The Church – The Fine Line – Minneapolis MN – March 23rd 2023

First Avenue presents The Church

Review and photos by Kyle Hansen

Opening tonight was Dj Jake Rudh who runs Transmission on the Current on Thursday’s at 10pm. He also been in the music bix for over 30 years. He was playing classic alternative video on the pull down screen. Totally reminded me of old school First Avenue days.Even a Jellyfish video I had not seen in years. He did a great job tonight, thanks for all the great tunes.

Tonight was a great night for new music and reflecting back on why The Church are a great band. They are on tour for their first concept album The Hypnogogue. It is a strange trip of a rock star who falls in love. The story is interesting and a little hard to figure out so I had to read about it before I went to the show. The band kept the setlist heavy to the new album but did entertain us with some hits from the past albums. The place was packed with all types of ages. It was good to see some younger people there to see them. Steve Kilby is a very funny man. His stories were so funny in between songs. From saying they had the audacity to make a new record to joking with the band and the crowd. The stage was smaller but had some wicked lighting going on. It was a challenge for us photographers as there was a lot of blue black light type lights. Check out the shots did the best I could. Now with the new album being a concept album some bands will play it from beginning to end. They did not do that so I did enjoy that aspect. Just being if your not totally familiar with the work it can be long waiting to hear the tunes you know. They opened with the opening track Ascendence which reminded me of some Pink Floyd trippy song from the 60’s. With the lights and the song it felt like a trip back in time. During the beginning of No Other You Steve started the song then had us all doing wallaby calls or some other Australian animal. It was so fun to see them laid back and having fun. Check out the new album and while your at it relive some of their classic albums also.  Click their name above for more tour dates.

Setlist – Ascendence – Destination – Metropolis – Columbus – No Other You – Kings IS This Where You Live – The Hypnogogue – Hotel Womb – Antartica – Old Coast Road – Albert Ross – Fly – One Day – Come Down – C’est la vie – Under the Milk Way – Grind – Tantalized – Second Bridge – Retile – You Took