The Galtymore, Cricklewood, London (1st night), Thursday, 14th September 2006

[Here's what I wrote back in September:]


Brilliant!

On at: 10:20pm

Setlist (I wrote it down as it happened):

1. My Door
2. Bo Demmick
3. Pacifying Joint
4. Wrong Place, Right Time
5. Mountain Energei
6. Fall Sound
7. Reformation
8. I Can Hear The Grass Grow
9. What About Us?
10. Theme From Sparta FC
11. Scenario
12. Blindness
encore:
13. new song (mostly sung by Elena!)
14. Mr. Pharmacist

Off at: 11:27pm

An excellent Fall gig! Way better than the Islington shows of late last year. The venue wasn't full, but there was a great crowd response, especially at the front.

This was the happiest-looking Fall I've ever seen, with Mark and Elena even grinning more than once. The only tension was in the music itself. I hope this new band hangs around – they are a delight.

Highlights? An almost impossibly heavy Blindness. And an odd track in the encore which Elena began singing/speaking at the front of the stage from a sheet of paper with Mark's lyrics on. He then strolled back on to conclude the song. While he finished it off, Elena started playing bass and Rob Barbato replaced her at the keyboard!

Fall Sound was sung by Mark from behind the amp, almost completely out of view.

What About Us? remains a crowd-pleasing call-and-response number.

Much amp twiddling, keyboard fiddling and Mark turning everything up to 11. He gave a big grin just before Sparta. What did he say at the start of Scenario? This song still has the 'Veteran's Day Poppy' lyrics: 'It don't get me high/It can only make me cry'. During Bo Demmick Mark now sings the words 'Bo D.' Vocals throughout were pretty sharp.

I tried the earplugs but my ears are still ringing.
Lots of people had cameras and there was no security guard nonsense to stop people snapping away.

If you like your Fall very, very heavy – and cheerfully so – see them now.

I've finally got round to uploading this clip: the end of 'Fall Sound' and some of 'Reformation'. I got fairly close.

Extra clips I took that night:
• Wrong Place, Right Time.
• Blindness.

Extra clips I took that night:
• Wrong Place, Right Time.
• Blindness.

Fantastic - the Wrong Place one is very (unintentionally?) arty with the focus.