Downes, who will be joined by bassist Jane Dodd and drummer Robbie Yeats, will perform at least one, ‘‘maybe two'' tracks from Flying Nun's seminal 1982 Dunedin Double release.
‘‘Many of the songs we are working on have not been played by any incarnation of the band in 30 years. The Verlaines' set-list is all pre-1986 material and we've worked up 25 songs that we can play but will perforce slim this down,'' Downes says.
‘‘The selection is driven in part by what still lies under the fingers in muscle memory - for Jane mainly, but also myself - and what a 54-year-old voice can salvage and inhabit, emotionally and technically, from a 24-year-old one. Robbie is playing like he never left.
‘‘So, in short, the set will sound every bit like a live set from 1986. Indeed, we have a live album from that year soon for release which contains nearly all of what we will play.''
Martin Phillipps, founder of and songwriter for The Chills, says his band's set-list will be a closely guarded secret until the actual performance, but hints he is unlikely to pass up an opportunity to select some relevant material ‘‘which does not get played very often''.
‘‘There will be a little more focus on older songs but they sit well alongside the new material,'' he says, referring to The Chills' recent album, Silver Bullets.
See it
Dunedin Double, featuring The Chills (March 8) and The Verlaines (March 9), Shed 6, Wellington.
