The Saints have performed their first gig since 1978 (with Ivor Hay on drums and Ed Keupper on guitar) in their hometown of Brisbane over the weekend to a roaring crowd at the Pig City festival.
The band performed a set entirely from their first three albums, leaning heavily on 'Prehistoric Sounds', which was never played live by the original band.Opening with 'Prehistoric Sounds' opening track 'Swing For The Crime', the band leapt forward through a vast selection of tunes from the first three incredibly essential albums.
While the band at times did sound less than perfect, the audience realized they were witnessing a moment.
"Have we passed the audition after the fact? Is it good for you? Are you getting excited? Do you want to get naked? Do you want to get it all off or go to the University refectory and have a little debate about the relevance of it all" a smarmy Chris Bailey quipped as he nodded at the looming university flanking the grounds.
"This is for the tutors. The last time we played this song here, we got kicked out," Bailey said before the band launched into 'No Time' from their iconic debut '(I'm) Stranded'.
They may have only been together for a short time (at least before singer Chris Bailey took the name for a ride through the 80s), but their influence on music both in Australia and worldwide is undeniable.
Pig City (the gig) was the namesake of Pig City (the book) and not just about The Saints, it also included other legendary bands from the Brisbane undergrounds, including The Apartments, The Riptides, the truly bizarre Pineapples From The Dawn Of Time (who's song 'Too Much Acid' is probably indicative of their inspiration).
Latter day bands such as Dave McCormack (who paid tribute to his former band Custard), Screamfeeder and Regurgitator fit in seamlessly with their contemporaries.
The Kate Miller-Heidke led tribute to the Go Betweens was a waste of time. While there is no doubt the band were well and truly deserving of recognition at a festival celebrating Brisbane music, having Go Between Robert Forster conduct a brass band sludging through their songs with Kate Miller-Heidke on vocals is not so much a tribute as a laboured performance of obligation.
Overall the day was a raging success, even if the Belke-Peterson led Queensland that the book 'Pig City' condemns still echoes (albeit not much of an echo) in today's law-heavy Sunshine State.
