HMV, Market Street, Manchester, Monday, 27th October 2003

I really enjoyed this event. We made a good decision to arrive a little early as we were able to get near the front. Soon after it filled up and got very hot. (an interestng aside - I was in HMV a few times during the day and each time there were about 4-5 people squeezed around the Fall section in the racks)
The band set up their own equipment, soundchecked with Sparta and then said "now all we have to do is wait for him." He duly arrived along with his wife 10 mnutes later.

The set was short, but very enjoyable - Green eyed loco man, Theme from Sparta FC, Open the Boxoctosis #2 and one other. Mark was in good spirits, joking with the bouncers during the set. (The two bouncers were straight out of "Pheonix Nights" and entertained those lucky enough to hear their superb banter before the set - it included sheep, Leeds Utd and so much more!) The highlight of the set was Sparta.

Most of the audience left before the signing, but the queue still stretched around the shop. An officialwoman announced that it would be one item only per person and it would have to be a Fall product that was signed. Once again Mark and the band were in a good mood, happy to chat with fans. Mark even joked about my son's unusual name - "A bit like a boy named Sue".

Lovely on-the-scene-report. What's your boy's name, LA? Boxotocsis?

And hey Dave, did you shake the great man's hand?

I got me middles book signed to craig............mes was sayin , "what's yer name?" [to our craig] ron? fred? ....[ i think they r famous criminals]
the new cd me wife got signed and i got me levitate cd signed....so i got 3 items by passing items to me family....which was what a few did......u r right them bouncers were straight out of pheonix nights......one had his arm on me son's head sayin he came in useful for sth.....


i like the backdrop they've got....the bouncers joked to move it over the window side of the stage, in the classical music section, where more fans were watchin

Your son must have been the wee lad standing next to my son - he of the strange name.

yes it was him [he is nearly 9....he looks more like 6 though]......you must have been standing next to me then on the left.....


just developed some photos but they came out rubbish....but a lot of ppl were takin photos so i guess some good ones will turn up

I was stood just behind the guy in the wheelchair.

The smile soon disappeared of the boucer of the rights face once MES started messing behind his head though!!

First song was Behind the Counter to add to the above post.

Full report.

Arrived at HMV about 5.20 to find out what was happening, not a lot was the answer. The Fall were playing downstairs in the jazz/world section and seen as no-one else was there we left HMV and had a stroll for 10-15 minutes. On our return there was nearly double figures in the crowd and The Fall band members were beginning to set up the gear. At this point we decided to stay put and were about 8-10ft from the 'stage' behind a guy in a wheelchair so we had a great view (though that sounds bad it isnt meant to be). By this point the place was filling up fairly rapid. 6 o'clock (expected start time) came and went and further soundchecking continued. At one point, when checking the mics, Ben and the Bass Player (?) did their own and MES's and when it came to Elenors just gave it a tap with their fingers and joked that it was alright, seeming not to give a toss if it was working or not. At 6.25ish The Fall entered and gave the now heaving jazz/world section of, I'd say 200-250 people, pretty good versions of Behind the Counter/Green Eyed Loco Man/Theme from Sparta FC and Open the Boxoctosis(sp?). MES was in generally high spirits and tried his utmost to annoy the two bouncers by playing with their hair and stuff whilst laughing like a little boy. He twiddled some nobs but Ben was just laughing (he does a lot of laughing) and quickly turned their back to their normal position. Confusion ensued as no-one really knew what was happening with regard to the signings but eventually I found myself about 2/3's down along the queue. Finally I got to the front and just asked MES if he was alright - he was- but I was somewhat taken aback by his t-shirt which had loads of playing cards on it and looked like he'd got it from a pound shop. The others did some signing and I asked Ben what the plans were for the Blackburn DVD. His response was that he didnt think it was coming out (laughing again). He asked me if I was there, to which I replied yes and he just sort of went 'oh dear'. The BP moaned that he wasnt there. So I dont think blackburn will be seeing the light of day after all :-(
Finally, Elenar signed my CD and I felt sorry for her cos everyone else had gold/silver markers and she had a red bic!! To compound my sorrow, when she signed it, I said thanks and turned away and as I did so she said something like 'did you enjoy ze show' (shes german iirc) in a really quiet voice. At which point I just turned round and said 'yeah it was great' or summat like that. I didnt really know what else there was I could have said seen as theyd only played four songs, however, I left ridden with guilt that she's tried to engage me in conversation and I'd pretty much ignored her. Finally, being an in-store performance their wasnt the usual crowd of gig-goers and it was good to see loadsa young kids there, one of whom was stood right down the front and couldnt have been more than about 8 years old.


On top of that the kid with the semi afro was the one who got onstagae 2nd night at the bierkellar IIRC. Also, from what I gather from previous posts, not only was I stood within a few feet of MES but possible only inches away from fallfandave and I didnt even know it!!

SUPPOSE THIS POST IS SUPPOSED TO GO HERE
[SO I'LL PASTE IT FROM THE OTHER POST]

great gig actually i was only expecting two songs...

the wife and kids liked it too.....better than the records

listening to me tape of it as i speak

got plenty of autographs....some on me levitate [but dave didnt wanna sign it cos he aint on it ] but i got me book signed and the new album......me vinyl didnt arrive from action .....but that was my fault for pre-orderin on saturday...i kept forgettin to preorder.....

the gig was 4 songs and 15 mins long

"good afternoon we are the fall" [didnt seem like afternoon.....unless this was cos mark and eleni were a few mins late arrivin?!?]

1. behind the counter: a solid thumping version [mark messin with ben's amp towards the end causin the weird wah wah wah]

2. green eyed loco man: i think this is the one when dave dropped his sticks....or it might have been another....i have a photo of him picking them up...i'll listen to the tape....again solid performance

3. sparta fc: also done in soundcheck to [i think dingo played a bit of LA in the soundcheck too] by now i am gettin very hot and sweating like a pig.....again a great one....our little craig was right at the front about 6 inches from mes.....to the shout of "take yer fuckin jack knife......" well they swear everywhere these days.....so he's used to it.....eleni's mic was a bit low in the mix ...so mes lent his for her backin vox part......all mics had a good checkin at soundcheck .......mark's was extra loud.....but nobody checked eleni's ....."ah fuck it!!!!" , i think ben said

mark was very relaxed the whole gig, as was the whole band really. weirdly it was a very family friendly gig, a few brought kids with em, not just me, it felt very exclusive too....there only could have been a couple of hundred in the basement floor of the big hmv .....

4. boxoctosis: again a great version [probably the best track of the night in fact]

"thank you , good afternoon"


I was just to left of the man in the wheelchair....with me wife.....me 2 daughters went upstairs..... then came back to late so really they couldnt see the gig , they just heard it from upstairs i guess ....and me son craig was the really tiny lad at the front.

mark signed the book CRAIG. IT'S ALL LIES: MARK E S

well i have one mighty hangover.....need to sleep it off

was gordon of action records there too ?......well i think it was him....

eleni ? is that greek for helen?

Enjoyed immensely, despite Mark's characteristic lateness.

Nice for HMV to be suitbably immersed in Fall, with War Against Intelligence playin upstairs and Real New Fall playin downstairs.

Then of course, the real Real New Fall played downstairs and bloody marvellous they were too, though still not convinced by live Boxoctosis (could do with another instrument on it, i reckon).

got loads of stuff signed and mark was odd but charming and very funny. never met him before, only ever seen him at a distance.

all in all, a good 'un and i've listened to approx 30 min of music by other people since i bought the album (bearing in mind i was up most of last night, dirty mature student that i am).

glad y'all enjoyed too!

What does the backdrop say? i dont speak italian...



the man at the door sez :

non vi sembra poco educato leggere la corrispondenza destinata ad altri?
consegnatemi quella busta!

[i think he's askin them other two if they think it is proper to read other people's mail....and suggests they give him the letter that's on the table]

the guy in the middle sez :

goddam! chi osa?

the guy on the right sez:

fulminul comandante mark!!!!





THUS I GUESS WHAT IT ALL MEANS IS :
the letter is the bootleg version of country on the click.....the pirate guys r the ones who leaked this version out........mark is at the door catching them red handed

a chap we were drinking with at the "english lounge" (formerly the hogshead) afterwards had failed to gain entry at 6:10 as it was "full"

he did get to see the late (but not dead) mark also initially being refused entry with eleni* until he pointed out his position in the band

simon

* much discussion on spelling in other places - but my red biro sig from her - on the red bit of my album cover (spinal tap ref here) - looks like this might be correct

incidently - with a limited vinyl pressing of 1000 it was a bit of a shitter that ALL of the copies i found available to buy at HMV at the point of signing opportunity had torn folds on the inner and outer sleeves - it's not like HMV** had been forced to ship them across the planet or anything

** assuming blame lies with HMV - however these are the people who stuck coverfinish destorying (i even lost some of the red ink on my copy) HMV price stickers on their already damaged stock of said lmited discs

and they played gr8 4 3 conway

well AVs bablefish gives us


"it little does not seem educated to read the destined correspondence to you to others? you deliver that envelope to me! "

"goddam! who dares?"

"fulminul commander mark!!!! "

but then perhaps we shouldnt hold too much faith with a translation system wich once managed to translate a spanish recipe for "hake with pineapple" as "hake with fragmentation grenade" for me

simon

I don't know Italian, but I think the verb 'fulminar' in Spanish (shares a lot of verbs with Italian) means something like 'to thunder'

"Thundering Commander Mark"

"Thunders Commander Mark"??

i got one of those cheap italian dictionaries that dont have fulminul in it...but if it is a verb they have all weird endings dont they? the nearest word i found to it said [to strike like lightening] so i thought it meant commander mark was quick to return or sth colloquial to italians


i thought there was a couple on here was speakin italian b4?!?
with their help we should have it sussed by the end of the week.....
the backdrop for the next tour will probably be much more difficult to translate.....be written in an ancient language....known only by 2 scholars who live high in a mountain ....secret location....their hands have been cut off ....they r now blind deaf n dumb to secure the secret writing contained on the backdrop......but we will somehow manage to translate it using computers....and it will just say sth daft like 'so now you know what it sez.....smart arse!!!!'

Italian mate of mine translates it as follows;

Don't you think it's impolite to read mail addressed to others? Give me those envelopes!
Goddam!! Who dares ?
[not an Italian word ??!!] Commander Mark.

Some MES cod-Italian to go with all the cod-German??

since i'm an italian mother-tong'd, perhaps i'm supposed to be nonchalantly able to help in the translation of these comic lines...
...no, i'm not: i've had to appeal to my dear old english/italian (and vice-versa) dictionary, and now i can write something about the "FULMINI!" esclamation at the arrival of commander mark.

here's what i've found:
- FULMINE ('fulmini' in the plural):
1. lightning ; thunderbolt .
...veloce come il fulmine, (as) quick as lightening ;
un fulmine a ciel sereno, [fig.] a bolt from the blue ;
un colpo di fulmine, [fig.] love at first sight ;
scappò come un fulmine, he shot off like a streak of lightening .
2. (fig. scomunica, condanna) fulmination ; thunder .
3. (persona rapida e impetuosa) tornado ; whirlwind ; live-wire

in short, i think that the 'fulmini' might be the light using (i.e. during a storm) to foretell the sound...

...ohnno!, all this make another startable FALL's lp review topic come to my mind! (f*** ********************************************************!!!). it's the last, i swear.


have a really happy new year (formerly '2G+ 3') everyone!
marco