The Saints ’73-‘78
Kim Salmon and The Surrealists
Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Friday 22 November, 2024

Words: THE BARMAN
Photos: MURRAY BENNETT

Polarising was the Word of the Night. You could have argued that there was no way Mark Arm would successfully replace the late Chris Bailey in a reconstituted version of the Saints and if you did, you probably didn’t go to the show anyway.

It’s a truth that Arm’s yowl is as far removed from the patented snarl of Bailey as Brisbane is from Seattle. If you didn’t take Arm at his word that he wasn’t trying to fill the original singer’s shoes, you were never going to dig this show. He clearly isn’t Bailey and didn’t try to be.

The reality is that Chris Bailey was often dismissive of his past. It was his call, of course. It’s OK to like the music he went on to make under the Saints banner. Most of it was imbued with heart and soul. Kuepper, on the other hand, has always embraced his legacy without being, um, stranded in it.

Had he still been alive, Bailey was never going to repeat a reunion with his old bandmates. That ship sailed with the All Tomorrows Parties shows in 2009 (hopefully, along with the pyjamas Bailey wore as stage clobber.) The gigs were mostly a critical success, but you have to think Bailey’s flouncing stage presence and outright refusal in Brisbane to play the first album as advertised was a sign of contempt.

Back to today and the Sydney gig was at the mid-point of the Australian tour - and it showed. The band was tight with nobody leaning on anyone else for their cues. Peter Oxley’s magnificent bass drove the songs, with Ivor Hay’s unique stylings nudging them in the right places, and there was little in the way of eye contact between the two. This was a rhythm section that would have been more at home anchoring the Pretty Things than the Ramones.

Some thought the band seemed tired but I can’t say I picked up that vibe. If anything, they were workmanlike, with little audience interaction. There was no stage posturing from Mark Arm; it was stand-and-deliver – which is where his style mirrored that of Bailey. The pair had a different vocal range so you needed to exercise a suspension of reality to enjoy tonight. Arm also struggled to be heard in the muddy Enmore mix, so you also needed to move around to make him out.

Ed Kuepper was all business and very focussed on the task at hand. Yes, he double-tracked his guitars on the recordings but I’m not convinced Mick Harvey’s rhythm guitar was needed in the live context. Ed coped just fine on his own in The Aints! but probably appreciated the division of labour and not having to sing.

Harvey is not a classic downstroke guy (he actually plays upstrokes, too) but did his job and added the occasional keyboard flourish. There’s a sense of closure in him being recruited for this tour as he was co-curator of the All Tomorrow Parties exercise. Anyway, the combined roar was all pervading and delivered at stun volume.

The horn section was a powerhouse. They don’t get the benefit of full introductions from Ed (it’s first names only) but they lift what could have been a blur of volume to another level.

The set list wrote itself - and therein lies the difference between The Saints ’73-’78 (there’s a name that rolls off the tongue) and The Aints! (exclamation mark denoting the most recent line-up). The concept of The Aints! was brilliant: Classic songs augmented by old woodshedded ones that shoulda/coulda made it to an album back in the day. It gave The Aints! a sense of purpose, without which they would have been a very good Saints cover band. Which is what we got tonight, only with two original members.

This Perfect Day
Orstralia
No Time
Every Day’s a Holiday, Every Night’s a Party
Swing for the Crime
Brisbane (Security City)
Lost and Found
Story of Love
The Prisoner
The Chameleon
No, Your Product
Run Down
Messin' With the Kid
(I'm) Misunderstood
(I'm) Stranded
Know Your Product
Encore:
All Times Through Paradise
Erotic Neurotic
Nights in Venice

_{Mr Kim Salmon.}

There was some irony in the choice of Kim Salmon and The Surrealists as support. Kim and Ed are the two biggest re-inventors to have sprung from the underground Australian scene of the ‘70s and ‘80s. Their ability to reference their pasts, while pushing relentlessly forward should be an example to contemporaries, who are living off their golden oldies.

The Surrealists pick their set from their classic ‘80s and ‘90s albums, with two exceptions, and deliver them with conviction, aided and abetted by a punchy mix.

Gravity
I Fell
Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing
I Won’t Tell
Desensitised
Burn Down the Plantation
Feel
Kneel Down at the Altar of Pop
The Cockroach
I'm Keeping You Alive
Intense

_{Stu Thomas on bass duties.}

Salmon introduces the engine room of Stu Thomas (bass) and Greg Bainbridge (drums) while acknowledging late members Tony Pola and Brian Henry Hooper in a nice touch. Hearing Kim declare himself a god never gets old. I’ll bet that one flew right over old Bongo’s head when the Surrealists were oddly picked to be on a U2 stadium tour.

In the end, The Saints '73-'78 weren't anything that wasn't advertised. They did the songs justice and that's all we could have asked.