Sheffield Boardwalk, 2nd December 2004

a cracking night last night at sheffield gig. the venue felt really full - more so than last december's gig. crowd seemed really up for it & were quite demanding - ppl really shouted at the end so we got 3 encores

as usual i recognised about 4 ppl in the crowd (who ARE these ppl who go to the fall in sheffield - i never see any of them elsewhere at things!?) i feel i ought to know them but perhaps they aren't local

can't do an accurate setlist (owing to increasing memory deficiency!) but they didn't play 'what about us'... there was deffo cd in yr hand, mountain energei, wrong place/grass grow, boxoctosis, mr p (surprise surprise.... ) touch sensitive, clasp hands, sparta, green eyed loco.... the encores were white lightning, a STORMING mod mock goth & everything culminated in the chance to shout 'he is not appreciated' for big new p' which ppl seemed very happy to do! crowd seemed quite static at first but there was a good bit of dancing up at the front as ppl warmed up. always good to have a night shaking one's thang to the fall

mark not too pissed at all (& with the usual highly polished shoes... but under a more casual look of jeans and shirt! not much disrobing tonight - the shirt stayed on). lots of mouth/gum/tooth action going on too! ben was smiling, jim kept his head down, spencer still looks far too much like wayne hemingway for me to deal with. eleni looked rather quiet & sad at first i thought - but crowd enjoyed themselves so much she was smiling a lot by the end.

a great night, tho my ears are still ringing & i feel slightly deaf!

and as i drove to work this morning i repeatedly encountered a van on the motorway with the logo 'MES National' stamped on it.....

Wish I'd been there too.

yeah - you missed a good un......

Any walking on and off, crouching in corner, back-to-audience, fiddling with guitars types of things?

not so much walking on & off - looked like he was finding the stairs on & off stage a bit tricky (for encores)..... some amp/knob twiddling... occasional removal of the mic from out of the bass drum. a quick go with a drum stick on spencer's kit.... and the usual mitten fisted bit of keyboard playing whilst eleni looks on tolerantly.... some knocking over of mic stands - but less of a tangle with cables than is sometimes the case... looked less in danger of falling. ben & steve trafford (who i realise i forgot to mention above - probably cos he stands so still with the same expression - or lack of one- on his face throughout) had to do the odd bit of getting out of marks way as he perambulated about.

oh & i meant to say - the guy who sang at liverpool (& elsewhere too ithink) - the lionel ritchie lookeelikee - was there too & sang a bit....

Was Blindness played?

oh yes - it was! how dumb of me to forget

Pining for Fallchase perhaps? He told her she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

Generalist’s review is pretty spot on. Things started badly for us, lots of ‘regeneration’ going on in Sheff so our way to the venue was blocked by roadworks more than once. And the pub we were supposed to be meeting up in was shut for refurbishment – great. Wasn’t that keen on John Cooper Clarke. Really thankful I had a lift over from Sheffield rather than catching the train, the Fall came on at around 10:30, finished at 11:45 – to get the last train would have meant leaving not much after 11.

They started well, 3 mics before halfway through the first tune, ‘This CD’ as I believe it’s known. ‘Mountain’ next, not sure what followed (I did try to remember everything, but it’s gone now). Thought ‘Right Place, Wrong Time’ sounded badly under-rehearsed, and I’m sick of ‘I Can Hear The Grass Grow’, even more than the inevitable ‘Mr Pharmacist’. They did one I didn’t recognise, but I guess it was ‘Clasp Hands’ – thought it was a mess. I was beginning to despair when Mr James (I think that’s what MES called him after) came on for ‘Boxoctocis’, and everything clicked into gear. ‘Blindness’, ‘Mod Mock Goth’ and ‘Big New Prinz’ were all excellent, even if MES did spend a fair bit of time off-stage during MMG. He looked very focussed throughout most of the show. Eleni seemed very far down in the mix, which might explain why she looked grumpy – her Greek bit on ‘Sparta’ was lost, could hardly hear any keyboards all night.

Overall, a fine show, disappointed no ‘Shipman’ or much new stuff and the set was a little too similar to York earlier in the year. But I think this line-up is looking good. Now all they need to do is a proper LP and a proper tour…

By the way, generalist, was that you leaping on stage after ‘Blindness’? If so, nicely done avoiding the crew filth.

no, not me - i thought the lass who got the set lists was pretty speedy tho i am far too stiff & ancient to do leaping like that these days

Must have been. How many other Lego people go to Fall gigs?

its my lego legs that makes the leaping so difficult y'see

Why didn't you take your Lego jetpack? You could have landed on the keyboard and saved Mark the job of hitting a few random keys.

Several years ago Julia toured with a 4" cardboard figurine of well known American fallnetter Chris Kovin on her keyboards:- the Cut-Out Chris Kovin.

True!

Pining for Fallchase perhaps? He told her she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

does Erica know this?

but weren't we talking about julia now

[ut-ut hris ovin!]


ciao
marco

Must have been. How many other Lego people go to Fall gigs?

I must be the first person to be suprised that Jo isn't smaller

I was there, along with two friends from work, one who was primarily there for John Cooper Clarke, and one who still enjoys the Fall - and my partner who likes the music but not the singer (she calls him Mole E Smith, because she thinks he looks a bit like a little blind mole, bless, except attached to an iron lung) and was disappointed they didn't play Janet Vs Johnny.

John Cooper Clarke was more amusing than not, but I'm not much into that kind of stand-up stuff. Doesn't often move me. Someone asked him whether the next time he supported the Fall he could write a poem about Mark E Smith. He said "no, I want to live!"

Fall came on at 10:30. 15 minutes after my guess, and half an hour before my JCC-fan's guess. Preceded by reading of Idiot Joy Showland from Pander! Panda! Panzer", or a mix thereof. Introduced by the odd bloke who later turned up for a great duet on Boxoctosis. I noticed him beforehand stood near the toilets and thought "god, you get a right diverse audience for The Fall ho ho." People were just starting to get a bit restless at about 10:20, but not so much as to completely sour the atmosphere as perhaps happened the last time they played Sheffield.

What was first? Mountain Energei?. Or was it Green Eyed Loco Man. MES had the band go through Green Eyed again, or perhaps continue for an extra couple of verses, beckoning for the drummer to carry on. Or was it "This CD you hold in your hand" to the Bo Diddly beat? One of those.

They surprised me by playing Wrong Place, Right Time. Have they played that elsewhere recently? Other oldies were White Lightning and Mr Pharmacist (obvious crowd pleasers but I wouldn't mind him throwing in some curve balls). They did "I Can Hear the Grass Grow", which I haven't heard them do before and so very much enjoyed. I can imagine the novelty quickly fades.

There was a moment when MES stood in front of Ben, and Ben asserted himself and pushed back in front of MES, who then gave him a little push in the back. But not bad tempered I don't think. They were smiling later.

Another interesting image, was during one song (I forget which), Mark stood back hands clasped in front of him, chin up in that imperious way he has, as the band played. Like a proud general showing off his troops.

What else? Sparta FC Clasp Hands, a great Blindness that got everyone grooving (both with what struck me as very minimal lyrics - and Blindness definitely quotes from Chicago, Now!), Touch Sensitive sounding fantastic. Mod Mock Goth doesn't work as well for me live because it lacks the distorted vocals that have made it such a disorientating listen (took me a while to appreciate it, though). Sounded a bit weedy in comparison - I'm sure he sang it better last time in Sheffield. He spent a little time to the side of the stage during this. Just a minute or two. There was one song where he his voice wavered - I wondered if there was something wrong but it seemed he was either failing to hit the high notes, or doing it deliberately.

There was quite a gap between the second and third encores: a lot of people left and so when they came back on for the best New Big Prinz I've experienced, lots of people had to turn around at the exit and dash back. It was over at 11:45. So a taxi for us!

Another couple of airings for Idiot Joy Showland at the back end here, between encores.

Lots of double-microphone use. MES drumming during New Big Prinz. Lots of amp-fiddling, watched carefully by the musicians. Some tampering with bass drum/microphones - couldn't see from where I was. Some fantastic bits of band backing vocals on some songs.

So yeah, up there with my all time great Fall gigs (starting for me in the early 1990s). I'm buzzing. The band were really tight and appear to have enjoyed it, the sound was good, great atmosphere. Venue absolutely rammed.

Yay!

Dan

Yes, Wednesday night though that and Grass Grow where played in reverse order to normal

...so what about
J U L I A ?

cheers!
marco

Do we know for sure who this bloke in the duet is? He was very entertaining, and it added something extra to MES's performance. Mr James, is it? Just a friend of MES, or does he have a track record of his own?

Dan

he's been mentioned before in a thread on here... (i think it may have been a review of an older gig - mebbe last liverpool one???) i'm sure someone knew who he was & what he does when not singing with MES....

He was at Glasgow last year, someone said he was Elenis old man.

Glasgow *last* year? They don't appear to have played Glasgow last year. Do you mean earlier this year? No mentions in Fall news for that date.

Any other offers?

Dan

He sang on Boxoctosis at the Oldham gig last year.

Last night its a shame he seemed to get the duff mic , didn't do him justice really.

Impressions from last night :

Loud guitar assault

Most smiling onstage Ive ever seen at a Fall gig

Green Eyed Loco Man is evolving nicely

People around me saying " superb...amazing....yeeeooowww!"