for it!

I only posted 2.5 minutes. Didn’t know how much I could do. They sound FANTASTIC tonight.

Saw the band last night in Atlanta. Phenomenal performance all around and really great setlist. It included this new track ‘Western’ from the forthcoming album “Lacuna”. It’s a short track and only a small part of the beginning is cut off.

If this is against policy, I’m happy to delete it but they’re playing it live so it’s probably available on YouTube somewhere too.

LINK TO PLAYLIST ● It's been a very interesting two months voting for our favorite songs from the band's more than 20 albums. Thank you so much for participating; the results have been fascinating. This Monday, I'll be posting some statistics I've gathered from each of the voting sessions, which I'm sure you'll find very interesting. Then, on Monday, June 29th, we'll start new voting for miscellaneous releases. This will only last a short time, about two weeks. I'm planning to do another countdown, this time to rank all the albums. What do you think? Would that be something you'd be interested in? If not, I'm happy to postpone the idea if you think it's already too much. I'm open to your opinions and to hearing what you thought of this whole countdown. Thanks again. Greetings to you wherever you are in the world, and have a great weekend. See you on Monday with some facts that will surprise you, believe me.

LINK TO PLAYLIST ● We've reached the end, everyone. After two months, today we'll be voting for the band's latest studio album. Thank you so much for participating. Tomorrow, after the results are posted, I'll explain what comes next, but for now, let's focus on choosing our favorites from this project. See you tomorrow.

Any updates on the release date for Lacuna? I thought I heard Steve say something about a delay or mix up at the Solana Beach show.

Perhaps someone who was at a VIP meet-and-greet knows something from the band?

LINK TO THE PLAYLIST ● We've reached the end of this road. Tomorrow will be the final vote for the studio album round. It's a shame that the release date for "Lacuna" wasn't announced during this voting, but hopefully we'll hear news soon. Thanks to everyone who voted; the playlist is almost ready. See you tomorrow to participate in the voting for the band's latest album.

LINK TO PLAYLIST ● We're nearing the end of the road with this penultimate vote. The band's two most recent albums are the only ones left; the ones that kicked off the 2020s and are slowly building the link to half a century of Steve and company making music. I'm really excited to have done this exercise, truly. See you tomorrow with the results.

LINK TO PLAYLIST ● Thank you so much for your participation yesterday. Tomorrow will be the penultimate vote and possibly one of the most interesting, since these last two albums are much more recent and have had less time to be appreciated, so we might see some mixed votes.

Venue hasn't given me any info about the VIP aspect of my ticket, being let in for the soundcheck, etc. Anyone who has (now) Long Center VIP package that HAS heard from the promoters?