The Saints

[dube@NYU-CSD2.ARPA (Tom Dube)]

Australian rock.  For all the raves I can give to bands like The Scientists,
Le Hoodoo Gurus, Celibate Rifles, ect., the truth remains that there
is only one quintessential Aussie band, and that is of course The Saints.

Besides being single-handedly responsible for the brilliant Aussie scene,
The Saints also had a big effect on British punk and all that followed it.
But, that's all ten years ago.  What have they done for us lately?

Well, for starters they have a new album called "All Fools Day".  Although
not as raw as their earliest records, this disk continues the quality 
excursions into the seamier sides of life and death and religion.
It's a pretty solid album overall, with about half a dozen tunes that
stick in your head on first listening. 

Better yet, The Saints are FINALLY on tour.  I saw them twice last week,
New Haven on Monday, New York on Friday.  MTV filmed the NY show.
The Saints are still the Saints.  They have loads of power, and surprisingly,
loads of fun.  Chris Bailey is still enjoying it after all these years.

The set consists mostly of songs from the new album, with a few tunes from
the middle years thrown in ("Waterfront", "Always", "In The Mirror").
They closed the set with "Know Your Product".  I wanted to hear some old
songs, but this one just didn't click.  It seemed more like an inappropriate
cover than a former hit.  Live, the new material sounds better.
The guitarist (he's new) is a perfect good-natured Aussie with a face
wide grin who keeps winking at the audience.

For the first encore, Chris Bailey came out and played about four songs
on an acoustic guitar.  Nice.  Unfortunately in New Haven the acoustic
songs included a cover of "Amsterdam".  Ickk, I've always hated that song
and everyone seems to cover it.  Much more to my liking, in New York this
was replaced by "Messin' With The Kid", from their first album.

The rest of the band joined him at the end of the first encore, and then
for about 3 more songs as a second encore, including their brilliant
cover of "River Deep, Mountain High".  It was a long show.  The band
seemed like they were truly into it and didn't want to stop.  Chris
Bailey spent a lot of time shaking hands and joking with the audience.
During "Know Your Product" (in NY) someone threw a cigarette at him, and
he tried to catch it in his mouth.  This triggered a barrage of cigarettes
being heaved at the stage.

It's a great thing to see.  Here are The Saints, legends of rock 'n roll.
But, they don't want your respect, they just want to party.
                            Tom Dube       dube@csd2.nyu.edu