Saint Etienne Sets Farewell Tour of Australia and New Zealand
Saint Etienne’s goodbye lap will make it to Australia and New Zealand later this year.
The beloved British indie electronic-pop act will get their final Australasian tour underway with a concert Nov. 20 at Auckland’s Powerstation, followed by a show Nov. 21 in the New Zealand capital, Wellington.
Presented by Destroy All Lines, the jaunt then skips the Tasman for shows in each of Australia’s five capital cities: Adelaide (Nov. 23), Melbourne (Nov. 26), Sydney (Nov. 27), Brisbane (Nov. 29) and a tour closer Dec. 1 in Perth. The general onsale starts Friday, 9am local time at destroyalllines.com.
Across a career spanning more than 35 years, Saint Etienne earned a reputation for creating the creamiest, classiest of pop, with electronic touches and swinging ’60s flair. Saint Etienne is one for the connoisseurs.
The farewell tour follows the release of their final studio LP, International, via Heavenly Recordings, which dropped in September 2025. International has an Australian connection, a collaboration with Brisbane electronic-pop act Confidence Man on the track “Brand New Me.”
That collection peaked at No. 8 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart, one of the act’s three career top 10 appearances, and 11 entries in the top 40. The group also landed 17 tracks on the top 40 of the Official U.K. Singles Chart, including a top 10 appearance with their year 2000 collaboration with Paul Van Dyk on “Tell Me Why (The Riddle)” (reaching No. 7).
Saint Etienne bandmates Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs have known each other since childhood, and turned that friendship into a band in 1990 with their cover of Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart.” The first thing they ever recorded, which they completed in just two hours in a bedroom studio in Pollards Hill, north of Croydon, also gave Saint Etienne their first and only appearance on the Billboard Hot 100, topping out at No. 97 in 1992.
Singer Sarah Cracknell completed the lineup when she joined for their third single “Nothing Can Stop Us” and the 1991 album Foxbase Alpha.
Saint Etienne “aren’t splitting up as such,” reads a statement from the band. They “still remain the best of friends after 35 years recording together – but they don’t feel like they want to go on forever and wanted to go out with a bang.”
Before making the long haul, Saint Etienne will criss-cross the United Kingdom and Europe for a run of summer festival shows and headline concerts.
