The The: 10 Must-Hear Songs From The British Post-Punk Icons

Not to brag, but this scribe was fortunate enough to review The The’s show at Melbourne’s State Theatre back in 2018 – the band’s first Australian tour in three decades – and it was life-changing. There was much soul-uplifting dancing going down inside this lush theatre setting as well.

The The also typically impose phone bans at their shows, which is a bonus.  

A statement on The The’s website revealed that there will be no support band for the Ensouled World Tour. Instead, the band will play two sets—Ensoulment in its entirety and then a classics retrospective set—separated by an intermission.

The band members for The The’s live comeback were announced in 2018 on the band’s official Facey page: Matt Johnson (vocals, guitars), Barrie Cadogan (lead guitar), DC Collard (keys, melodica), James Eller (bass) and Earl Harvin (drums). 

Writing this piece has made me froth even more in anticipation of The The’s upcoming Australian dates, especially the Sydney Opera House shows. Hmmm, the The The live experience will definitely benefit from Sydney Opera House’s recent acoustics upgrade as well (*searches flight prices to plan a cheeky gig getaway*)!

Here are 10 The The songs we just can’t wait to experience live:

1. Uncertain Smile

We always knew The The’s first-charting song would be a set highlight of their State Theatre gig, but according to my review, Uncertain Smile was “the undisputed standout of [that] evening's entire performance”. 

With its intro that kind of sounds like popcorn popping, cautiously hopeful guitar riff, measured bass and shimmering tambourine, this song’s a slice of aural bliss. We’re definitely hanging out for the show-offy extended piano outro (if you can find a better example out there, please let us know). And DC Collard, with his effortlessly cool vibe (he was actually wearing dark shades on that occasion) and “rapid-fire blur of phalanges”, certainly let us have it – I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it!       

Fun fact: The story goes that Jools Holland rode a vintage Norton motorbike to the studio, dressed in full leathers in the height of Summer, to record his iconic Uncertain Smile piano parts back in the day. He then improvised this GOAT piano contribution on a baby grand, which was recorded in one take, and then got back on his bike. We’re simply not worthy!  

2. Sweet Bird Of Truth

“This is your captain calling/(With an urgent warning)” – this song simply bursts with sonic detail and also somehow encapsulates a heat haze on a dripping-sweat scorcher of a day. The brass sounds violent and Johnson’s speak-sung verses are arresting AF.

It’s been said that the entire Infected record, but particularly Sweet Bird Of Truth, was influenced by Tom Waits (who Johnson had asked to produce the album, but he wouldn’t commit). As for rhyming “naming” with “maiming” – that’s some lyrical mastery right there. Prepare to be wowed by the all-encompassing bleakness of this tune, which criticises the US's military involvement in Middle Eastern politics.

3. Slow Train To Dawn

Johnson admitted to NME that this song, which is basically about infidelity, is partly autobiographical: "I get myself into a lot of difficult situations. I feel I have to live out what I write about. I don't feel it's fair if I've never done the things I'm singing about. So I've done everything. I've lived out the lives of the characters."

PLEASE play this one, The The! The rabble-rousing brass, niggly, insistent keys and relentless drum attack would pop in a live setting. We get it; Slow Train To Dawn is a duet (featuring the incomparable Neneh Cherry, no less), so it would mean either sharing the spotlight with a backing vocalist (um, Gillian Glover is defo up for the task – why wasn’t she listed as part of The The’s touring lineup?) or recruiting local talent to step into Cherry’s impossibly chic shoes – cool idea! We put forward Thndo as a possible contender.

4. The Sinking Feeling

We simply ache for this sneaky song, which kicks into gear suddenly and features a descending synth riff that legit embodies its title, to be included in The The’s setlist! It’s all about that bass again, but also, this banger is a dancefloor magnet and your cue to jump outta your seat. This one has a The Doors-channelling organ solo that we’d follow into a cult as well.

Yeah, yeah, we totally get people’s hesitance to be upstanding in a seated theatre environment – getting told off mid-gig is a complete downer – but can everyone please stop being such miserable bastards? If your view is impeded, you can stand up as well, you know (unless you have mobility issues, in which case that changes everything).

5. This Is The Day

That accordion intro! So nostalgic and reassuring. As is this song's tinkling, nursery-rhyme melody. This Is The Day transports us back to carefree afternoons, drunk in the park on cider. You know what’s fun to do while The The perform this song live? Recreate the clap, double-clap beat that drives it. It's better to start practising now to avoid sore palm syndrome.  

"This is the day/ When things will surely change/ This is the day/

When things fall into place…" – never fails to put a spring in the step. Johnson's turn of phrase is as evocative and poetic as ever here. Hopefully, these lyrics will be emblazoned across tote bags and available for purchase at the merch desk again because we still regret not picking one up last tour.

6. Infected

“Infect. Me. With. Your. Lo-o-ove…”—instantly recognisable, Infected burrows its way into muscle memory and makes us dust off retro, side-stepping dance moves. This song dropped in 1986 when HIV was very much on people’s minds, so some of these lyrics carried an extra element of danger back then (see: “Nurse me into sickness/ Nurse me back to health …”).

“Run your fingers through my hai-ai-air…” – we can’t help but wonder whether Johnson dreads singing this bit now that he’s follicly challenged (ahem, bald).

Featuring a pummelling beat and syncopated percussion, Infected’s unexpected brass fanfare hits like a siren as well—pure bliss. 

7. Heartland

“Let the poor drink the milk while the rich eat the honey/ Let the bums count their blessings while they count their money…” – Heartland is lyrically heavy – it’s about London's high-rise evolution) – but also deceptively floaty and lush, melodically.  

Here, we’re afforded another opportunity to worship at the altar of DC Collard – we’re not worthy! Prepare to be glued to the spot with mouth agape, turning your head left to right – like one of those county fair rotating heads – and exchanging well-impressed glances with your gig buddies during his solo.

8. Cognitive Dissident

ICYMI: Ensoulment, the first album of new The The songs in 24 years, is scheduled for release on 6 September. Meanwhile, we can’t wait to hear the brilliantly titled Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave Of William Blake.

Lyrically, Johnson reflects on a changing London during Ensoulment’s lead single: “The unthinkable is now thinkable/ The poison? It’s drinkable…” – his delivery harks back to Sweet Bird Of Youth’s verses, too.

Cognitive Dissident’s intro should accompany visuals of a cowboy chancer with armed robbery on his mind swaggering into a saloon. Then, enter Eller’s bendy bassline for maximum arousal. Yep, we totally wanna hear and feel that bottom end pulsating up through our feet during their upcoming live shows. 

9. Linoleum Smooth To The Stockinged Foot

Of course, this new song will be included because it was inspired by Johnson’s morphine-induced musings. “Because I’d been given morphine,” he recalled during an interview, “I was thinking that maybe I’d actually died, and this was a halfway house. My instinct was to get myself moving. So I’d be pacing the wards in surgical stockings with a drip, thinking: ‘I’ve got to get a song out of this’.”

Johnson was taken to hospital in 2020 after “a pharyngeal abscess that went wrong”, and we just love his initial reaction to having been told emergency throat surgery was required: “I was going: ‘I’m a singer, dah-ling! You can’t cut me up!’ They assured me that he was a very good surgeon and that otherwise, I ran the risk of dying.”

Linoleum Smooth To The Stockinged Foot – these words sound like they could’ve been penned by Charles Dickens, and we’re all for it. The demented brass parts and snappy beat are designed to pop from quality speakers, too. 

10. I WANT 2 B U

First released as a 7″ single for Record Store Day on 28 August 2020, I WANT 2 B U (and the B-side, Velvet Muscle Scream) are taken from MUSCLE, one of Johnson’s brother Gerard’s feature films.

I WANT 2 B U – the first song Johnson has written and recorded using Omnichord since 1983’s aforementioned slice of sunshine, This Is The Day – is quirky and downright delicious. It shimmers like sun glitter, and we would absolutely love to sing along with those floaty “la-la-la”s toward the song's conclusion alongside fellow ‘The The’ fans in a lush venue resplendent with a world-class, high-def sound system.    

Did you know? Few guitarists could ever even dream of standing in Johnny Marr's suave shoes, but word has it Marr himself recommended Cadogan as the only possible option for his ‘replacement’ in ‘The The’. And we're ever so glad he did.

The The are touring Australia this November, with some special shows set to take place at the Sydney Opera House. You can find all the tour dates below:

THE THE - ANZ TOUR - NOV 2024

Thursday 14 November – Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Auckland, New Zealand  SOLD OUT
Saturday 16 November 2024 – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia  SOLD OUT
Sunday 17 November 2024 – Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
Monday 18 November  2024 – Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide, Australia
Thursday 21 November 2024 – Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
Friday 22 November 2024 –Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
Saturday 23 November 2024 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Australia  SOLD OUT
Sunday 24 November 2024 – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane, Australia
Wednesday 27 November 2024 – Fremantle Arts Centre, Perth, Australia

Sydney Opera House tickets here

Tickets for all other shows here