Saint Etienne - surprise you live

The Saint Etienne group began with the innocent passion for music of two longtime friends from London – Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They always dreamed that one day their parents, accidentally turning on some music channel, would see their names written on a bass drum. For quite some time, Bob and Pete only dreamed about it and contented themselves with writing articles for the popular Melody Maker magazine, while also having fun at DJ decks at friendly parties, cutting strange mixes from dialogues of old movies and current dance music. However, soon they finally decided to seriously pursue a music career, named their project after the legendary French football team, and released a single – a reggae version of Neil Young's song 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart,' performed by Moira Lambert. Surprisingly for themselves, this song became a dance superhit across Britain! After releasing several successful singles with guest vocalists (collaborating with Saint Etienne were Donna Savage, rapper Q-Tee, Tim Burgess from The Charlatans, Stephen Duffy, Sarah Nelson from Massive Attack, French pop singer Etienne Daho, and many others), the musicians reasonably decided to have a permanent vocalist. This position was soon filled by the fair-haired Sarah Cracknell – she was destined to become one of the sex symbols of British indie pop (with all the accompanying honors, including kilograms of fan letters and fake nude photos on the internet). Saint Etienne never feared surprising their listeners – in their songs, an inquisitive ear will find echoes of acid house, new wave, lounge, soul – everything that sounds beautiful, stylish, and, most importantly, uplifts the mood! They never got stuck in one style, always looking for interesting melodic and rhythmic finds and trying to take into account all the current trends in modern music in their work. Perhaps the reason for such enviable unsinkability should be sought in Bob and Pete's deep professional ailment – music addiction... In any case, the group soon became sought-after guests in any decent club in Europe and America (especially after the group left Warner Brothers for the Sub Pop label). It is worth mentioning that such then completely unknown bands as Oasis, Pulp, Stereolab played as support teams at Saint Etienne shows – it is not surprising that it is considered a good sign for musicians to play as support for the London legend. By the way, at the latest shows before Saint Etienne, the acclaimed by critics young Swedish band The Concretes performs – one could argue that in the next season you will see them on the covers of European music magazines. The history of the Saint Etienne group is filled with the names of famous musicians who consider it a great honor to work with them. It is enough to mention that remixes of their compositions were done by Paul van Dyke and Aphex Twin, and the annotation for one of their best albums, 'Good Humor,' was written by their loyal fan, and a cult writer, author of Generation X, Douglas Coupland. Among other things, Bob and Pete oversee the affairs of the Icerink label, releasing records by Oval, Earl Brutus, Golden, and (briefly) Shampoo. Saint Etienne's discography includes 12 (not counting special limited editions for fan club members and numerous bootlegs) excellent albums. At the moment, the musicians are selecting new songs from the freshly recorded material for a fresh release, which fans anticipate in the coming year. Journalists are already predicting another Saint Etienne boom – this group has managed to stay afloat in the turbulent stream of modern music for a solid 15 years and with every new record, they pique the interest of fans of quality popular music. Muscovites now have a unique opportunity to see live indie pop legends live – make sure to mark the concert date in your organizer!!!

Saint Etienne (London)
Club 'B2'
January 27, 2005
23:00