Stourbridge, 29th July 2004

Have to excuse me but a little worse for wear after a night at the Rock Cafe in Stourbridge (picture an abbotoir but worse.......), but having done my 54th Fall gig (and met some fallneters for the first time, cheers fall fan dave and the others), I do have to say it was one of those gigs that you think will be shite and then tunrs into something special.......

I went with my mate who I've seen the fall with twice (Ritz Dec '88, Mancester Uni '93), and I have to say......... fuck me!

4 encores (touch sensitive, f'oldin money, etc..........), and an audience that at first werent up for it or interested and then were made to work for their money and by the end were so f*ckin up for it that MES wouldn't let us go...

Oh yeah, and I got to sing Dr Bucks Letter courtesy of MES, happy days....

Anyway, set list to follow from someone less battered, but top gig all round.

Fig and Raff.

GREAT GIG, four or was it five encores ? My other half was blown away with Ben's harmonic gaffs on a few of the tracks (he knows, donchya Ben !!)

Beer Scooter has got the setlist, POST IT !!

My first post....and I'm the first to post (I think !)

Go on, give us some clues what they played ?

How many on stage this time ?

How was MES ?

What was Eleni wearing ?

i''ll let the more hardend fall fans suuply you with the setlist....from what I remember, Contraflow, Mountain Energei, Sparta, Touch Sensitive, Mr Pharmacist, Pseud Mag Ed....oooh loads...too p****d to remember Sorry !!

Mark E was confident (or is that cocky !!) faced the crowd all the way through. All encores done from the top of the stairs, out of view.

Eleni was wearing a black dress.

We require and would appreciate more detail, please.

She looked resplendent ok !

Oh, and there were 7 on stange, until the Broker disappeared after 2nd or 3rd track.

......at least, I think it was The Broker ?????

sorry I meant to say "On stage" A bit of a Freudian slip there, I reckon !

Cool-looks hopeful for another 27 years!. Appreciate the reviews for those of us here in australia.

MES was on great form, but I thought the band was a bit undercooked meself. Wrong Place Right Time, in particular, was dreadful. Spoilt Victorian Child was pretty bad too. There was a nice new discoey one, and a new rockabilly one that I didn't recognise. Ben was acting as band director - dread to think what it would have been like without him to be honest.

But the main set certainly didn't deserve five encores.

MES: 10/10
Band: 5/10

Fantastic gig (although I find it impossible to be objective about the Fall – they could play the worst gig in history and I’d still think it was fantastic), the sound was kind of muffled and suffered from quite of feedback, but I think that was more down to the acoustics of the venue rather then the band.

Having said that the current line up is a much looser, ‘Big Crashing Beat’ affair than the previous line up. Spencer Birtwhistle is a very different type of drummer to Dave Milner - Spencer goes in for lots of pounding floor toms. With the addition of Jim Watt’s second electric guitar (Ed Blaney played first two numbers on totally inaudible acoustic guitar, then, sensing that he was wasting his time, retired to the dressing room), and the fact that this was the first gig I’d been to where Elini’s synth was actually audible, then you can understand that this band has much fuller sound than the previous line up.

Physically, MES looked to be back in good shape (although he struggled with the stairs down from the dressing room to the stage, and did most of the encores standing in the dressing room door). He even took his glove off after a few numbers…

The set included (from memory here – sure to be the wrong order and have doubtless missed some out):

New song
Contraflow
New song
Boxoctosis (arrangement quite different from album version, stripped down, no backing vocals)
Green Eyed Loco Man
Sparta FC
Mountain Energei
Mere Pseud Mag Ed
Mr Pharmacist (inevitably enough!)
Wrong Place, Right Time

Encores (lot’s of em!)

Spoilt Victorian Child
Dr Buck’s Letter
Bourgeois Town
F-oldin Money
Touch Sensitive

A journey eastwards to see the new old line-up, and I have to say it was worth the effort. I thought the band played a great set, a two guitar line-up has made a big difference. I liked Spencer's drumming. Edmund played an inaudible accoustic on the first 3 or 4 songs. The new songs sounded great, I hope they get to record them. The most remarkable part was the amount of encores, must of been about half a dozen, with Mark mostly standing in the wings, although he did wander down the stage-door steps for a brilliant Dr Bucks and Touch Sensitive.
The venue was okay, despite the bizarre location. Sound quality was good, despite the feed-back. The audience, mostly male and of a certain age, didn't really come alive til the end.
I hope this current line-up stay together, but I think I said that last time.....

It was a pleasure to attend this gig in the company of fiery jack, dave love, athlete not cured, mark and fallfandave

MES was on great form, but I thought the band was a bit undercooked meself. Wrong Place Right Time, in particular, was dreadful. Spoilt Victorian Child was pretty bad too. There was a nice new discoey one, and a new rockabilly one that I didn't recognise. Ben was acting as band director - dread to think what it would have been like without him to be honest.

But the main set certainly didn't deserve five encores.

MES: 10/10
Band: 5/10

quite agree Wrong Place & Victorian Child were poor but really enjoyed the gig.

Loved the new one (set - opener) Shipman. "Shipman, what about us" or something like that.

i thought the bass wasnt loud enough in parts and elani's vocal was very quite in Sparta - am i being pedantic?

Did you see Mark do his little shimmy in one of the encores? Classic moves

I thought the new member fitted in really well. You know the one with the red t-shirt with Security written on it. he was sat with ben all nite. He looked like he'd been in the fall since dragnet.

Cracking venue too.

Big shout out to fallfandave, athlete, mattthew and dave love who i met there

most of all, thanks to mark for giving us a lift. hope you got back ok.

was very, very drunk on my return home, which is always a sign of a good fall nite out.

dear all,

the venue looked a bit grotty on the outside but was a wide open space with a plush carpet inside. the atmosphere was very friendly partly because fallfandave knew a lot of people and the locals seemed lovely.

the stage looked overcrowded, e. blaney was playing acoustic but could not be heard-he left the stage after 2 songs and did not return. opened with this 'shipman 'song which was a highlight. it went 'shipman...what about us'-like why did he leave us out of his plans-very much in keeping with marks slanted take on things i thought.

sound was not bad-vocals inaudible as ever. we watched the sweat moving around marks shirt-he seemed generally in good humour and was not in wind up mood to other band members. i must say spencer the drummer was very good. anyway things were plodding along ok and they played wrong place, right time.
to exit the stage they had to walk up some stairs to a plastic square dressing room(mark really struggled with his hip). the funny and very fall bit for me was that mark was singing all these encores from the dressing room and this poor hefty looking guy was having to hold the mike lead in the air which was at full stretch to reach mark and this was goin on for like 15-20 minutes. to me its these touches that mark creates that make it special.

overall a good night and it was lovely to meet other members(you know who you are) and special thanks to marc for giving us a lift. i did speak to mark early doors outside the venue and he wasnt rude he was just ok.

finally, elenies breasts have shrunk compared to that other picture of her but shes a snappy dresser and mark is very lucky.

Five encores after a bit of a wait for first one

Though there wasn't really a gap between the later ones !!

As Fiery Jack said good to meet up before gig and during and a kiss fron fallfandave as well my money would have been on dave love doing that

Enjoyed it more than York though

how many posts before chase asks for a recording???

It was fun. But bear in mind we sat in traffic for 5 hours on the M6 and we didnt get a soundcheck and couldnt hear each other.
Still nice people at the venue and a great crowd.

who knows ?

but it'll probably his first of the day

i like the fall they are my favourite band

yeah - we were in that too. it was M5-6-7 PM!

when we turned up, Mark was outside having a holsten and we could hear "open the box", but i guess you didnt get much time. were you using the house PA? it didnt look much cop to me


i got the feeling that the crowd were well up for it too.

i've only just remembered being kissed by fallfandave - how sweet! does he do that every gig, or just special occasions?

what you trying to say dude?

what you trying to say dude?

Well after last night I know you're definitely a ladies man

that gridlock was desperate, with muggy heat adding to the frustration :I was lucky enough to escape onto the A5, but later we saw cars piling back down the approach roads :just chaos.
Set the scene for a great night - I don't mind a bit of shambolics
Best song of the night for me was the second new tune, played later in the set (near 'white lightnin'?) It all seemed to come together +was real intense :something like a mix-up of 'What About Us?' & 'Mod Mock Goth'?!

Real nice to meet up with you, Jack'n'Dave; the White Hart was like an oasis after the journey. Everytime I look at the cover of 'The Real New Lp', I'll be reminded of it's rugs
And athlete, maf, dave :good to have frenz at the gig

Last line's something I was touched to read, taken from the Rock Cafe 'Fall' poster:
"Thanks For Coming!"

..a shame, because he gave some nice colour to songs in York. Makes me wonder why a song like C'n'C-s Mithering doesn't get reworked, especially with two other guitars weaving through the acoustic riff.

..a shame, because he gave some nice colour to songs in York. Makes me wonder why a song like C'n'C-s Mithering doesn't get reworked, especially with two other guitars weaving through the acoustic riff.

Yeah absolutly Mark, i've listned to the MD's of York lots of times now and Ed's accoustics really give the band some depth live, balances the bass and guitars really well. ed' plays it cock handed - upside down.