Saint Etienne -- Home Counties

https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/sarah-cracknell-on-how-to-be-in-the-same-band-for-25-years-and-still-enjoy-it/

I think they're the band for which I had the longest run of "buying every release". Used to love their CD singles. Still not heard the latest album, mind (Have had it on order from Norman Records for an age ... Should cancel it, really).

Well last night was very great -- that Sarah described herself as 'slightly poorly,' kept sipping tea and encouraged us to sing along loudly on the choruses made it all even better, really. (Debsey's presence was perfect as a result.) Solid mix of early standards, stuff from the new album (Shawn Lee, who produced, was also the opener and appeared on various songs in the set) and some ringers here and there, including a small clutch of Words and Music tracks. Any set that started with "Kiss and Make Up," had a first encore ending with "He's On the Phone" and a second encore with "You're In a Bad Way" is all right by me. The amount of passionate gay men of a certain age and beard length around me who were having happy breakdowns when 'their song' came on, whichever song in question it was, was very sweet, really.

Ditto on the Seattle show being great, though we just got one encore. The tea sipping was endearing, but as with past shows I've seen, Sarah has the crowd already in her palm before she walks out. Loved Debsey's dancing and singing, and the drummer made the songs even punchier to me. The screen cards ("Please Pardon Our Appearance", "We're Actually Very Tired", "This is a Saint Etienne Show") were fun, as were the visuals (I haven't seen "Barbarella", but recognized Fonda, and enjoyed those cycled clips). I was up in the balcony but peering over, the floor seemed easily 3/4ths men in their 30s/40s. There were enough younger folk, felt like they're still gaining fans.

St. Etienne put on one of my fave shows of all time behind "Good Humour." Saw them a second time on the same tour, again with a killer band. Then I saw them as a trio with tons of backing tracks and it just totally lacked the spark (for me). If I had known they were touring with a band again I totally would have gone last night. Oh well.

I was at the Seattle show. Sarah was really struggling. I almost left about 20mins in, but i'm glad I stuck around. It was easily the worst St. Etienne show i've seen though.

The screen cards ("Please Pardon Our Appearance", "We're Actually Very Tired", "This is a Saint Etienne Show") were fun, as were the visuals (I haven't seen "Barbarella", but recognized Fonda, and enjoyed those cycled clips).

Ah now that's interesting -- we didn't get those at all! No projections, just lights. Wonder why?

Who was the older english man on keyboards off to the right? He was also at the incredibly disappointing merch table.

I think it may have been Gerard Johnson: https://www.discogs.com/artist/240866-Gerard-Johnson

Merch table was about what I expected, honestly.

Anyway, setlist:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/saint-etienne/2017/the-fillmore-san-francisco-ca-7be3a254.html

Not sure what SF had, but we had signed posters, cd remixes for Dive, and 1 size of 1 style of women's t-shirts. There is a ton of merch on their greedbag store. I kind of assumed I'd be able to support them by buying something direct, but there was nothing I needed.

Bought the signed poster for that same support reason. Was hoping for the Dive single with the non-album tracks, but no luck.

Yeah, I need the Dive single with the non-album tracks too. I have several signed items from Saint Etienne over the years and don't really care about signatures, so the poster wasn't a big draw for me. I bought the deluxe LP w/ signed print already.

SF gig was fantastic! Enthusiastic crowd, too. I thought Sarah sounded great. Wouldn't have even noticed she was ill had she not mentioned it.

I'm more into synthy Saint Etienne than full-band Saint Etienne, so I wasn't sure how I'd feel, but wow - what a tight ensemble! 'Out of My Mind' had a great guitar solo outro, and the guitar + bass really made 'Magpie Eyes' rock hard (not really into it on the album).

we saw them in L.A. Friday night and Sarah was having trouble at the beginning but seemed to get stronger as the night went along (the bourbon maybe helped?) She was charming throughout as per usual. I thought it was a great show. Super tight band, the new tunes sounded great, enthusiastic audience, positive vibes all around. Debsey was killing it in particular. So much cowbell!