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THE SAINTS
+ Kim Salmon & The Surrealists
@ Enmore Theatre, Sydney,
22nd November, 2024
(Live Review)

Review and photos by Alec Smart (@alecsmart_fotos)

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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The much-anticipated Australian tour of The Saints ’73 – ’78 over 12 dates and six states attracted capacity crowds and culminated in three sold-out shows in their home city of Brisbane. Many of those who attended were senior citizens there for nostalgia (some bringing their adult kids), to witness this rare reformation of original members and clever collaborators.

Support at The Enmore Theatre in Inner-West Sydney came from Kim Salmon & The Surrealists – the 1987-founded musical project by Kim Salmon, guitarist-songwriter with legendary bands The Scientists and Beasts of Bourbon.

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Kim Salmon & The Surrealists, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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Salmon and his two accomplices, bassist Stu Thomas and drummer Phil Collings, played a noisy set of blues-meets-psychedelic-meets-grunge minimalist rock from his long and varied career of songwriting.

The Saints, with the addition of ’73 – ’78 to their moniker to distinguish them from the evolving band that was continually fronted by singer Chris Bailey (until his sad demise in April 2022), features two original members of the earliest incarnation (after they changed their name from Kid Galahad & The Eternals): guitarist Ed Kuepper and drummer Ivor Hay.

Including co-writes with Bailey, Kuepper wrote the majority of the songs that featured on the band’s first three albums, (I’m) Stranded (1977), Eternally Yours (1978) and Prehistoric Sounds (1979), and this is the material that the current combination is reprising.

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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In addition to Kuepper and Hay, the band features Kuepper’s long-term collaborator, bassist Peter Oxley (who, since 2017, has also played alongside him in Saints’ spin-off band The Aints). Oxley is better known as bassist and co-founder (with his brother, the troubled genius Jeremy Oxley) of the recently-retired jangly rockers The Sunnyboys.

On second guitar and keyboards is Australian rock royalty, Mick Harvey. A multi-instrumentalist and music producer of high calibre, Harvey is renowned as a long-term collaborator with Melbourne Caulfield Grammar School chum Nick Cave in Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds.

On vocal duty, filling the big void left by the late Chris Bailey, is Mark Arm, vocalist-guitarist with veteran grunge merchants Mudhoney. Denizens of the SubPop recording label, which propelled the careers of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and L7 to stratospheric heights, Mudhoney continue to release albums and perform live.

Mark Arm’s vocals compliment the songs well – he has similar tonality to Chris Bailey (if one is looking for authenticity). However, he doesn’t chat or crack jokes, and like Bailey, barely moves from his spot behind the microphone, so, visually, it makes for a very static performance.

Peter Oxley is the only musician among the eight-piece that breaks ranks and puts a lot of energy into his stage appearance.

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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The three-piece brass section of Julian, Eamon and Phil added some spice to the old songs, although at the rear of the old theatre, perhaps attributable to the acoustics, the primary instrument heard was Kuepper’s guitar dominating the mix.

Kuepper himself was in fine form, investing new musical dynamism into some of the simpler three-chord-thrash numbers he wrote in his youth. For most of the concert his eyes were closed in concentration.

The slower, brassy songs from the band’s 2nd and 3rd albums are noticeably less punchy than those on the first, (I’m) Stranded, album. This reviewer felt the evening wane midway through the band’s performance when these songs were played at what seemed a slower pace, with people distracted or congregating at the bar (and a few going home early).

However, the double-punch killer-closer of the main set, (I’m) Stranded and Know Your Product, stirred a welter of activity (and emotions among some of the older fans!). This was followed by the three-song belter of an encore, All Times Through Paradise, Erotic Neurotic and Nights in Venice, before fans departed on a high.

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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History and legacy

Many music historians agree that The Saints, in parallel with The Ramones in New York, pioneered the abrasive pub-rock with fast-strummed ‘buzz-saw’ sounding guitar that came to be known as ‘punk’. Their debut single, (I’m) Stranded, written in 1974 and released in Sept 1976, pre-dated British bands like The Dammed and The Stranglers that also rode the new wave of punk rock.

With its message of social alienation and despair, the 3 minute song struck a chord with disaffected youth in both Britain and the USA and brought together a generation of social dropouts.

“Like a snake callin’ on the phone, I’ve got no time to be alone. There is someone comin’ at me all the time, yeah babe, I think I’ll lose my mind. ‘Cause I’m stranded on my own. Stranded far from home.

“I’m ridin’ on a midnight train, but everybody just looks just the same. A subway light, its dirty reflection, I’m lost babe, I got no direction. ‘Cause I’m stranded on my own.”

The song was promoted by Sounds magazine and Radio 1 DJ John Peel in Britain, prompting EMI Records to ask their Sydney office to sign the young band to a three-album deal in November 1976. The (I’m) Stranded single was re-released in the UK on New Year’s Eve to critical acclaim, followed by an album with the same title.

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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Months later, a clothing store retailer with an eye for self-promotion and publicity-seeking shock tactics, launched a boy-band and then claimed he’d “invented” the whole punk musical phenomenon. This despite The Saints and The Ramones performing in clubs for years before that aforementioned narcissist – Malcolm McLaren – co-opted the youth rebellion and promoted his somewhat recalcitrant band, Sex Pistols, on national television.

In May 1977, as interest in The Saints peaked, the band relocated to England. There they recorded their next two albums, which, with the addition of brass instruments and their resistance to dressing in what was becoming a punk uniform of spiked hair and ripped clothing, saw their influence steadily wane.

Their third album, Prehistoric Sounds, which, with its jazzy influences, departed significantly from the raw energy of (I’m) Stranded, was a commercial failure. This led to fractures in the group and Kuepper departing due to musical differences. EMI subsequently dropped the band.

Incidentally, whilst in England, The Saints made a cameo on British ITV spy drama, Return of the Saint, which was filmed at The Marquee Club on Wardour St, London in November 1977.

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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In episode 9, titled The Arrangement, the band are seen performing Lost and Found while a woman wearing a Vivienne Westwood-designed top emblazoned with a swastika (actress Jane Hayden) has her drink spiked with a sedative and is led outside by a female kidnapper.

You can watch the episode here – scroll forward to 28 minutes 10 seconds to see the band onstage. They reappear briefly in the background at the 34 minutes 23 seconds mark when the spy Simon Templar, played by Ian Ogilvy, interrogates the bartender about the woman’s disappearance.

Over the years the different members of The Saints have set aside musical differences and performed their old songs together in concerts. As the band’s mainstay, Chris Bailey arguably reached the highest peak of his music career when his catchy 1986 composition, Just Like Fire Would, which was successful on its release, was recorded by international superstar Bruce Springsteen.

After initially performing it as an opener on his Wrecking Ball Tour of Australia in 2013, Springsteen included a studio recording on his 2014 album High Hopes, then chose to release it as the second single, along with a music video, to promote his chart-topping album.

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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Set List

This Perfect Day – from Eternally Yours (1978)
Orstralia – from Eternally Yours (1978)
No Time – from (I’m) Stranded (1977)
Every Day’s a Holiday, Every Night’s a Party – from Prehistoric Sounds (1979)
Swing for the Crime – from Prehistoric Sounds (1979)
Brisbane (Security City) – from Prehistoric Sounds (1979)
Lost and Found – from Eternally Yours (1978)
Story of Love – from (I’m) Stranded (1977)
The Prisoner – from Prehistoric Sounds (1979)
The Chameleon – from Prehistoric Sounds (1979)
No, Your Product – from Eternally Yours (1978)
Run Down – from Eternally Yours (1978)
Messin’ With the Kid – from (I’m) Stranded (1977)
(I’m) Misunderstood – from Eternally Yours (1978)
(I’m) Stranded – from (I’m) Stranded (1977)
Know Your Product – from Eternally Yours (1978)

Encore:

All Times Through Paradise – from Prehistoric Sounds (1979)
Erotic Neurotic – from (I’m) Stranded (1977)
Nights in Venice – from (I’m) Stranded (1977)

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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Check out Alec Smart’s (@alecsmart_fotos) full gallery of this event HERE

Check out Lucas Packett’s (@lucas.packett.photography) full gallery of the Melbourne event (Northcote Theatre, 17th November 2024) HERE

Check out Michael Selge’s (@oz.craftypics) full gallery of the Adelaide event (Hindley St Music Hall, 13th November 2024) HERE

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The Saints Õ73-Õ78, Enmore Theatre, Sydney. Photo: Alec Smart, 22 November 2024

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Follow THE SAINTS
Website – Instagram – Facebook – Spotify

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Press Release 14th October 2024 (below) HERE

 THE SAINTS
’73-‘78 Australian Tour
starts next month

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AMNPLIFY – DB