Saints preserve us
Formed in 1976, Brisbane band The Saints initially found more favour on these shores and whilst the original line-up split up after three albums, singer and guitarist Chris Bailey soldiered on and the band are due to release a new album -Nothing Is Straight In My House.
There are predictably quite a few old faces in the crowd today but it's good to see that a few younger people have come down to check out The Saints. Whilst they never had the same impact as their punk contemporaries, The Saints were always there or thereabouts and during this set they show why. They play rather minimalist, three chord, old school punk much of the time and yes, it does sound dated but hell, it still sounds good! Admittedly some of the songs are a little weak and don't really go anywhere but equally there are others that have great hooks- 'Bang On' being an example.
The longer they play, the more The Saints grow on you. Chris Bailey has none of the rockstar posturing or attitude of some of the younger bands we've seen over the weekend but this works in his favour and you can't help but like the guy. They go down quite well to a fair sized crowd but you do get the impression they're preaching to the converted; I don't think they have quite enough about them to appeal to the younger members of the audience. Their half hour set is enjoyable but set against the extremities of music displayed by some of the other bands here The Saints sound rather tame.