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Saints one-off reunion, Brisbane 14 July 2007
 
BRISBANE rock legends The Saints will play their first hometown show featuring their original line-up in more than 30 years
 
Article from couriermail.com.au, 2007-04-28
Written by Noel Mengel
 

Saints founders Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay have agreed to headline Pig City, a one-day festival on the grounds of the University of Queensland at St Lucia on July 14. The event, part of the Queensland Music Festival, takes its name from Andrew Stafford's book about the rise of Brisbane rock music.

The event will feature Queensland bands and artists from the '70s punk era through to today including The Riptides, The Ups and Downs, Pineapples from the Dawn of Time, Kev Carmody, Regurgitator and Screamfeeder.

The Saints are one of the most influential bands to emerge from Brisbane, with their 1976 debut single (I'm) Stranded and 1977 album of the same name considered as some of the most important recordings associated with the punk movement.

"A lot of people don't realise that the (I'm) Stranded single came out before any of the British punk bands," Stafford said yesterday.

"The band had left for England in 1977 before people in Brisbane even became aware of them but their influence was huge here. Everyone who heard (I'm) Stranded had a sense of the possibility of what could be done out of Brisbane."

The original band broke up in 1978 after recording two more albums in Britain, although singer Chris Bailey has kept the name alive while Kuepper returned to Australia to form Laughing Clowns and then pursue a solo career.

"By the time The Saints got to England punk with all its accessories was in full swing, there was a uniform," Stafford said.

"The Saints didn't fit the mould and didn't want to fit the mould. But they made one of the greatest debut albums of all time and I can't think of any band from the era who covered so much artistic territory in three albums."

The original members' only other reunion was a one-off appearance in Sydney when they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, although that was overshadowed by other events. The reunion was on the night of September 11, 2001.

Tickets for Pig City go on sale on May 19 through Ticketmaster. Queensland Music Festival events will take place around Queensland from July 13 to 29.

Read Noel Mengel's story about the making of The Saints' (I'm) Stranded online at couriermail.com.au