Barcelona - September 21, 1996
by Alex Gutiérrez
The Fall played live in BCN last Friday. Here's a mini review of the concert.
First of all, i dunno if Brix Smith is bustier than ever, as a fallnutter suggested several weeks ago, but i can confirm the well state of health of her legs, which she gently showed up her nickers. Once lusty feelings of fallnutts have been satisfied, we must say she played quite well, and supported by the second guitar in an effective way. MES almost didn't sing. He went off the stage in half of the songs, and sang in a wrong way the others. Benett was the guy who sang all he could (sometimes he looked comic, singing with erm... to much excess, in a Rollins Band way). The band looked at each other frequently asking themselves what to do. Still the gig was great. Hanley's superb, as ever. When the light turned in, and the gig was supposed to have finished, MES went onto the stage again and invited the musicians to perform I'm going to Spain. At the mid of first verse, he said no no no, pulled hanley's bass and ordered him and the rest of the band to go offff.
They played 15 ways, Behind the Counter, He Pep, Spinetrack, Powder Keg, Us 80's 90's, LA (sung by Benett), Cheetham Hill, and others.
I got the paper with the songs written in it that used Brix. Offers admitted!!!
Next day, BCN press said that he sang in distress and "in the midst of a difficult relationship with the band"
Here's the question: was the normal sadic feeling MES has for the band, or it is anything more terrible.
Oxford - September 25, 1996
by Ed Lowe
Well, a brief mini-review.
Smallish fallnet contingent met at the Elm Tree (Gez, Konrad, Neil & myself). Saw first half of euro-footy, Man U. 2-0 up by the time I left.
Arrived at venue at 8:30 to find support band had already finished. Fall group appear onstage at 9:00 in front of a truly shabby backdrop - looked like faded graffitti on the wall of a multi-storey car park.
(I'll leave lists of track titles to those with better memories, and comment on a few events)
Saw someone who must have been mel-e-mel at the front waving a Mark E Smith for Drain Comissioner sign. There was some response to this, but I was not close enough to see.
Psychic pre-cog song false started, MES stopping the group and telling them to do it again properly. MES looks more and more like he's descended from a long line of world class gurners.
In short, enjoyed the gig - excellent bass & drums as usual. Brix looked v. tired throughout.
Now, I came back in here to work...
by Melissa O'Reilly
Mailer back online at last! so here's my Oxford review. Highlights:
Wish I could go to some of the others...maybe the london one if it is ever confirmed...?
MES for Drain commissioner sign (no mes reaction to it at all at the gig)
by some guy Andy from the UK-Indie list
Here's a quick review of last night's Fall gig, in case anyone's wondering what they're like on the current tour. Frstly let me say I'm not a huge fan, although I've got a couple of their albums, so I only really know their famous stuff.
I wasn't sure what line-up to expect this time round: I'd heard rumours that Craig Scanlon had been sacked, and of course Brix was back for the last album but would she still be around?
The show started with an almost blacked-out stage, except for an illuminated backdrop with "The Fall" written in a suitably Fall-ish style, and a woman on keyboards at the side of the stage playing some bassy riff. She was soon joined by Stephen Hanley on bass, then the drummer (Simon Wolstencroft? He looked familiar so it could have been him, unless I've got my line-ups confused). Next up came Brix (if indeed it was she - I think it was but we'll call her "Brix" to be on the safe side) on guitar, and finally the old groaner himself, Mark E. Smith. So, there was indeed no Craig Scanlon, and maybe the sound of the band suffered a bit for that, although it was still excellent.
On to the set. As I've said I'm no Fall afficionado, and for me the set lacked hits. In an hour (or more?) I heard two tracks I could definitely identify: "Behind the counter" and "Numb (at the lodge)" (or is it "Feeling Numb"), although it didn't particularly matter. Whether this was a refusal to play the Craig Scanlon period material (i.e. about half the band's carrer) in favour of material "Brix" knew better, or a band trying to re-invent itself I dont' know.
But regardless of that, their sound is so distinctive that everything felt familiar, and in these Britpop dominated days when we're constantly assaulted with jaunty tunes it's great to hear a band who just like to make a racket. The drums pounded, the bass growled and clanked, dominating the mix, "Brix"'s guitar scratched and clattered and the whole thing was topped off with Mark E's acerbic, atonal vocals. Sadly the soundman seemed a bit slow off the mark so we had a delay of around 10 seconds between Mark or "Brix" starting to sing and actually hearing them, and after about song 3 the keyboards were almost inaudible, but generally things sounded good. The band seemed to have sound problems too. The second song had to be stopped and re-started after the drummer couldn't hear the drum machine and sequencers and lost his timing - they abandoned the electronics for the second attempt and the song switched gear into a head-on rush. I don't know if they'd planned more sequencer-backed songs but from then on everything seemed to be played without electronics and with added venom, with at least the last 3 or 4 songs decided in group discussions over the drum kit.
We only got one encore, sadly. Whether this was because of the band's dissatisfaction with the sound, or the audience, or just because the venue was closing early to make way for a club night wasn't clear. I think the choice of song was a nod in the direction of their hits, it sounded like something off The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall to me, but I couldn't be sure.
So, slightly mixed feelings. The band seemed to enjoy the set when there weren't sound problems, "Brix" grinning at the front row of the audience, and even Mark E., almost smiled at one stage, and I'd say the not-quite-capacity (surprisingly) audience enjoyed it too, on balance. Not quite enough hits for me, but the sound of a classic alternative band (if such a thing can exist) who are still on form even after 18 (or whatever it is) years.
Go and see them, Britpop kids. Widen your horizons. Enjoy. Cheers
from Nightshift (Nov), Oxford's best free music mag, courtesy of Ines Kretzschmar
Twenty years on and Mark E. Smith is probably wondering just what he has to do to disenfranchise those few remaining Fall loyalists. Smith has fronted the most awkward of bands in the most belligerent and unswervingly non-conformist manner possible and still we kneel at his C&A shoed feet and beg for more.
Last time The Fall played at the Zodiac (back when it was the Venue) they had people muttering about not understanding it at all - and that was virtually a greatest hits set. What would those same people make of tonight with a set so resolutely dispassionate, not a golden oldie in sight and Smith quite obviously pissed out of his mind and on the verge of pre-senile dementia? (subsequent dates on the tour saw him falling off-stage and cancelling gigs as they were due on stage). True they've got Brix back in the fold - looking not a day over 16, compared to Mark E.'s nearly pensionable sinister uncle visage - which lends them a pop edge they've not had since 'I am Kurious Oranj', particularly on the songs she sings, like 'Spinetrak', but otherwise they're obtuse as they can be. Song after song, mostly from the recent 'Light User Syndrome' album, builds into some vicious mantra, all pounding bass, fuzzed-up and detuned guitar and omnipotent keyboard melody, over which Smith heckles and rambles in his characteristic monotone. And, yes, if you were in any doubt, he does make it all up as he goes along. The guy is so completely unglamourous that he posesses a charisma that you never achieve by merely trying. You'd want him as your uncle so you could boast about him to your mates and laugh at his caustic, drunken sarcasm but you sure wouldn't want him round for Christmas dinner.
-Sue Foreman
Cannock - September 27, 1996
by Michael Jones
Arrived at the Prince Of Wales theatre at around 7-ish. I asked the receptionist what time theband would be on, and she replied 'no later than 9.15'.
After entering the gig, which looked similar to a typical school assembly hall, the first thing that was apparent was the lack of people there, around 50 making the place look sparse. I spotted fellow Fallnetter Alan McBride and said 'hello' :)
Around 10 'o' clock, the band finally came on. The crowd of 150 people moved to the front, leaving the hall three quarters empty, in contrast to the congestion at the Oxford gig 2 days earlier. The band had their Scott 92' backdrop, basicly a scribbled logo over picasso-ish block filled shapes.
The band were on top form. Julia Nagles techno riff started, to be joined by Wolstencroft's drumming, Hanleys solid distorted bass, then finally brix & Mark. After the obligatory mumbling of 'Good Evening, we are the Fall' the band launched into 'He Pep', a fine version. Mark, as in the Oxford gig, was in excellent mood. Laughing aloud, remembering all the Lyrics, and even playing blasts of guitar during 'Vulture' and 'The Joke'. At one point he politely asked Julia could he play her guitar, yes .. POLITELY !! Despite the poor turnout, the band plowed through all the Faves, including Spinetrak, 15 Ways, Das Vulture, Cheetham Hill, Behind The Counter, DIY Meat, Mixer, M5, Oleano, Dont Call Me Darling, a 20 minute 'US 80's 90's' with Bennett singing the first 8 mins, 'Chislers' with Bennett & Mark laughing at each other, and Mark once again leaning into the audience and asking for Crowd members to sing the interlude part. And suprise of the evening was 'Birthday' which was sung by Mark, no sign of Lucy, again. Marks' stage abscences were for no longer than 3 mins, probably for a cigarette.
All in all an excellent gig.
Mike.
PS Bumped into an Oldham bloke, whos said he was friends with John Quays, and apparently Mr Quays has a large collection of 60's Psychedelia LP's. Which suprised me, because I'd always though J Quays was an imaginary character :)
PPS Brix has her tongue pierced !, and during the last few songs played the Rock Chick, by giving her plectrums to unworthy members of the audience .....
Manchester - October 1, 1996
by Nick Evans
When the band finally came on at 10.40pm:
Overall pretty good, but not at their best in my (very) humble opinion.
Nev, with a :-)
Aylesbury - October 3, 1996
by Alan McBride
Well, thoroughly enjoyed the aylesbury gig but I have to say it was generally mediocre.
The high point was the last track - Mr Pharmacist! Brix still can't get the guitar solo part quite right but it was stunning nonetheless.
The only other track where smith got enthused was behind the counter. He was generally very reserved throughout.
And it had to happen! If smith insists on pulling the same 'sing-along-with-crowd-member' stunt at every gig he was bound to get a lamer. Chislers started up and I realized that (after moving about quite a lot during the gig) I was in the 'chisler position' - i.e. most likely to be asked to sing. So I moved to the other side of the stage. This left just one single person standing right up at the stage (most of the crowd at the front were standing a couple of yards back due to a handful of rather over-aggressive moshers). I had noticed that this guy had stood right in the center throughout, so I figured, young though he looked, that he was security - there were two other guys standing on the extreme edges that were definitely security. Anyhow, Mark may not have copped because the guy did
look young, and he did a lot of jigging about, getting into the show - not typical of security. So anyhow, Mark crouches down and talks very briefly to him and gets the poor unfortunate to repeat the words after him - 'chislers are here...and when they appear...', but the guy patently doesn't know the track so he makes no effort to sing the words - he just speaks them in a totally straight but embarrassed tone. When his ordeal is over, he looks about a bit incredulous and confused. Smith improvises into the song an embarrassed 'and now I can never come here again' and rants 'one man jack
in three million...' but it passes off looking lame but not too bad. Got a huge laugh from quite a few of the front crowd who'd obviously been at other gigs this tour and who knew what was happening. Anyhow, I'm just glad I knew to escape the 'chisler spot' in time :-)
So fuck it smith - drop the contrived pseudo-spontaneity and get back to real improvisation.
Anyhow, I mentioned the 'over-aggressive moshers' - they had enough room not to be a problem so they just looked like assholes. One guy in particular (hope he's not on the list :-) with a morrissey haircut was a total lunatic, but he made an interesting sideshow. I spent a good proportion of the gig standing right up at the stage, but looking sideways rather than forward to enjoy watching their antics.
Setlist? Well, the usual suspects - hey pep, cheetham hill, vultur, spinetrack, behind the counter, the joke, oleana, don't call me darling, us 80s 90s, chislers, mixer, and the big surprise - mr pharmacist. Can't remember the order though. One encore - more of a planned interlude though. It looked like they might come out for a second, but, like norwich, the crowd just didn't call enough for it.
All in all I could hapilly have missed this one - it was nothing on cannock or even the prematurely-ended norwich, certainly nowhere near the better gigs of last tour like sheffield or the astoria. And this was the second fall gig that I nearly killed myself rushing to, due to dodgy driving conditions (and dodgy driving - Rich can vouch for that :-). It was nearly
worth it though, to hear mr pharmacist again.
Looking forward to the astoria gig!
by Gez
Another night, another Fall gig (tough life, eh?)
Firstly, ta to Nick for that superb pub suggestion:
>There's a rather nice pub on the corner next to the library ... forget The pub next to the library had a very large bell outside it, and we were a bit surprised that it was called 'The Bell'...
Cut out Craig went down well to start with - woman at the Box Office almost seemed interested in the "Bring back Craig" campaign (does this exist?). Barmaid at the Bell more confused: "What's that stuck to your left nipple?" "It's Craig" "Oh..." Strange looks all round.
The gig. Five FallNetters present; Rich, Alan, Neil, Konrad and meself. The Civic Centre is a fairly salubrious place, and pretty large - didn't help
that there were perhaps 200 there at most.
Once again, MES's memory is improving - not a lyric sheet in sight. He only really left the stage once, for a few minutes to have a fag behind the PA.
The set didn't change much from earlier gigs, although it all sounded very tight. One solitary bloke camped at the front of the stage, beneath Mark's mic stand, and didn't know what was going on during the "Chiselers" interlude. A superb rendition he gave too, something along the lines of "What?" "I can't hear you" as MES mumbled in his ear. Mark gave up pretty quickly on this idea, and did it himself after this.
Shorter "80's-90's" last night - no Mike Bennett. Only available at weekends, reckons Konrad. No "DIY Meat". No "Birthday". "Das Vultur" did reappear, though.
Other unexpected highlight - last song in the main set was "Mr Pharmacist" -a few years since they last played it, I reckon. One encore ("Darling"),
threatened a second but it never happened. Overall, a bit atmosphere free,
not helped by some complete tosser in an orange (US footy?) shirt whose
dancing owed more to some south Pacific tribal ritual than Pan's People. He
was bloody scared of his girlfriend though.
by Rich "Hopelessly Clueless" Kidd
Shit.
Well I got to Avebury, took me bloody ages. No civic centre, just some yokels doing morris dancing around the town square and a coupla drunks soiling themselves in a shop doorway.
Looks like the gig was cancelled then.
Rich
Cheltenham - October 4, 1996
by Michael Jones
Band came on to Julia Nagles techno riffs and then burst into a good version of Mr Pharmacist. Mark not looking as happy as on previous dates, but certainly not dead :) From then on no suprises really, M5 (I, like Rich Kidd, disliked this song previously, but has now grown on me - probably due to the predominant Brix riff throughout), Chislers (with the now customary Audience sing-a-longa Interlude), US 80's 90's, The Mixer, Spinetrak, Cheetham Hill (No Mike Bennett), Behind The Counter, Oleano plus a new one, and possibly a few I've forgot. Powderkeg.
Highlight of the gig; Starting with Mr Pharmacist.
Lowlights; The missus getting knocked to the floor by a stagediver, No encore (The management pulled the plugs at 11 'o' clock). Mate Barries' (non FallNetter) asthma playing up.
Overall a good show, but cut short. MES keeping up his good mood, and noticeably drinking water on stage..or possibly Vodka in a water bottle :)
Mike
Still upset at missing Aylesbury gig ... due to an explosion at a
Chemical plant.
Worthing - October 8th, 1996
Rob from the UK-Indie list (courtesy of SWFCooke)
I've seen it all now. Last night the Fall played in Worthing and Mark E Smith was a disgrace, letting down both the audience and the rest of the band.
Things looked pretty bad when they came on 45 minutes late without Brix. Mark picked up her guitar played it for a minute then threw it down and kicked over her amp.
After three songs he stopped singing then passed both his and the bass player's mic into the audience and started shaking hands with people down the front and walked off. Coming back on towards the end of the song he pulled a mic from the drum kit and sang one or two lines then threw the mic and stand at the sound man at the side of the stage.
Apologising, saying "The PA company are from Newcastle so they're a couple of hours behind everyone else" they then played 'Mr Pharmacist' during which he fell over.
Getting back up for the next song, he resumed singing whilst swaying erratically and searching for something to lean on. He approached the keyboard player and tried to play her guitar, when she wouldn't let him he started making an awful racket on the keyboards then stumbled across the stage and leant on the bass player before falling over again.
He was helped off by the bass player and the band retired for a few minutes. They came back on and started 'The Mixer', but once again he fell against the keyboards, swayed, stumbled across to the bass amp, leaned on the bass player then fell over and had to carried off by the drummer and bassist. That was the end of the gig after just forty minutes and probably just three full songs.
My simpathy lies with the band who did a sterling job considering that Smith was out of his head and their main guitarist was missing. What started as being funny turned into one of the saddest things I've ever witnessed.
Folkestone - October 9, 1996 (sort of)
by Dirk Willems
Before we left, we decided to phone to cog sinister and ask if the gig was on.
Well it wasn't, 'I'm afraid to say the gigs off.' If there was a reasonable explanation. 'I can't get into detail, but there, was a little technical problem'.
Thierry, who's always late, didn't believe it. He decided to phone back, got Lucy on, who said exactly the same. She said : 'There's a gig on friday in London, that according to the latest news will go ahead.' But she added : 'it would be better to phone back tomorrow, you can get full confirmation than.'
No cut-outs, No shrine, NO SHOW (5-2 !!! Begbie cashes in).
DIEGO SUZUKI
London - October 11th
by Gavin Eastley
Back from the forum. What a bad gig. A muddy beat combo no less and Brix
crying through 80s90s and some embarrassing bloke coming on and mumbling
something about singing along you know all the words. Silence from the
cringing audience as they checked their incontinence knickers. First time
I can remember that they sounded better on record.
by Richard Kidd
Okay, back having a medicinal bottle of wine to keep the bugs at bay, and I
knew Stve won't be able to start his weekend DIY until he knows, so....
They were great. All band present + correct. Brix more rock-chick than ever
before. Smith smiled several times. One encore of a coupla songs. All the
usual (no Mr Pharmacist).
Craig joined them for Das Vultur, but unfortunately remained face down for
the rest of the set.
In He Pep, Smith sang 'It's called speed, we've got a song about it'.
Definitely.
Rich, very glad he went.
by Alan McBride
Right up to the last minute I expected this gig not to happen, after reading
the review of the worthing gig. But then someone had already reminded us of
the fall's habit of following some really dire disasters with great shows.
The (second?) support band had their moments. Earlier tracks in their set
sounded very sonic youth, then the vocalist switched to rap over shoegazer
guitar riffs. Pretty good in parts.
Met Mikey and pal while the support act were still on, then saw Rich come
through the door. Met Paul McM in the mosh near the end of the gig but only
got a chance to exchange a few words (couldn't find you afterwards, Paul). Anyone else make it?
Great to see Brix back in full rock-chick form. Could've done without the
pelvic thrusts though, even from Brix :-). Brix must enjoy bigger crowds
more. During the gig some people up the front were taunting brix with 'fuck
off again brix' and 'what about folkestone' and stuff like that. She either
didn't hear or didn't care.
No audience participation in chislers (thank christ). Instead they had the
sound-desk guy come on and do Mike Bennet's parts. I remember noticing this
guy at cannock. He came out to the mixer desk just before the fall took the
stage. He was a bit panicked about putting on the intro tape and screwed it
up - he played the start of 15 ways then stopped it and put on headphones to
find symbol of morgdan then played that. The thing I noticed about him at
the time was that he moved as if he was a video tape of a real person being
played at twice normal speed! It was quite surreal to watch. It wasn't
just that he moved fast, but he moved with a fluidity and precision that
belied his gawky and clumsy appearance - the result was exactly like you had
filmed him and speeded it up. Kept me amused for ages just observing him. Anyhow, he did the Bennet parts reasonably well I guess.
Too pissed to have taken in much of the set list but I'm pretty sure it had
hey pep, m5, behind the counters, das vultur, us 80s 90s, mixer, spinetrack,
oleana, don't call me darling. No mr pharmacist, no new tracks, no
resurrection of ladybird like at oxford.
Brix announced one song with 'this is a new one - straight from the womb' -
some brief confusion on stage then they started das vultur. My guess is
that they were gonna play the new track that they played at cannock - very
much like coliseum with low mumbled sinister vocals - very good. Shame they
didn't play it at the forum.
Ran into Alex and wished him a happy 150th - he reminded me it was his
151st. Can anyone on the list come close to that? I've seen them over 20
times myself, but I started very late - my first gig was the brixton academy
show from the code selfish tour, and very excellent it was too.
Anyhow, I've been generally less than inspired by the set list of this tour
and the predictability of it all ('specially the chislers audience
participation bit) but I guess you get that if you go see any band more than
once on a tour. Us 80s 90s is a stormer, and it was great to hear mr
pharmacist again, but there are some tracks that are boring live - oleana,
don't call me darling - even mixer is wearing thin for me.
In summary, I guess the forum gig would have ranked as a great for me if I
hadn't seen so much of this tour. I enjoyed it more than most of the others
but that was as much down to getting nicely pissed and spending most of my
time up the front ('cos I wasn't driving to this one) than the quality of
the gig itself. Seeing the fall in small venues like the waterfront in
Norwich was the high point for me. Very excellent gig, but tame in
comparison to Norwich this tour or sheffield last tour.
So, time for another really lame fallnet poll? Here's my dream fall
set-list for the next gig! (Note I've only included songs that they've
played recently rather than suggesting any new ones to dig up from the past
- that would be a very different story!).
Mr Pharmacist Encore
Secession Man (trust me!) Second Encore
Free Range So, bring back Ladybird and Free Range, keep playing LA, Mere Pseud Mag Ed,
Idiot Joy and Us 80s 90s, lose the very tired Chislers and lose Don't Call
Me Darling.
Pity they're not playing dublin this tour - I need an excuse for a trip home
:-)
by Rich Kidd (presumably sobered up)
gavin: Nah, this is rubbish. Brix crying? Huh? Apart from the pelvic thrusts, the
ridiculous rock posing to the opening chords of Behind the Counter (and I'm
taking a whistle to the next gig I swear), promising to give someone in the
audience her dress, smiling and laughing and joking throughout (towards the
end Smith grabbed her arm to calm her down, then grinned)...
Sound wasn't brilliant, but good enough. They were pretty tight.
The hatchet-faced Burns-a-like roadie did okay for the Bennett bits, but he
knew he was gonna do them - therefore when Smith whispered in his ear before
the Chiselers break, I reckon Smith was telling him to do the 'Sing along
you all know the words bit'. I thought that was hilarious, as loads of
people expected him to pick on someone out of the audience. (I've got a tape
from somewhere with MES saying 'You all know the words...' - this came from
him, no question)
Celebrity spotting: Jarvis Cocker, with his MES impression off to a tee,
stumbling aroung with a carrier bag. Dave Bush (apparently). Disturbing too
see how many people in London think it's cool to wear Chris Evan's specs.
Fuckface Contingent: Me, Alan McB, Mikey, James W (with c-o-C), Gilles
(apparently).
Oddity: a lass asking Alan McB if the cut-out-Craig sticking out of my top
pocket was a picture of him ?!
No vomit-stains/paint spots visible on Smith. Some guy at the front was
waving a sheet of paper that had some kind of MES headline and a picture of
MES at him for a while; MES took it, grinned, then gave the guy a page of
his notes that had a load of photocopied photos and a line of two of scrawl
at the bottom.
Bad points: at the end of gig seeing some lass waving a mobile phone in the
air and me thinking she was some flash bastard playing the gig down the line
to her friends - get out and find Alan had lost his work phone.....
Didn't see Rick's mate in the Tally Ho! - too many people catching my eye
who didn't have their cut-out-Craigs on....
Great gig, really was.
Rich
by Paul McMullan
I for one would have been disappointed to be turned at the door of the Forum when I arrived there. I arranged a little jaunt to London
to coincide with the gig. Luckily I didn't know that some of the gigs had been cancelled and didn't need to get worried.
Had beers in the pub right beside the Forum, but as I hadn't arranged to meet anyone before I left for London (on Wednesday) I
just had to look out for whatever CoCs might be presented. I saw none there. As Alan mentioned I met him inside during the set
however.
Fall took a little time starting, as Julie was fiddling with her computer for a while. Some tune was played just before they came
out. Didn't recognise it, and couldn't tell whether it was Fall or not. Track listing has already been given. I was disappointed not to
hear Ladybird or Pharmacist, but ah well. Only one encore as well...
Someone handed MES a sheet, which must've been a photocopied article or something. When he saw it he smiled and took it from the guy, and
then handed him a playlist for his trouble.
Enjoyed this one much more than last December in Dublin, as I prefer the new material to CC stuff.. ALso US80s 90s was rather
spiffing.
After the gig my mate and my brother were chucked out for performing piggyback during a prodigy song. The place was getting very empty
anyway, so we left also. Distinct lack of females, I noticed. However, when I first arrived I couldn't believe the crowd. I
suppose that's as big as the fandom gets..
Paul McM.
Berlin - December 24th
by Chris B. Power
"Alle Jahre Wieder...."
Line up Mark E Smith Set list and Stage Directions
>what it's called, though... "The Ship", possibly ? There's also a pub
>called the "Bricklayer's Arms", which is about 5 mins walk from the town
>center on the Wendover road.
Cheetham Hill
Das Vultur
Us 80s 90s
Hey Pep
M5
Powder Keg
Pearl City
LA
Ladybird
Idiot Joy Showland
Mere Pseud Mag Ed
>Back from the forum. What a bad gig. A muddy beat combo no less and Brix
>crying through 80s90s and some embarrassing bloke coming on and mumbling
>something about singing along you know all the words. Silence from the
>cringing audience as they checked their incontinence knickers. First time
>I can remember that they sounded better on record.
-------
Simon Wolstencoft
Lucy Rimmer (Synth & Vocals)
Steve Hanley
Mystery Guitarist (about six foot, shaved blonde hair)
-----------------------------
| Intro Tape | |
| Intro Instrumental | Enter Guitarist(?), Lucy, Simon, Steve. Possibly workings of a new song. |
| 1) He Pep! | Enter Mark "Good evening, we are the Fall..." |
| 2) D.I.Y Meat | |
| 3) Das Vulture Ans Ein Nutter-Wain | Que Mark trashing Lucy's synth, good sound. |
| 4) Powder Keg | |
| 5) Cheetham Hill | |
| 6) The Mixer | |
| 7) I'm Going to Spain | |
| 8) Spinetrak | With "Jungle" type intro tape version. |
| 9) The Chiselers | Enter the local dancing troup on stage, no audience participation in song though. |
| 10) Pearl City | |
| 11) Oleano | |
| 12) Kicker Conspiracy | A good attempt although abandoned mid-song |
| 13) Behind the Counter | |
| 14) Hark the Herald Angel Sing | Enter Chaotic Berliner Damen who makes good attempt to give Mark a Christmas Snog. Induces a reply: "Well the Powder's reach ya, and the powders teach ya, but when you find...." |
| ENCORES ------- |
|
| 15) Birthday | |
| 16) Big New Preist | Exit Mark. |
| 17) U.S. 80's, 90's (Instrumental) | |
| 18) The City Never Sleeps At Night | Great duet, Mark Wailing. Nice Christmasy finish. |
My ramblings about Berlin, Bernd, Casson, the Beer, the aftershow party
the Fall put on, and the gig will be mailed later tonight.