Surprised no-one has posted a review yet! It was a pretty good show. Some great highlights like Sparta, What About Us and Blindness. Someone said the word 'cruising' and I guess that was fair comment. Sorry I don't have a setlist.

Just a quickie, then . . . Setliist ran:

Instrumental (title unknown to me, perhaps The Boss, but Ben looked like he was suffering so it could have been . . Abuse) - MES walked on towards the end, and gave a very cheery Good Evening We Are The Fall, which set the bonhomie for the night;
Touch Sensitive (hard, but excellent);
Bo Demmick (no complaints with this);
Clasp Hands (nice one);
What About Us (another long version, it almost seemed as if they didn't know when/didn't want to stop. I almost wished they hadn't it was that good);
Mountain Energei (one of the stars of the last tour, resurrected in very fine style once again);
Sparta F.C. (a performance to win the Champions League/European Cup in any era); and
Blindness (Ouch. A full fat performance of this too).

And that was it. Timed perfectly I thought. Group had all left the stage by 11.25 pm. I left the Club at 11.27 and had to be at East Croydon station by 11.32 to avoid any transport problems. I did it with 30 seconds to spare. Brilliant. If in 2012 there's an Olympic event for this - the late night post-gig Cartoon Club to East Croydon dash - I ought to be in the team. Although it was as if MES knew that my time was up, and how (ahem) fit I was. Bless him, and them all.

They seemed to have ironed out all of their problems on stage, and all seemed quite content. Ben was a little concerned when he knocked the second mike stand over near the end, but picked it up without causing any distress to MES. MES did a bit of knob-twiddling, but not to much effect, and had a quick friendly chat with each group member towards the end. Although that was probably to say "that's it for tonight . . . ".

My only remaining question is were MES's trousers new and/or stolen, because they still had the security tag on the back pocket? :confused:

More later I think. . . but au revoir to everyone I met tonight and on Sunday. And particular thanks to those who helped me in my ticket quest tonight.

are you now off to the Commonwealth games? Man thats moving!

sounds like a good 'un again. glad you could make it

Not sure which gig this actual paper set list came from!! Sparta and Blindness not even on it. I spotted MES talking to the band during the gig. My guess is that he was making up the set as he went along. Good powerful stuff again last night, but just tooooooooooooooooooooo short a set!! I've got more photos for later. I'm bloody tired now though!

Nice venue - good sound - solid performance - and then they left the stage. It's just not long enough.

On the positive side, it finished early enough so it was easy to get back without transport problem - shot off fairly quickly to avoid transport difficulty. However, I was enjoying it so much I didn't care about the transport problems. I didn't time it but I saw some pissed off looking people leaving the venue.

Thanks for the beer Steve - I'll buy you one next time I see you.

Also, nice to see everyone still in the pub at an indecently late hour - I would have thought you all would have made more effort to see the guy with the slides. :D

What was the joke?

Cerebral Caustic

Can we have a caption competition?

Thanks. I wish I was going. But the selectors didn't like my musical tastes. ;) :lol:

It was another good one. Fairly short but very sweet.

Cheers

MES to Ben: "What d'ya reckon Frank Skinner would say if we asked him to stand in for John Cooper Clarke?"

Four nights. Each different. Tues was definitely the best - Sunday was the lowest-key gig . (I won't say worst because there's no such thing with The Fall).
Saw that bird from Shameless at the gig last night. Top dollar. She's just like her character (Veronica?) - never without a pint - She got stuck in at the front too.
She seemed to be with Kevin Cummins (world famous photographer )- had a had a quick chat with him. Said he was just there for fun, not working... Didn't see Skinner though (thankfully).
Altogether a great residency and one I'd happily endorse every March. Maybe make it a week next time Mark.

Surprised they didn't do 'The Man Whose Head Expanded'. Very topical in London right now...

Final night in Croydon! Thanks again for the reviews. Top-photos, Hanley PAFD.

:applaud:

Glad for everybody who made it there. Soon they'll play over here...

:)

That is a crackin picture :)

That is a fuckin' excelent photo

:o :lol: :lol:

BEN:"Boss, what are we gonna play next?"
MES:"Smile, you dussel!!!" :lol:

I went on sunday and that was mind expanding...last night was a top professinal(!) show..if that is the right word for the fall..it could have been louder, but marks on stage mixing helped a great deal.nice to see bed diminshed mike.....

on reflection it gives the impression they were slacking, so maybe another word would be better, but I can't think of it at the moment.
Good to see you Steve :)

Just to let you all know that the reason for the short sets was that Ben left the band on Saturday night, and was replaced by Ben lookalike Wayne Mardle, probably better known for Hawaiian shirts and occasional darts ;)



Hope someone taped all these gigs and will be upping them on Dime soon!

for the caption it could be weve got the money lets piss off early

Or MES to Ben: "You're a good lad. We ought to have a look at extending your contract. . . "

"You're fired!"

This was the best Fall gig I have seen. They were so together and focussed, Sunday night seems a long time ago. I enjoyed that but this totally eclipsed it. (Cruising is the wrong word - consumate, in a groove perhaps. Everything was played fairly straight and with amost no mucking about but at a real intensity).
I saw the whole of the support act Nought who were excellent. A bit tricky to engage with initially, but once in, all the constant discordance, mad guitar and bastard time signatures started to gel. Last song was epic. The video artists piece seemed tame by comparison and I found myself actually enjoying it. Great audience welcome to the Fall and response thereafter - something which the band seemed to pick up on - grinning to each other as they knew they were nailing it.
Mountain Energie was majestic. Finishing with the best Blindness performance I've
heard, an absolute beast: Bass was turned up to 11 by MES, Eleni's sawmill keyboards, built up to a huge drone. The best.
Oh, and Mr. Skinner was there again.

Thought it was one of the best myself. :applaud: :applaud:
The first instrumental was not the same as Sunday's so that's two new numbers at least. Then Touch Sensitive all the way to Blindness via What About Us et al. Each number seemed to go on a fair bit and all the better for it. I thought the whole set was around 50 minutes. Short but in no way too short. A much enjoyed evening. :applaud:

JOKE CAPTION...

M.E.S....and the barman says to the bear.....why the long pause........

MES to Ben (again): "Is it true that you were 18 when you joined The Fall?"

Aye totally agree with the last two posts - that was the only night I made it to Croydon but was totally blown away.
The version of blindness they finished on was very, very special.
Not sure about this but I thought the first instrumental track was Married, 2 kids although an admitadley bombastic version!

Ben : Looks like Grotesque v Hex in the final
MES : Aye the old songs are the best

or

Ben : I was reading the stuff in the forum earlier
MES : Me too, it's funny as fuck that forum. I love it

^_^

Yes, 'cruising' was apt for The Fall last night. For me, they never seemed to move into top gear. As mentioned, in previous posts, the bands entrance from the dressing room to the stage via a push through the crowd is a little undignified. The opening instrumental, which was different to the instrumental on Sunday, was in the mold of W.B. Again, nothing speacial without lyrics. Mark wanders through the crowd at the end of this opener like an old prizefighter, chin up, guarded by heavies (roadies doubling as security?) front and back, he adds a few add lib lyrics at the end about Athens. I recall Mr Pharmacist following next and then Touch Sensitive with the lyric "who wrote the music to the Vauxall advert? Was it 1. undecipherable 2. undecipherable 3. Stockhausen 4. ... Touch Sensitive!". Gotta love that. It travelled home smoothly from there. A cracking Sparta F.C. on the way, which led to Blindness, a signal the end, which was marred for me by a couple of goons three rows from the front, to left of the stage, that decided that standing on a bench gave them better view, blocking the view of dozens of others. A much better performance than the other gig I was at on Sunday, but from the other reviews, Tuesday seems the pick. And to think they planned to play Big New Prinz... well that's the Fall.

Last (ad hoc one) for the time being. I'll get back to giving my thoughts on this wonderful night, but first:

Ben: "Eh Mark. I see that Kylie song, I Can't Get You Out Of My Head, went down well the other night. Why don't we do a cover?"

MES: "What? Nah Nah Nah/Nah Nah Na Naah Nah. Fuck off, nah. . . "

Last night's performance didn't do a great deal for me, after having been there the previous 3 nights it would have had to be as "special" as Tuesday to properly move me, but still a million miles better than the majority of gigs I go to.

Got into a nice routine of coming to ship of fools/cartoon every night and feel a bit nonplussed now it's ended :huh: But saying that, it's all caught up with me today and I feel fucking terrible so best to have a couple of days in bed.

Didn't see Veronica from Shameless, but see Kev quite regularly in Brighton, which is nice.

Also got a very nice leaving smile from Alan Wise on the door, a much nicer bloke than I thought he'd be :)

Talking of systematic abuse, that's what reading Hanley's posts where he puts up the setlists that could have been has become :grrr: :grrr:

was alan wise the bloke on the door looking after tickets, wearing some sort of cowboy hat? if so, then he's a very nice bloke as he let us in even though the useless gits at ticketline had failed to leave my tickets on the door.

so thanks alan (or whoever it was) for letting us in.

i thought it was a great night. it's 25 yrs since I saw the fall in a small venue, rather than a forum-type place, and it was great, v powerful.

nought were excellent too, reminding me of blind idiot god, a us band from the 90s who did the same sort of instrumental power rock but with complicated times signatures etc

i even quite liked the video scratching/mixing thing, though it went on a bit too long.

cartoon is a nice venue, with friendly bar staff, quick service.

Great first Fall gig for me and anyone else getting to know them live including hopefully many of the younger ones in audience if they were new. :applaud:

Standing opposite by the bar I had a great view of MES eye to eye (and his only opened occasionally). Bo Demmick and Blindness tops for me and great audience sing along with What about us? Appreciative audience big contribution to the atmosphere.

But extra special meeting you guys in the Ship of Fools and putting faces to names. Terrific. :lol:

If anyone is getting worried about long term hearing problems from gigs I was testing out some great musicians earplugs during the last minutes of the Nougt act and you can tune them to hear loud and clear without the pain or ringing afterwards.

thanks for the wonderful map Eccy!! :D :D :D

Hey now!
Unseen here. Yet another sublime performance by das maechtige Fall-Gruppe, recent "hits" were performed to great effect. Fantastic version of Blindness. As you all know by now. Eleni wearing a plain black dress. Looking great. Wish I could go to the Cartoon again tonight. Wonder what it looks like in there without the Fallites. Biker pub? Might be that kind of area. Before the show some great music again (Pere Ubu, Seeds and the like). Slides thing unbearable - worked better on the bigger screen at the Islington Academy. Bit pretentious for my liking. Thinks he is Kraftwerk or something. A wonderful week, all in all.
Nabend Holger. Tach, ne? Gucks Du.

nah Kraftwerk have got talent and a sense of humour...

Also, shouts of "FUCK OFF CUNT!" "GO FUCK YOURSELF" and "QUIT WHILE YOU'RE AHEAD" are noticable by their absence at KW gigs :lol:

could you make out what he was saying? "made a mistake in athens" again?

*bloody curious about that* :confused:

:lol:

The absence of talent/humour is absolutely astonishing. He probably thinks that those who dont "get it" in the audience (ie 99% of the crowd) are the unfortunate ones, and the shouts of abuse only spur him on all the more

Heres the plan for Reading: shout, whoop and holler the minute he starts. He may be so surprised by such a show of apparent appreciation that he falls over his equipment, rendering it completely useless. Result.

Either that or you piss over his keyboard Toby :lol: