Stage banter is an unreliable metric for rock shows. Entertaining chat doesn’t mark stellar playing any more than painful blather defuses the best music. But when the between-song banter is dramatically more animated than the tunes, something is awry. Such was the case with the Church’s recent performance at the Turf Club. Granted, the material is 30 years old; a test for any band. But the Church’s playing was machine-like and Steve Kilby’s once superb voice scraped at the trickier melodies like a blunt tool. That said, “Antennae” struck a chord and “North, South, East and West” sounded fresh and urgent.
