Perhaps it was fated to happen. But an aborted 1988 U.S. tour plan that would have put post-punk stalwarts The Church and The Psychedelic Furs on the same bill is finally going to be gracing North American stages this summer.
Church frontman Steve Kilbey says of the original scheme that, “the stars just never aligned.” But when the band’s U.S. manager Keith Hagan inquired as to the singer’s wish list for their 2015 tour, Kilbey “immediately came up with the Furs.”
Related
Back then, both bands were riding very high on a string of well-received early-to-mid-eighties albums and both, not all that coincidentally, had found greater popularity in the States than they did back home (Australia and Britain, respectively). The Furs’ ubiquitous 1987 single “Heartbreak Beat” had reached No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100, and The Church’s “Under The Milky Way” climbed to precisely the same position the following year.
Of course, in terms of audience and aesthetics, the upcoming tour is inarguably a much better pairing than that of The Church and Duran Duran, who the former ended up touring with after the original start-stop with the Furs. This trek will take them all the way from Buffalo’s Town Ballroom on Aug. 8 to the North Park Theater in San Diego on Sept. 9, with 19 additional stops in between.
Billboard is also premiering the music video for their song “Laurel Canyon.” Check it out below:
Enthuses Kilbey, “I’m looking forward to seeing them play, because they’ve always been a favorite of mine. I think we’ll get good crowds together.”
Though they’ve remained a regular presence on the live circuit, The Furs have not recorded new material since 1991’s World Outside. The Church, however, released their 21st studio album in late 2014, the enthusiastically reviewed Further/Deeper — which found them returning somewhat to the dark, moody psychedelics of much of their best early work.
And for long time fans, Kilbey promises of the live shows, “some surprising choices from our 35-year catalog.”
Here is The Church’s upcoming itinerary. Dates with an asterisk indicate The Psychedelic Furs will also play.
Aug. 7: Toronto, Ontario (The Danforth)
Aug. 8: Buffalo, NY (Town Ballroom) *
Aug. 9: Silver Springs, MD (The Fillmore) *
Aug. 11: New Haven, CT (College Street Music Hall) *
Aug. 12: Albany, NY (Northern Lights) *
Aug. 13: Hamton Beach, NH (Hampton Beach Casino) *
Aug. 14: Portland, ME (The Asylum)
Aug. 15: Philadelphia, PA (Keswick Theater) *
Aug. 16: Hyannis, MA (Cape Cod Melody Tent) *
Aug. 18: New York, NY (Irving Plaza) *
Aug. 19: Westbury, NY (Theater at Westbury) *
Aug. 21: Pittsburgh, PA (Altar Bar)
Aug. 22: Royal Oak, MI (Royal Oak Music Theatre) *
Aug. 23: Louisville, KY (Mercury Ballroom) *
Aug. 25: Minneapolis, MN (First Avenue) *
Aug. 26: Milwaukee, WI (Turner Hall Ballroom)
Aug. 27: Kansas City, MO (Croassroads) *
Aug. 28: Urbana, IL (Sweet Corn Festival) *
Aug. 29: Chicago, IL (Old Town School of Folk)
Aug. 31: Denver, CO (Ogden Theater) *
Sept. 2: Portland, OR (Crystal Ballroom) *
Sept. 3: Seattle, WA (Showbox at The Market) * w:
Sept. 6: Saratoga, CA (Mountain Winery) *
Sept. 8: Las Vegas, NV (Brooklyn Bowl) *
Sept. 9: San Diego, CA (North Park Theater) *
Sept. 10: Los Angeles, CA (The Roxy)