Saint Etienne, Barrowland, by Richard Purden
The neon lights of the Barrowland still cut through the Glasgow night. Among the crowd were people I hadn’t seen since the indie nightclubs and gigs of the mid-90s. Here we all were again, no longer in our 20s, perhaps carrying something of the years with us but still feeling something of what we felt back then. On drums was Loz Colbert from Ride, another band rooted in that very same 90s indie world. Backing singer Debsey Wykes also has cool indie pop credentials in her own right, having played bass and sung with Dolly Mixture. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs stood at the back in sharp suits, while Sarah Cracknell appeared in a silver, sparkly jacket, her dance moves still intact.
They opened with ‘Tonight’, its melancholy capturing the anticipation of getting ready for a night out when you are young, when the evening ahead seems to contain endless possibilities. Now those same lives carry parental responsibilities, health worries, money concerns and the wider anxieties of modern life. The hypnotic beat of ‘Like a Motorway’ lets us get lost in the moment, allowing the years to vanish for a while. ‘Spring’, from their debut Foxbase Alpha, a record that still graces button badges and T-shirts, is yet another reminder of the first flush of youth. Trippy 90s beats mix with 60s pop sensibilities and a sense of innocence. At the side of the Barrowland, one fan is unable to see the stage, but he’s lost in a dance of his own as if he’s in a club back in 1991.
‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ takes that feeling somewhere else, the Neil Young song opening out into a huge dance beat. At the side of the Barrowland, one fan is unable to see the stage, but he’s lost in a dance of his own, as if he’s back in a club in 1991. It is the kind of moment that captures what Saint Etienne did and still do so well, taking the melancholy of a song and turning it into something you can dance to.
The pulsating pop of ‘He’s on the Phone’ is as infectious as ever, and remains in my head for the car journey home. A first encore of ‘Nothing Can Stop Us’ is a perfect example of how Saint Etienne took the pop sensibilities of the 60s and mixed them with the best of the early 90s indie and dance. It created a heady atmosphere then, a particular vibe that belonged to that moment. Thirty years on, it comes with memories that have gathered around the songs.
‘The Last Time’, from their most recent album International, sets the tone for an emotional close, but it’s perhaps not quite a final farewell. Sarah Cracknell has suggested there could still be festival appearances, while a flyer at the Barrowland hinted at the possibility of one last show for UK fans. For those here tonight, it is a long goodbye, but most would jump at the chance to do it one more time.
