Kuepper and Bailey may be the greatest song writing team in Australian music. I don’t mean any offence to Wright and Young, Vander and Young, Scott and Young and Young, Kelly and Freud, McLennan and Forster, Barnesy and Mossy, or The Wiggles.

Anybody that has heard the first two Saints albums will know what I am talking about. I have heard that some people even like the third album, which is memorable only because it was the final pairing of guitarist Kuepper and vocalist Bailey. Bailey continued with lamer and lamer versions of the Saints while Kuepper explored wider musical boundaries with the Laughing Clowns. The split between the two Queenslanders ended a while ago, and now they are carving a new name for themselves as a stripped back, mellowed out duo.

The Vanguard has been packed in May for these Wednesday night sessions, and the reception Kuepper and Bailey receive when they take to the stage leaves no doubt that this is a partisan crowd. Ed had his electric guitar and Chris alternated between an acoustic guitar and an electric bass. The sound was best when both men were powered, with Bailey’s bass providing power and depth to the Kuepper numbers.

My initial suspicion of the crowd and their bias was quickly confirmed, with them going wild for every song, and especially wild for Massacre. The two musicians were relaxed with each and joked throughout the night. A heckler in the audience amused them more than annoyed them. They even joked about a negative review that referred to them as middle class and middle aged. There are hundreds of young bands in the country trying to do what The Saints did over 30 years ago, and these men know they have nothing to prove to their detractors.

The Vanguard is a relaxed venue, and tonight was not about rock excesses, it was about the craft of song writing. Kuepper confirmed his status as a legend, with his compositions showing more range and insight than those of his co-conspirator. The standout from the night was an old Kuepper number, The Way I Made You Feel, which sent a visible shiver down the spine of the crowd. The pair tried to have the crowd sing along at one stage of the evening, in a weird karaoke scenario, but it was not very successful.

My only disappointment of the night was the absence of songs from the early albums of the Saints. The crowd loved Just Like Fire Would, but that is no substitute for hearing Erotic Neurotic or One Way Street. The songs from the post-Kuepper Saints all sound weak to me. The gentlemen finished with Send In The Clowns, which was an odd, but amusing, end to an interesting night.