Following a hugely successful debut Australian tour in 2024 (12,000 payers over 12 shows) The Saints ’73-’78 will make their UK debut this November. You can read our review of their Hobart gig here where we said:
So… this was no tribute band… no hackneyed cabaret act. This was a band on fire. From the first few bars of opening song, ‘This Perfect Day’, through to the last drops of the chaotic frenzy that is ‘Nights In Venice’, The Saints pummelled our senses with 20 songs of jaw-dropping intensity.
Where they the first ever punk band? What is certain is their classic (I’m) Stranded) was the first cab off the rank in the late seventies. As Ed Kuepper said in my interview with him,
Whether or not it was the first punk single, those kind of claims – it wasn’t really a term that we were using and we saw ourselves as being a rock’n’roll band. Punk was something that was just coming out of the UK and we weren’t connected to that sort of thing. ‘(I’m) Stranded’ was out before a lot of that UK stuff, sure, and we did it ourselves, so it has that sort of pedigree, I guess. It still sounds strong to me – I hear it occasionally on the radio or on the television or in a movie it immediately catches my ear but not so much in a way ‘Here I am, isn’t this great’ but more like ‘Fuck what’s that?’. It still grabs you and it grabs me in a way that – I feel quite detached from it to an extent. It works as a piece of music and I don’t think of myself initially when I hear it.
Featuring founding members of The Saints, guitarist Kuepper and drummer Ivor Hay, alongside honorary Saints; singer Mark Arm of Seattle rockers Mudhoney, former The Birthday Party / Bad Seeds guitarist Mick Harvey and bassist Peter Oxley of Australia’s legendary Sunnyboys, The Saints ’73 -’78 carry on where the original band left off in 1978 performing the material from their three incendiary albums (I’m) Stranded (1977), Eternally Yours (1978) and Prehistoric Sounds (1978). Sadly, of course, Chris Bailey passed away in 2022.
The Saints ’73-’78 tour will be the first time the material of the original band and those three revered albums and associated singles will be performed in the UK since March 1978. Indeed, the Prehistoric Sounds tracks were never played live – the band broke up before they had a chance to. The line-up of The Saints ’73-78 is augmented by a 3-piece brass section – including masters of their craft Eamon Dilworth and Julien Wilson – who help bring to life all those previously unperformed tracks as well as the classic “Know Your Product” and more. The same line-up that toured Australia will also tour the UK.
This is a tour not to be missed.
Tickets for The Saints ’73-’78 + Chimers UK dates are on-sale Wednesday February 5th via alttickets.com
Feature Photograph: Katelyn Slyer
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