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Just shy of two decades ago, an instant Australian icon was made with the 2006 release of Augie March’s poetic and immersive third album Moo, You Bloody Choir. With its twentieth anniversary fast approaching next year, today the beloved indie rockers announce a tour fit for such a special milestone and album, with their 20th Anniversary Tour of Moo, You Bloody Choir set to take place next April, performing the album in its entirety for the first time ever at these special shows, alongside some extra fan-favourites.
Kicking off in Perth at Freo.Social on April 3, before moving through Adelaide and Melbourne, the tour will then finish up at The Triffid in Brisbane on April 17. Tickets for go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 2 December at 9:00am local time from http://www.teamwrktouring.com/tours/augie-march-anniversary-tour and fans can register for presale now from https://arep.co/t/augie-march-anniversary-tour, with the presale kicking off from Monday 1 December at 9am local time.
“We’re a modest outfit, almost always have been, questions of age of respective members are tactfully off limits,” shares the band of their approaching 20th anniversary of Moo, You Bloody Choir. “That aside, we’re fighting fit and pretty happy that we’re probably a better equipped bunch to tackle this sprawling, ambitious, poetic, melodic record than we were first time around. People loved moo and it’ll be a series of rooms full of reciprocal love, nothing is surer.”
With a warm yet melancholic glow, Moo You Bloody Choir’s opening track One Crowded Hour instantly set the scene for something truly special on Augie March’s third full-length album. An emotive blossoming of poetry and precision, One Crowded Hour was a honeyed and clever exploration into a fleeting moment of connection, while also signalling a significant stylistic shift from the band’s previous 2002 album Strange Bird. While One Crowded Hour reached #29 on the ARIA Singles charts and nabbed the coveted #1 spot on triple j’s Hottest 100, Moo, You Bloody Choir is certainly no one hit wonder. Instead, the entire 14-track album gently but powerfully pulls you into just over an hour of meticulously sequenced delights, from the lush yet self-referential Victoria’s Secret through to the maudlin jaunt of The Cold Acre, stirring country-pop (Mother Greer), hazy urgency (Just Passing Through), aching acoustic beauty a la Bob Dylan (Bottle Baby), and otherworldly elegance (Clockwork) along with oscillating moments of indie rock, pop and folk that never overstay their welcome; and truly never leave you.
Memorably parting the veil behind the making of the album, the band share, “a little known anecdote while recording some of the album in the tenderloin district of Chicago at a studio that served as the home of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s best patch of work, there was a total of three dead bodies encountered by band members over the week, including one as a result of an armed robbery at the diner across the road. Fun? Not really, but when you get to be the not dead bodies, there is a certain strange euphoria”. And as to their own view of their own legacy as a band? “Not very old; understated; overwrought and completely unique in the Australian and world cultural landscape.”
Hailing mostly from Shepparton, Victoria and commencing their creative journey under the Augie March moniker in the mid-to-late 90s, the groupopened the turn of the century with their 2000 debut album Sunset Studies. Going on to release eight studio albums to date, snag 13 ARIA Award nominations and a win in 2001 for Engineer of the Year (Sunset Studies), tick off chart success, and evolve a cult-like following into an enduring and expansive fanbase to this very day, Augie March’s 2006 outing Moo, You Bloody Choir also notably cemented the group’s prowess and ambitious creative exploration. Recorded in San Francisco following a gruelling two-month North American tour, Augie March dove into experimentation on album #3, as keyboardist Kiernan Box elaborates, “experiments with new song called One Crowded Hour showed some promise. From there the project seemed cursed by a range of professional and personal crises: record labels merged, producers and engineers fought, band members were seriously wounded in assaults, motivations waxed and waned. It sometimes seemed as though the new album would never materialise. Eventually it did emerge, the single One Crowded Hour struck like a lightning bolt and a small, critically popular band suddenly found themselves all over the airwaves as mainstream sensations.”
A record that would go on to climb the charts, achieve Platinum status, take out the crown for the Australian Music Prize along with multiple other accolades and awards, Moo, You Bloody Choir undeniably became an all-time Australian classic, with the band also touring the album at home and in North America for three solid years after its release to an ever-growing international fanbase. And in 2026, two decades on since its release, the band will tick off another milestone for their Australian tour next April: performing Moo, You Bloody Choir in full for the first time.
“These anniversary things can either be rote and procession like, or a second chance to investigate the enduring mystery that genuine, complete, composed bodies of work are made of,” the band share. “We are excited to opt for the latter version, not that there’s a choice in our case. The songs will be treated with respect and disdain simultaneously, the shows will be powerful and intimate by turns, we will speak with the audience and they will speak with us, like all the best Augie shows.”
Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience Moo, You Bloody Choir in full and celebrate the national treasure that is Augie March and their 2006 unforgettable record brought to life across venues nationwide in 2026; and, as the band conclude, there is plenty to look forward to in the not-too-distant future in Augie March HQ.
“We’ve recorded and released several acclaimed albums since Moo and each of us has established our own careers independent of the band, as well as the odd family,” says the band. “But like Elvis we have never left the bathroom. Glenn R is currently recording his next project which looks set to have UK and European release in 26.
“There’s always more in the pen and the strings when it’s Augie, we don’t rest on laurels or weeds,” the band add. “This upcoming tour is just a lovely stepping stone to the next bit, albeit a rather large and shiny one!”
Tickets for Augie March’s 20th Anniversary Tour of Moo, You Bloody Choir go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 2 December at 9:00am local time from http://www.teamwrktouring.com/tours/augie-march-anniversary-tour.
AUGIE MARCH – MOO, YOU BLOODY CHOIR 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR DATES:
Tickets available from http://www.teamwrktouring.com/tours/augie-march-anniversary-tour.
FRI 3 APR | FREO.SOCIAL, PERTH WA
SAT 4 APR | THE GOV, ADELAIDE SA
FRI 10 APR | THE CROXTON, MELBOURNE VIC
FRI 17 APR | THE TRIFFID, BRISBANE QLD
