Saint Etienne To Do Foxbase Alpha Live

Also offering stealth advance pre-sale for tour today.

By Fred Mills

Saint Etienne fans got a surprise email over the weekend when the beloved UK dance-popsters announced details of a very special 3-night tour the band will be embarking upon. "We're excited to announce that to celebrate its 18th birthday and special edition re-release, we'll be taking Foxbase Alpha on the road this May," wrote Sarah, Pete and Bob. "We'll be performing all the songs, many of which we've never done live before, plus a set of faves. We've picked non seated venues so you can rock your socks off like its 1991."

Well, all right then! For those not in the know, 1991's Foxbase Alpha was the band's long-playing debut and it found St. E in a transitional mode: Sarah Cracknell only appeared on parts of the record, Moira Lambert handling lead vocals for their hit cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," and guitarist Ian Catt was still a main contributor to the group's sound. And as the above note suggests, much of the album's material was never featured in the Saint Etienne live sets, which would soon be dominated by songs from the remarkable second album, 1993's So Tough.

So to say this tour, albeit a brief one, will be a treat for longtime devotees of St. E is an understatement.

A special pre-sale for the Sheffield and London shows is going on right now at this link: gigsandtours.com  . For Glasgow, here's the link:  glasgow ABC . Public on-sale is tomorrow.

Those tour dates:

May 13 - ABC, Glasgow

May 14 - Leadmill, Sheffield

May 16 - Bloomsbury Ballroom, London

***

With the upcoming expanded edition of Foxbase Alpha, the band officially kicks off a reissue program of its back catalog. Speaking recently to Pitchfork, Bob Stanley explained that the CDs will be patterned along the lines of Universal's Deluxe Editions with fold-out digipaks, elaborate artwork and "tons of stuff we never used" including instrumentals, four-track demos, remixes and B-sides.

This all happens in proximity to a new Saint Etienne compilation, the two-CD/DVD London Conversations, details about which can be found HERE, and a new single, "Method of Modern Love," produced by Richard X.

Writes the band, "Thanks to all who bought the single, it turned out to be a tough week in the charts but we'll still get an entry in the next Guinness Book of Hit Singles. Which is important to freaks like us. Hope everyone who pre-ordered London Conversations has got it by now, we're really happy with the way it has turned out. She's beautiful right."

Beautiful indeed, right.

Review of Saint Etienne rarities box Boxette HERE.