Saint Etienne - Foxe Base Alpha @ Bloomsbury Ballroom, 15/5/09
4/5
By: Tom Hocknell
Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing, but is an unavoidable legacy of music. Not that such strategic planning is possible, for in pop, secondary to talent, timing is everything. In 1991 Saint Etienne were winners, amongst plenty of losers - guitar bands, whom, unlike Primal Scream etc, failed to rope in dance producers/remixers in time to ride the seismic youth movement that was Acid House.
Saint Etienne's debut album effortlessly caught the times, soundtracking a thousand come-downs across that year's summer, with the dubbed out, Balearic Neil Young cover, 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart' and the woozy piano of occasionally too apt, 'Carnt Sleep'. These bombed out, captive audiences created a number of chill-out staples: Screamadelica, the Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld, and of course, Foxe Base Alpha.
Tonight, after Go Kart Mozart, the DJ, takes in 'World of Twist' and 'Thrashing Doves (Jesus on the Payroll)' before morphing into Inner City's 'Good Life', hurling the crowd back to 1991. The glimmer of Vicks inhalers, and massages from strangers, reflect in everyone's eyes. There is no one present who has never taken an E.
The stage set up, of keyboards and samplers betrays, or rather reveals the band's origins. Since then Saint Etienne have carved themselves a path of 60's and electronic influenced pop, but initially they emerged alongside countless one-hit-rave wonders: Smart e's, Altern8, even the Prodigy. But tonight, every song is ecstatically received, non-more so, than the glamorous, 'Vogue'-aping middle 8 rap of 'Girl V11', which Sarah reads from a sheet. "June 4th, 1989. Primrose Hill, Staten Island, Chalk Farm... Sao Paolo, Boston Manor, Costa Rica." It's an evocative list of dream places and commuter pockets that brings a flush to every soul in the room.
These 'album in their entirety' gigs reveal who never flipped to side 2, although thankfully, in this case, the Northern Soul of 'Nothings Gonna Stop Us' and dreamy soul-folk of 'London Belongs to Me' prevents a first-half weighted set.
It stands up surprisingly well for a set of songs made with more passion than skill - Saint Etienne have always been as much music fans as music makers. For the (occasionally twisted) instrumentals, the lights dim, and Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs play at being Chris Lowe, while Sarah and backing singer sit down to drink wine.
They return to encore with hits, and more recent material, such as the staggeringly lush 'This Is Tomorrow', fittingly sounding like their debut, had it been made today. 'Who Do you Think You Are' simmers perfectly, but ultimately, for the grinning audience, it seems that tonight, Nostalgia begins with an E.
Saint Etienne's re-released/remastered Foxe Base Alpha, with predictable attention to details and extra mixes, tracks, etc is out now.
Artists in this article: Saint Etienne
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