Petrol, Antwerpen, 26th January 2006

Good gig,
maybe a bit untidy and careless at moments, but total rock 'n roll!

setlist :

the boss (according to setlist - typical fall rocka - garage - roll., so that's a new one according to Ben, text something with 'reverse' and ' we are the fall from a long long long long way back....(x2)')/pacifying joint/clasp hands/higgle-dy, piggle-dy/what about us/spartak/touch sensitive/mountain/wrong place ... grass grow/assume/green eyed/protein/blindness.

no encores, on at 22.30, played for about 65 minutes, the only thing was, some songs were played a bit too long, Mark wanted to cut what about shorter, starting lyrics of protein during green eyed, (no lyrics on protein).
Mark was ok, not too much knobs business, black glove on right hand, thrown away after 30 seconds, jacket out after 3 songs, back on after 50 minutes (it was not cold inside).

the festival was similar to the rotterdam gig, that is 'spoken word', atilla the stockbroker and also john s hall, people started screaming 'the fall' during john s. hall, he said : 'I'm gonna do 2 more, but if you keep on shouting, I'll do more'.
Eventually i liked his ronald reagan stuff. Fall supposed to be on at 22.00, john s hall ended at 22.10. Most people came to see the fall, they didn't care about the festival but petrol is ok as a venue, just out of town near the river, south antwerp, docks.


the fall. Blindness was very long yet again, fantastic version, very sloppy, very long (i did not clock), the sound of the drum was very good in the middle of the set, especially mountain worked very well
crowd, 600 in venue of 800, something like that, maybe 500, they don't do bigger crowds in belgium. alot of people of the belgian antwerp scene, rudy trouve (ex deus), kim kangaroo, buscemi, tom deweerdt, ..., paul leroy (fallnet), a lot of friends,jan swygers of mauro(deus) the whole aavon durckheim crew, etc, etc.
I think the setlist was fresh enough to me, maybe ya wanner, but uncle t. pushed it too much.

indeed, a very rockin rockin fall last night.
long, very long version of loco man (blinding!), and blindness (loco!)
mark in top shape, though no smiles.
mike was given to audience during loco man, as mark had already gone through the protein lyrics; not much good came out of that, obviously.

the setlist mentions they were gonna do Bo Derek / Dr Bucks Letter, but alas, no encores for Antwerp this time.

Largest crowd for Fall concert in Belgium I have witnessed; I met quite a few newbies (will they make fall record sales boom in belgium :-) ?), and some extremists:
most people impressed with the performance.

rumor has it that fall will play later this year one (two?) more Belgian gigs!
can't wait!!
(must see Youwanner ;-)!!!)

I second the previous posts by Marquis & Diego. Spot-on, guys.

twas a rock-solid performance, hard as nails. Touch Sensitive was a bit so-so but the rest was phenomenal. Highlights for me included:

* The Boss [thx Diego for clearing that], so good an opening number that MES even said "Good evening we are The Fall" TWICE

* Montain Energei - just superb.

* Blindness (natch). They could've added another ten minutes easily - it just kept getting better and better and better.

* Seeing the stunned expressions of all the "are The Fall actually still going?" brigade, who had come expecting to see a freak show and were left speechless.


pity we didn't get an encore (maybe i'm wrong but Spen seemed slightly unwell), but hey last night's gig definitely hit the spot alright.

That's a well interesting set list : one new un and two last played in 2004 (Green Eyed/Protein). Bodes well for March 2006

Forgot to mention it earlier:
an intro tape was played with a fantastic new version of "Hit The North".
(apparently some woman dj from london did this remix).
Hopefully they'll put it out some day!

yer damn right Marquis - terrific mix of HTN indeed...


and while we're at it, one other striking feature was the Assume chorus, "If you assume / You are a Hero / If you don't assume / You're a RRRRRRRRRadical" [with heavily rolled "r"].

dunno if he's been doing that before but in any case it makes the song even more threatening (no mean feat!).

Another mix of HTN, there's something we haven't had before.

what the f*** is Higgle dy Piggle dy?

Track record

Another Monks cover.

Played at about half the dates on Autumn tour - see Gigography

I know Clayt's.

Write 500 times "I must post sooner than that fast man from Nottingham"

That'd be fantastic if they do give Dr Buck's Letter and airing. Does anyone know if they have ever played that one live? Its one of my current Fall favourites.

That'd be fantastic if they do give Dr Buck's Letter and airing. Does anyone know if they have ever played that one live? Its one of my current Fall favourites.

Loads of times..

see this link

http://www.thefall.info/modules/wfsection/...79dee76ddbbfac6

Hey now!
Forum members the unseen and dj_hollerbusch witnessed another sublime performance by the Fallgruppe at Antwerp's Petrol. But first they were put through the ordeal of listening to some "poets" for no less than two hours. Think of an ex-Crass member reciting the dullest and most pretentious lines since Jim Morrison - to the accompaniment of, let's say, an androgynous saxophonist/flutist...you get the impression.

First off, here's the setlist:

- the boss (instrumental + obligatory welcome)
- pacifying joint
- clasp hands
- higgledy-piggledy
- what about us?
- theme from sparta f.c.
- touch sensitive
- mountain energei
- wrong place/grass grow
- assume
- green eyed (with protein lyrics)
- protein protection (instr.)
- blindness
(no encore)
- some Post Nearly Man bits after the show
Rather nice that the DJ treated us to some old Fall material after the show BTW.

The venue is located in the d'Herbouvillekaai in what seemed to be (a partly derelict) industrial estate near the mighty Schelde river. The taxi driver referred to it as "that discotheque". Well. We agree that the turnout must have been around 600 for the evening - a largely well-behaved, if not tame crowd of punters. The HTN remix previously mentioned was a treat - followed by a ten-minute interlude of disco (?) music.
Now to the Fall: MES comes on stage in a white shirt, clean, well-pressed trousers and what looked like a cardigan. Was sporting glove on his left hand - if only for a couple of minutes. Hairdo: short sides and top (number 3) and leave a bit at the back (?).
Did some introduction during "The Boss": "Good evening...we are...from a long long long (twice)", (something about, as I heard it) "competitive minds", and, "the first (of the night is) Pacifying Joint...why don't you/when do you get round to it?" Very promising new song, all in all.
Eleni in a rather fetching skirt (green/black). Charming. Tends to overdo it a bit on the keyboard side these days, though! Doing the Nagle, as it were.
Stand-out song of the evening: "Loco Man" (during which he passed on the mic to Vander (singer of Düsseldorf-based band Kiesgroup) - who rather unsuccessfully tried to do a Black Monk Theme impression). This took place after MES had finished singing Protein Protection (next on the setlist, featuring "you must decide to decide..." - or something to that effect) to the music of GELM. And, of course, Blindness - no longer an instrumental it seems. Very fast towards the end. Higgledy-Piggledy is indeed a catchy tune well worth of their efforts. Fantastic rendition of Touch Sensitve - but what exactly did Mark mumble about Birtwistle (at least twice) towards the end? Great thing that Mark does growls, extended rolled "r"s, mumbling and the like again.
Mark DID smile - at Spencer, that is. And an embrace for the soundman on left side of stage! Limited knob twiddling and messing with mics this time (at least five of them at the front of stage - the temptation!).
Mark contributed some truly brilliant keyboard playing during Blindness. Up there with Liberace.
But who was that scary man in the front row (right)...brrrrrrrr?
Thank you, Ibis staff. Thank you, friendly people of Antwerp - a place that is definitely worth a visit any time.

Magic

The Fall are the best band on the planet.
They kick everyone's ass.

This is a true word my frrrrrrrrriend!!!

I heard Attilla The Stockbroker was wearing his Fc St Pauli shirt, in honour of the recent trouncing of Werder Bremen in the German Cup. St Pauli are now into the semi finals.....bring on the Forces of Darkness !!

Can someone please tell me that a copy of this gig has been made for future release, "Protienprotection" is one of my favourite tracks of recent albums and I love hearing "new" Fall stuff. (Even though "Protienprotection" was an instrumental) it still sounds like a good gig and a nice variety of tracks)

See this thread for starters....

..and keep an eye on Dime

Thanks for the reviews, lucky Antwerpen-visitors!

THE FALL play "Protein Protection" on my birthday? Plus a new one! Great news, great year...

parts of it were even filmed by a professional looking camera man, maybe for belgian tv? Not sure how much, but I saw him record touch sensitive at least.
A very happy night

This was an absolutely brilliant gig! The band in a superb tune. Tension rised perfectly to the end – last three track Green Eyed, Protein, Blindness unbeatable. Didn't miss encore, though shouted for more.
Which club takes 50 Cent for a piss? Sweat it all out.
see you soon

Damn it. You're absolutely right. What has the world come to? On the plus side, however, you were given a "bonnetje" (voucher) for one drink on entering the venue.

Damn it. You're absolutely right. What has the world come to? On the plus side, however, you were given a "bonnetje" (voucher) for one drink on entering the venue.

Yeah, that's true. No complain about the ticket prices. Voucher included, as if we were visiting a disco night. I felt so young.