The Saints at Pig City

Great news for banana benders!
The Saints, arguably the first punk band of all, and seen briefly by yours truely and Chris whilst straying from the straight and narrow at the Brisbane Carnival (circa 1976?), will play their first concert in nearly 30 years at this weekend's Queensland Music Festival 2007. They headline the Pig City component of the festival with fellow Queensland acts.
The show is on this Saturday at the University of Queensland, where many Brisbane acts, including the Go-Betweens and former Custard lead singer David McCormack, studied. With the exception of the one song the Saints played at their ARIA Hall of Fame induction in Sydney on September 11, 2001, it will be the original line-up's first show since their acrimonious split in the late '70s.
The festival's artistic director, Paul Grabowsky, said if the rehearsals were anything to go by, it would be an entertaining spectacle. "They sounded great, they sounded like the Saints," said Grabowsky, who added that the band had no plans at this stage to play any more shows.
This a unique "one-off" original line up Show! In the City were it all started.. so everybody who can make it to Queensland this weekend, put on your bell-bottoms and corduroy jackets. It's nostalgia time! Find more information here: http://www.queenslandmusicfestival.com.au
In contrast to the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government, which censored artists in the '70s, the state is run by Saints and Go-Betweens fans, says Grabowsky. "The Treasurer and Deputy Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, is an unabashed fan of (Saints guitarist) Ed Kuepper. It's time to acknowledge what they did. You can almost compare it to welcoming home returned soldiers at an Anzac Day parade." (I gather that’s what my English teacher meant by hyperbole.)