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featuring The Afghan Whigs

Live at the Observatory North Park

July 22, 2024 Review by Samuel Hill

 A musical masterclass was delivered by neo-psychedelic elder statesmen The Church and The Afghan Whigs at San Diego’s Observatory, a dark, sumptuous venue that was perfect for the sound that night.

A stark, moody stage lighting set the tone for Ed Harcourt’s performance. He took us on a journey through his latest chamber pop offering: “El Magnifico.” As he manned his station behind the electric piano on stage left, he seemed very comfortable with the set up.

The sparse and powerful arrangement of “1987” caught the crowd’s attention right away. As Harcourt powered through his set, his smooth vocals and stage presence kept the audience deeply involved. He absolutely blew the doors off with the raw, ponderous “Furnaces.” After a stripped-down arrangement of “My Heart Can’t Keep Up With My Mind,” he slid into the plinking opening of “Strange Beauty” (sounding oddly like Matchbox 20 taking a stab at late nineties Brit-pop) and had the audience firmly in hand.

Harcourt performed the moody and apocalyptic “Until Tomorrow Then” with backing violin, and one could not help being swept up in the spell as the man sang with the sweat-soaked earnest delivery of a Baptist preacher exhorting the gathered congregation to salvation. Harcourt finished his set with the epic, soaring paean, “Into the Loving Arms of Your Enemy.”

As Cincinnati darlings The Afghan Whigs took the stage, the excitement escalated under the red lights. Greg Dulli and company were tight and firing on all pistons. Not content to rely on obvious set choices, we were treated to something special: a band that was completely in tune with each other, playing exactly what the songs needed in a set that had no fat.

The Whigs are one of the few bands that are better live than on wax and tonight was no exception. Lead guitarist Christopher Thorn’s tone was white hot right out of those beautiful Mesa amplifiers, and sat nicely atop a taut rhythm section powered by drummer Patrick Keeler and bassist John Curley.

The Whigs wasted no time launching into the song “Pantomima” without much fanfare.

“The Enemy” wallowed in a pool of acrid guitar before erupting in an infectious halftime groove.

As Dulli sang, “The sun is gone / And the sky is black / So get your ass out from behind my back,” his warm vocals draped over the venue like a smoky blanket.

Patrick Keeler was absolutely out of his body this evening, creating space for the rest of the rhythm section in perfect pockets with no unnecessary fills and not a note out of place.

Briefly dipping into the “How Do You Burn?” album, The Afghan Whigs moved into the soulful croon of “Please Baby, Please” before hitting the gas and taking us to a swaggering finale of “Going to Town.” “There is a cost/ When you say/ Now we got hell to pay /Don’t worry, baby, that’s okay/ I know the boss”…wow. Dulli delves into themes of love, ego, betrayal, revenge, menace, and sex in a way that is not replicated anywhere else in modern rock. The Whigs absolutely burned it down.

There was a 30-minute intermission between The Afghan Whigs and The Church, allowing audience members to stretch their legs and get beverages. When The Church appeared onstage, the mood altered dramatically. The Whigs’ fire and smoke was replaced by psychedelic indigo and silver lighting and spacey energy better suited to the band’s ‘80’s style atmosphere.

While every “Donnie Darko” fan is familiar with “Under the Milky Way,” the group’s biggest US hit, most folks don’t know that the band has released 27 studio albums, culminating in the band’s two most recent concept albums, “Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars” and “The Hypnogogue.” Blending prog-psychedelia with a distinctly post-punk vibe has been a winning formula for The Church for over four decades, and these gentlemen showed no signs of slowing down.

With all of the talk of overarching conceptual themes, cultural importance, and artistic longevity, it can be easy to lose track of just how gorgeous this band sounds. “They sound so pretty… and shimmery,” the 19-year-old girl standing next to me murmured. An apt description.

The band began the show with “Myrrh” and their standout 1990 track “Metropolis,” with its interplay of chiming guitar. When introducing the newer material, Kilby gave commentary of the album’s futuristic, sci-fi narrative, following a declining pop-star in 2054 using a device called “the hypnogogue” to pluck images from the subconscious despite its inherent danger.

Speaking of “The Hypnogogue,” the band played that title track, followed by a luxurious “C’est la Vie” and “No Other You,” and it was easy to put aside the narrative and still let the band’s signature songwriting create an enveloping atmosphere that draws you in. The Church does not create songs so much as impossibly grand twilight-hued soundscapes.

By the time Steve Kilbey and the gang reached for the song, “Reptile” the audience was clearly ready to hear some of the classics. Staccato bassline brooding under sharp guitar gripped the intimate venue and built a sinister tension that was held for just a moment before the band shifted atmosphere again.

Moving through their set, the band gave us the achingly beautiful ballad “Realm of Minor Angels,” followed by the intricate, descending guitars of “Grind.”

“Under the Milky Way,” the penultimate song of the evening, was absolutely breathtaking as three guitars cavorted with each other in a glimmering sea of reverb and chorus. There is a reason that this song is one of their most popular: it showcases so much of what this band is about.

The Church chose to end their set with “The Second Bridge,” a haunting song exploring themes of distance, disconnection, and the search for meaning and purpose in life. Poignant and profound, and a perfect finale to the show.

As we all filed out of The Observatory into the warm summer night air, I knew that this show would linger with me for a long time to come. These bands exceeded all expectations and demonstrated the reason that they are still institutions after all this time. If you have a chance, treat yourself to an amazing show.

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