One of the UK’s most beloved and enduring pop groups, Saint Etienne, are heading to Australia and New Zealand for the very last time.
Following the announcement that their 2025 album International would be their final studio release, the iconic trio will take their celebrated catalogue on a farewell tour across the region this November and December.
Released in September 2025, International was met with rapturous acclaim, returning Saint Etienne to the UK Top 10 and reaffirming their status as one of Britain’s most treasured musical institutions. Now, fans across Australia and New Zealand will have the rare chance to experience the band’s shimmering, genre‑blurring sound live, one final time.
The tour will begin in Auckland on 20 November and then head to Wellington for a hosw the following night. The Australian leg will begin in Adelaide on Monday 23 November, and will then take in Melbourne on 26 November, Sydney on 27 November and Brisbane on 29 November.
On Tuesday 1 December Saint Etienne will play Freo Social, and it might be their absolute last show ever.
With a career spanning more than three decades, Saint Etienne’s songbook is rich with classics including Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Nothing Can Stop Us, You’re In A Bad Way and He’s on the Phone.
Formed in1990 by Croydon natives Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, Saint Etienne struck gold from the outset with their debut single, a transformative cover of Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart, which quickly became a club anthem.
Their debut album Foxbase Alpha came out in 1991 and it’s included in the book 1001 Albums You must Hear Before You Die. By then the band had brought Sarah Cracknell on board as their vocalist.
Two years later they returned with So Tough featuring the songs Hobart Paving, Avenue and You’re in a Bad Way. The same year they released You Need a Mess of Friends to Stand Alone which was filled with their many b-sides and additional tracks.
1994’s Tiger Bay cleverly took folk influences and turned them into a stomping dance record influences by techno and dub sounds. The album is considered a folktronica classic. Around the same time they worked with French singer Etienne Daho on the energetic pop tune He’s on the Phone.
They also worked with Massive Attack singer Shara Nelson on One Goodbye in Ten a track from her debut album. When Kylie Minogue was exploring new directions after she left production trio Stock, Aitken and Waterman, she also collaborated with Stanley and Wiggs. Only one track from their sessions ended up being released, Kylie’s cover of the Saint Etienne song Nothing Can Stop Us was used as a B-side to Confide in Me.
Over the years Saint Etienne have released a steady stream of records, each exploring a slightly different facet of their sound. Good Humor came in 1998, followed by Sound on Water (2000), Finisterre (2002), Tales from the Turnpike House (2005), Words and Music by Saint Etienne (2012), Home Counties (2017), I’ve Been Trying to Tell You (2021), and 2024’s The Night. Last year’s International was their swansong.
Band member Pete Wiggs chatted to OUTinPerth about their covid-era album I’ve Been Trying To Tell You which made innovative use of 90’s dance samples and was created while the band’s members were separated by lock downs.
The trio have also put out several soundtracks, compilations of additional tracks, and a highly acclaimed collection of remixes of their tunes called Casino Classics. It features remixes from Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin, Chemical Brothers, Andrew Weatherall, David Holmes, Underworld, Broadcast, Death in Vegas and many others.
In 2009 producer Richard X created a new version of the band’s debut album Foxbase Alpha dubbed Foxbase Beta. He used the original recordings to mix new versions of the the album’s tracks.
Saint Etienne also teamed up with Paul Van Dyk for Tell me Why (The Riddle) in 2000, and collaborated with Tim Burgess from The Charlatans for I Was Born on Christmas Day. The band have also remixed many other artists work given their touch to tracks by Kid Loco, The Boo Radleys, Edwyn Collins, Manic Street Preachers, The Drums, The Time & Space Machine and many others.
A final bow from one of Britain’s most cherished groups which is not to be missed. Get tickets from Destroy All Lines.
