The Church: American Tour 2010 set list

Linked videos:
PANGAEA
SPACE NEEDLE
REPTILE
IONIAN BLUES
UNGUARDED
APPALATIA
INVISIBLE
LOUISIANA
COME DOWN
MY LITTLE PROBLEM
MISTRESS
METROPOLIS
MILKY WAY
ALREADY YESTERDAY
10,000 MILES
FLY
ALMOST WITH YOU
TEAR IT ALL AWAY

Verdict: astounding on all fronts.  It was a retrospective from all their albums, starting with selections from most recent, going all the way back to their roots.  After pleading with no joy for "North South East West" in the encore, I didn't leave empty-handed.  I had great luck in snagging a set list from the stage, scanned in above!  All tickets came with a Deadman's Hand EP from the album "untitled #23" and elegant color programmes. 

Found this interesting bit of trivia on The Norva.  Apparently it's like The Ritz!  Who wouldn't want to play there, James Brown definitely liked the hot tub!  Someone at the show I met used to bartend there and said it was a "must-visit" for a lot of bands.  (Even though it's in ... Norfolk.)

Kind of serious toned until the intermission, but a bit of self-deprecating humor ingratiated The Church to the crowd, although most everyone knew that these legendary musicians didn't need to do so whatsoever. I lost my notes I scribbled, but Steven Kilbey asked why they weren't bigger in 1984, which prompted some innocent joshing at Corey Hart ("Sunglasses at Night"). Then they asked, "Why not '81?" and quipped about Kim Carnes.  There were some inevitable Men at Work jibes in there too. Kilbey finally asked why they didn't have better sales in '83, then Marty Wilson-Piper mocked out a Billy Squier ("Stroke Me, Stroke Me") homage - everyone loved it.  Kilbey also threw out some commentary that the '90s was a dangerous time to play, because they were caught between the new romantics movement and grunge.  He said they were some kind of hybrid or other hard to place movement -  " 'motes," a.k.a. darker than most, or something like that, and I think he also got a jibe in that all these "emo" kids nowadays are too effeminate and the 'motes would mop up the mat with them, to more cheers.  So many reasons to like them; like other pop icons from Australia, you know you're not dealing with a bunch of Nancy-boys or recycled pop-trash.  As an aside, connotations maybe only meaningful to me, I think about the austere landscapes of their homeland and The Road Warrior; they don't suffer from a lot of wuss attitudes down there.  This music is going to be real. Lots of impromptu glimpses into their personality that evening were especially memorable because that enigmatic and brilliant soul of theirs has attracted people like me for so long.