Live Review: The Church

Around 37 years and 26 albums into their career, Aussie rockers The Church are presently celebrating the release of their latest album Man Woman Life Death Infinity. Peter Koppes is still with the band, but Ian Haug of Powderfinger fame replaces Marty Willson-Piper. Haug brings his own style to the mix but, in doing so, adds depth and power to what is largely that classic The Church sound.

Wearing green and red shirts, possibly a move designed to confuse the colour-blind men in the audience, the band kick off with Aura an old favourite from 92's Priest = Aura. Not completely focused on their latest album, The Church take us back to the '80s with Myrrh before zooming out almost 30 years later for Toy Head. For the most part it is Steve Kilbey who is the centre of attention this evening. He seems to hate playing the songs that made the band famous. "You might have heard this on the radio in 1990," is how he introduces Metropolis. At their very best The Church produce a luscious swirl of sound that is the result of some very solid strumming. Not quite goth and not quite psychedelic, their hits confound expectation with big pop hooks that have the crowd singing along, but they are also more than capable of a furious rock-out with epic guitar solos that enthral.

The only criticism here is the occasional tendency to slide into a kind of pub-rock sound which, although very particular to Australian bands of the '80s, does come off feeling more suburban than urbane. Fly takes us back to memories of pigeon-toed feet in winklepickers in the '80s. New cuts like I Don't Know How I Don't Know, Another Century and Undersea blend seamlessly into the diverse set. Rolling his eyes during Under The Milky Way, Kilbey's vocals don't quite capture the evocative mood for which the song is known. Rather, it is the wilder moments of Tantalized and Reptile that see the band catch fire. Kilbey may hate playing The Unguarded Moment but it's a chore he knows he has to complete. Predictably, this song has the crowd bouncing with enthusiasm. Unpredictably, where Almost With You might have brought down the night it's the sprawling Miami instead.

In a culture aimed squarely at youth, it's a little-known secret that musicians tend to get better with time and The Church - with plenty of rock'n'roll kick left in them - are a good example of this phenomenon.