Middleton, 7th March 2005

How was it then?

Any new 'uns?

Any old 'uns?

OOoohhh yes.

Just got back to bear with me.

Well, then I will keep this brief as my alarm is due to go off in a little over 5 hours or so...

A good set that seemed to include quite a few new ones. Started (I assume from the drum) with Bo Doodak and ended with Big New Prinz. Included (in no particular order)...
Boxotocsis (with no 'Open the Box Open the Box..' chorus)
Theme from Sparta FC (good tight version)
What About Us
Clasp Hands
I Can Hear the Grass Grow
Mountain Energei
Hit the North (Drum & Bass version due to failure of guitar amp)
Wrong Time Right Place
Several other ones that were new to me
NO Mr Pharmacist

Encores:
?
White Lightning
Dr Bucks Letter
Big New Prinz with spontaneous audience participation (Stage diver grabbed microphone) and planned audience participation (microphone passed to audience)

MES in good mood, playing and singing with up to two microphones at any one time. Failure of guitar amps a problem but not insurmountable.
Venue - biggest stage I have ever seen them on (sometimes seemed a little lost - seemed better at the end with Ben with the others). Best light show I have seen them use!

Should be a good tour for those who can get there. Only recognised Hugh McSheepshagger there from this place there but looking forward to other peoples thoughts (and photos?)

came on after charlatans type indie support the Tides... no other support band


10.50 start

didnt get the set list but i wrote down an order of songs


1.a new one [if it is bo doodak then they have changed it a hell of a lot] i thought mark mumbled sth like 'Inspektor ' a lot in the lyrics

2. box
3. clasp hands
4. what about us
5. pacifying joint
6. sparta fc
7. ride away
8. wrong place
9. grass grow
10. hit the north
11. mountain
12. blindness
13 touch sensitive

lineup:- ste, ben, spen, eleni and mark

nos 9-12 was effectively minus ben as the amp fucked up or sth
they started 13 with a bit of ben ... but then it cut out again

encore 1

14. new one [if u assume?] FAVE OF THE NIGHT
15. white lightnin

encore 2

16. dr bucks letter
17. big new prinz





the new ones were very good

wrote loads of details ... will put em in the fanzine

it was an interesting gig.... but a fucked-up one ...

u can actually hear what eleni plays very clearly when the guitar is lost...

Just got back... a fantastic gig overall, despite Ben's guitar amp failing halfway through. Funniest moment was MES going to fiddle with Ben's amp even though he had moved to the other side of the stage already. After a few seconds fiddling with the non-working amp he gave up and moved over to the drum kit and started hitting one of the drums over and over again... even hitting Spencer at on point!

I counted three new songs... "Pacifying Joint", "Ride Away" and one other (which may not be new because it took me the best part of a minute to recognise "Dr Buck's Letter", so I might just not have recognised it). The final new one was right at the end before the encores, and Gaz (I'm_From_Salford_Baby, who it was great to meet BTW) and me reckoned it sounded a bit like "Stepping out", but was more of a riff-monster. Even with just bass guitar it sounded fantastic!

"Pacifying Joint" also seemed to be a great song, but I wasn't instantly taken with "Ride Away" but hopefully it will grow on me with repeated listening. So things look good for the new album!

Other than that, the older songs were fantastic, and they played "Hit The North", albeit without guitar. I'm fed up with "Sparta" and "Box" though to be honest... No "Mr Pharmacist" too. Yey! There were also some complete goons moshing behind us who kept bashing into people quite agressively. Some people were understandably getting a little upset with this.

I agree - thought he had really ransacked the archives for an older number to do!!!

Ah, I'm fucking excited about tomorrow, now...

I think it was "Bo Doodak" because he sang the "This CD you hold in your hands" bit. But I agree that it sounded quite different from versions I have heard before.

Oh, and I read the set-list upside down at Steve's feet, and it said "Bo Doodak" on that...

Sounds great. Can't wait for tomorrow....oops, tonight.

i also jusy got back. its not that sad is it that i'm on here already? ah well. i thought it was really good and despite guitar failure the bass really kicked arse and sounded soo cool especially with that fuzz effect.
there was a really funny bit where this guy came up to me n my mate and said "not looking at my daughter are you?" because we were looking at the keyboard woman (dunno her name) and we were like "what... is she your daughter?!" (he was old enough to be her dad) and then he goes "no, but i wish she was!". needless to say i thought "hold on, so you're basically saying you'd like to shag your own daughter?" but he seemed cool so we just laughed a bit and he went.
is incest a common theme among the fall fans? hope not

Good sound tonight i thought, new songs sounded good , Blindness and the guitarless Hit the North highlights for me. Ding was behind the mixing desk tonight, asked him if a 2 bass line-up was in the pipeline, he answered " i'm working on it/him ". Now, that would be fucking interesting.

not giving too much away then about the new album, though as one of our amerikan colleagues said the peel session ones are new tracks even though were well used to them by now.
blindness
clasp
what about us
pacifying joint
ride away
hey boodak

tentative: Im ronney the onney


is that it then?
perhaps sparta #5'ex classmates /or reworkings of oldies again

Apparently another new one unknown to us (well, to fallfandave at least, who I'm sure knows his stuff!).

Including Ronney, that makes it eight. Giving its non-appearance live, however, I'd say it's probably just a bit of warming up during a rehearsal that sounded good. Probably cuts off just before Mark says "Right, come on then." and they start properly.

So, that's eight with Grass Grow. Add one oh, say, two "experimental" tracks and you've got a decent-ish ten tracks.

Well, this could also mean that there are one or two electronic songs that are hard to play live, ala Recovery Kit. Every new Fall album seems to have at least 2 or 3 (usually solid too) songs that never get played live. Mike's Love Hexagon, Recovery Kit, and The Past didn't get played live very often or at all.

The one that I am on about I think must be called

IF YOU ASSUME or KING SON [as the former was repeated a lot , and the only other thing I could make out , but only about twice, was the latter.... but I am the one who heard eleni singing all those made-up footballers instead of singing Greek... so I hear hallucinations most of the time... it's probably called MIDDLETON MASSACRE really.

It began with a stylophone sounding riff by eleni [albeit with a bit more power than a stylophone]...

it was very good anyway...

It was a new one... they did it just before White Lightnin

haven't got a lot to add to all the above - 'cept that the problems with ben's amp actually made me realise so strongly that it is the heavy bass & brutal keyboard sound that really gets me about the fall!

favourite moment was thinking during 'blindness' - i hope this just goes on & on... and when it came to an end... then they paused for a moment..... then cranked it up all over again

had a cracking night - talked to some good people (incl those who did the catering for the heaton moor festival gig!), drank some good beer & had a proper dance.
nice to see dave & matthew - fraid i never saw gaz or big chief. i was at front right hand side, just near a lass with spiky blonde 80's stylee hair.

ppl sang happy birthday to mark. (i'd like to think it was for me - but my megalomania isn't quite that bad yet!)

so all in all i had great birthday night out

Hexagon was played live, but think that yeah, the other two weren't. Far as I know anyway. *sigh* I would live to hear a live The Past. Bah.

Also, there's Wrong Place, Wrong Class-Mates' Kids #6, of course.

A very enjoyable gig I thought. I was initially worried that they would struggle to fill the municipal venue, but in the end the Fall fans turned up in the droves, a first time visit to Middleton for many, I'm sure.
We heard three new songs, one of whch I was very fond of. Poor Ben was getting flustered with ongoing technical difficulties, but the bass was so fuzzy and you'd hardly notice his guitar parts were absent for a few songs. I don't think Jim Watts departure has made a much of a difference, to be honest. In fact, I thought the bass and keyboards were working so well together I began to wonder if they needed a guitarist at all, but Ben did at least make the final encore, this time to the right of the stage thus breaking the Fall code of conduct, his nice guitar work for 'Dr Buck's', reconfirming his status in the band. Another code of conduct violation was commited when Spencer ended the gig on a flourish on the drums....whatever next?
The only weak points of the night were the two cover versions, which in my opinion should be dropped from their repotoire.

Well that has whetted my appetite for the next three nights

MES was in fine fettle, I thought. I went with a mate who also went to the Blackburn gig with me, who noted that Mark was onstage all the time, didn't end up in a tangle with a mic stand at any point, and didn't have to resort to his lyric sheet.

I'll add that there seemed to be two or three exchanges of banter with the band, and the mood was good. It was great to see MES like this. When so many of his peers have mellowed by the time they reach their late 20s, our man is still there, doing the business, leading his band who came on like a 1000 bomber raid.

I couldn't see Ben too clearly from where I was, and it was not immediately apparant that he wasn't playing. The rest of the band covered his temporary loss really well. The Burns-like final flurry on the drums had been well earned by Spence - he really did seem a lot more important to the band's sound than he did the last time I saw them.

I went for a piss when White Lightening was on, but the highlight was Dr Buck's letter which was really well done. Also, the place was full, the most people that I personally have seen at a Fall gig for years. Good stuff.

Holy shit x 3

So that's why it's always in the set - one for the older fans who aren't exactly "Full Metal Bladder" !!

he did for 'RIDE AWAY' but I agree ... he carried that gig on the night... if MES was in a less determined state ... he might have just gone home after about the 10th track.

So that's why it's always in the set - one for the older fans who aren't exactly "Full Metal Bladder" !!

Dear Mr Lime,

It's why it's so good seeing The Fall -- you always know when you can go for a piss. Still, it used to be Mr Pharmacist for me. Don't know what I'll do now.

Love,

Strontium 'seal breaks at three' Dawg

xx

Ya lucky bastards!

P.S. Young or Old, All of the Experienced hit the can during white lightning!