Australian paisley underground pioneers The Church have announced the cancellation of their scheduled Starfish 30th Anniversary shows in the UK this June due to a major injury to their drummer Tim Powles. The band had been due to celebrate 30 years of their most successful album, the classic Starfish featuring their iconic track ‘Under The Milky Way’.

In a statement, the band’s said: “In the last minute of the last song, on the last night of the USA tour last week, our drummer Tim Powles suffered a nasty fall off the front of the stage and fractured his foot. Up until today we had wanted to proceed with the shows with our “miraculous one footed drummer”, but new tests reveal Tim has developed a blood clot in his leg, while awaiting surgery.  The high risk of DVT in this condition means that flying is entirely out of the question. After much deliberation today, we sadly have no choice other than to cancel the upcoming June shows in Germany and the UK - Including the 2nd Annual CHURCH WEEKEND event.  

Nobody is more disappointed by this than the band.

We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused and look forward to making it up to everyone as soon as we can.  

We would like to soften that blow by providing you with a free ticket and meet and greet when we are next in your area.

Once again, we are extremely sorry. We usually roll with the motto of - “the show must go on” … but in this case …sadly it was just not possible.”

 Refunds will be available from your point of purchase. If you have made special arrangements to travel to London for the VIP event that are non-refundable, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 Cancelled dates:

Sat 8th/Sun 9th June - ‘Of Seance and Starfish’ - The Church Weekend, Bush Hall, London

Mon 10th June - Manchester Club Academy

Tues 11th June - La Belle Angele, Edinburgh

A ringing 12-string guitar introduction. A dreamlike lyric that seems to hold the cosmos in its hands. It’s still the most recognisable, covered and widely beloved song in the catalogue of a band that’s released a remarkable 26 albums, and it is 30 years old this year. The song is ‘Under The Milky Way’, from The Church’s most successful album, Starfish.

In 2019, the Australian paisley underground pioneers are still enjoying the unique celebrations, which started with a sold-out appearance at the Meltdown Festival in London on the personal invitation of curator, The Cure’s Robert Smith.

For these shows, Starfish will be performed in its entirety, along with a selection of other gems from the band’s career, which now spans an incredible 38 years. Starfish remains best known for its iconic singles ‘Under The Milky Way’. The track has soundtracked movies (the surreal house party sequence in Donnie Darko introduced The Church to a whole new generation of indie kids), was once voted the best Aussie song of the past 20 years, and has been covered by buskers, flashmobbers and children’s choirs. The Killers, Grant-Lee Phillips, Sia, Josh Pyke and the late, revered Indigenous singer Jimmy Little have all also made it their own.

But this is not just a nostalgia trip. The Church have been revitalised since 2014 with the addition of guitarist Ian Haug, formerly of another iconic Australian band, Powderfinger. “Ian is a big part of the band now,” Fellow guitarist Peter Koppes says. “He’s a consummate, intuitive musician with fantastic tones.” Koppes goes on to sum up the band. “Music is like inner space and we’re astronauts,” he says. It’s a spellbinding thing, it’s hypnotising. That’s why people like it. It takes them into another world and we’re here to open those doors.”

Sat 8th/Sun 9th June - ‘Of Seance and Starfish’ - The Church Weekend, Bush Hall, London

Mon 10th June - Manchester Club Academy

Tues 11th June - La Belle Angele, Edinburgh