The Church at the House of Blues
Chicago, June 20, 2009
On the way to Chicago, The Church’s van blew a tire in Iowa. The members were fine-they made their way into the city eventually and they performed a nice set in front of a respectable crowd of adoring fans at the House of Blues on Saturday night-but what is remarkable about this story is that The Church, after 30 years of rock and roll, are still required to tour in a van.
We’re not talking about a punk band that’s expected to use such transportation as a sign of legitimacy. Hell, we’re not even talking about a band that’s peddling a nostalgia show to county fairs across America well past their prime. What we have with The Church is a fully functional and relevant neo-psychedelic rock band that paved the way for more famous chart-toppers that have recently found press by plagiarizing Joe Satriani and dissing Miley Cyrus.
After reaching their commercial apex with Starfish, the band has continued to release albums for two decades since their heyday (pun intended) with equal verve, but to a diminishing fan base. There is no logical explanation for this; their albums have been consistent and consistently good and-as The Church’s performance at the House of Blues in Chicago indicated-they’ve turned their years of experience into a transcendental live show.