The Boardwalk, Sheffield (2nd night), 7th October 2005

[mckendry]

Just back, what a show!
About 100+ there, more like a private party!
Only minus was a vocal-less blindess, but at least we got an encore!

[mckendry]

Met Boris, think I saw Generalist snapping away at the front (was too shy/deaf/drunk to introduce myself) strange young crowd early doors, due to local support bands, they soon left

[chrisgoodhead]

I nicked a setlist.

It says (and it was right too!)

BO
SPARTA
PACIFY
MIDNIGHT
MOUNTAIN
GRASS / WRONG
V WANNA (hey... that's what it says!)
CARRIER BAG MAN (ditto)
ASSUME
RIDE
FOLDIN
WHAT ABOUT
BLINDNESS

********

AND THE ENCORE WAS

BIG NEW PRINZ

********

I'm a bit knacked now but basically. Initially it was like a parent / teacher evening. There were 8 year olds present. I saw them. On the dot of 10pm the children left. About 100 people dwindled down to about 40 by the end of the night.

Things got going about MOUNTAIN ENERGEI due to Spencers drums.

MOUNTAIN right through to ASSUME were fantastic.

The rest was all pretty good. No low moments.

Very intimate. Someone said it was like having your favourite band playing in your living room.

The beer was shit.

Couldn't hear Mark for about the whole of the second half of the show.

Hey! It was really good!

[lauren&Dad]

[generalist]

it was great night - well summed-up by chris. intimate is the word....

i had lots of fun though am now suffering with the mother of all hangovers.... made the fatal mistake of going on to a club afterwards.

yes - i was snapping away at the front.... will post pics ASAP

you shoulda said hello mckendry! i don't bite... well not hard!

nice to see chrisg & the lovely sara & ffd & clayts again..... and to finally meet fellow sheffield fall fan boris

[generalist]

[generalist]

btw... can the mods change the thread title.... it's the BOARDWALK.... not the BROADWALK....

generalist apologises for being pedantic.....

[Stephen]

Done. And nice pics!

[clayts]

An absolute privilege to be present at this, probably the most intimate of Fall gigs I have ever attended.

Just a quick note on the venue - this was the first time I'd been there and I have to say that The Boardwalk staff were fantastically friendly and most welcoming - no problems getting in with my rather suspicious looking e-mail ticket. I even won a jacket in a raffle...oh no, hang on that was the 'cloakroom' (about four coat hangers at the ticket office), but I was most disappointed to get my original jacket back...

My virginal attempt at recording the gig were seriously thwarted by 'drunk man in charge of overwhelming technology', and despite serious encouragement from Chris and Generalist (along with threats of 'ladies and gentlemen, as a special treat tonight The Fall welcome back Steve Hanley and Craig Scanlon to perform an 80s comeback set') I opted to hand offending technology into cloakroom, advising the cloakroom attendant that I was neither use nor ornament, and would much rather just enjoy the gig. So if a recording never emerges, you know who to blame. I personally blame the Guinness at the Dove and Rainbow... (cough).

As others have noted, I also thought I'd entered an under 16s discotheque evening - I know Mark is keen on younger audiences, but hell's teeth some of these folks were barely out of nappies...

After spending about 15 mins outside chatting to Fall Fan Dave, we (as in Chris, Sara, Generalist and my good self) entered the venue but had missed the support bands (three apparently) so we just got the film thing - cracking soundtrack in parts, but not too convinced by the images of Jacko and Freddie Mercury...

And so to the performance. It was, in the words of Narnack Records an absolute cranker. The band seemed incredibly relaxed and there was a lot of exchanges of rolled eyes/laughes and frowns between Ben and Steve as Mixmeister Smith completely blanked out their instruments on odd occasions (to give him some credit, he did actually do a sterling job, particularly when bringing Steve's bassline crashing back in on a couple of tracks).

The opening number was skilfully choreographed, I have to say. Ben and Steve come on first, and without any fuss whatsoever, launch into Bo Doodak. Then on skips Elena, and unfussily adds her keyboard stabs to the mix. Up pops Spen, and immediately gets into the groove, and finally Mark ambles on, launching straight into the lyrics (opening line I believe 'Good Evening We Are The Fall'....). Absolutely corking opener....

What followed was an incredible set, with a few nice surprises thrown in. Some wag in the audience (cough, me) said 'Welcome back to Sheffield, Mark' to which he replied 'It's all go' in a very weary voice, to much laughter.

When standing at the front I always do my best to avoid looking at the setlists so I got the full force of Carry Bag Man (beautifully intro'd by Elena) and F-'oldin' Money without expecting them, the latter a very very nice surprise, as I'd nearly exploded with joy when they did it at Nottingham earlier this year.

Chris is right about the vocals mix - it was quite low down and it was odd to be so close to the singer without actually being able to hear him. The mic antics were incredible - two mic stands were sent crashing behind Steve's monitor fairly early on, and once again (for the second night running, apparently) there remained one mic looking very pathetic on stage with no cable attached to it....The spaghetti mix of cables was the messiest I have ever seen - it got to the stage at the end where Elena's keyboard was somehow connected to the mains by fresh air, as the power cable had got wrapped around one of the remaining mic stands, and the extension cable had somehow got trapped in the maze, and had then disappeared down a hole between one of the front monitors and the stage....a bit of untangling (not easy with a mic stand as the main obstacle - how the hell I didn't hit Steve or Mark with it I'll never know) but I somehow unfurled the said extension cable and tossed it back under Elena's keyboard.

Other observations:

I Can Hear The Grass Grow played before Wrong Place, no segue
Instrumental Blindness as noted with Elena getting some fantastic noises out of the keyboard.
A note-perfect Carry Bag Man after the problems with Elena's mic in Paris
A corking Big New Prinz as an encore with some loony fan being drunk in charge of a microphone at the front after Mark had left the stage...not me, but won't name and shame the offender here

Ended up in some club or other under the Boardwalk where we were treated to some sort of live free form jazz shite (niiiiiiiiice) before the house DJ slapped on some fantastic electro stuff.

Cranker

[chrisgoodhead]

The other thing I remember is that about three songs in, Mark said in a very weary voice

"It's all go"

and at that point it really wasn't

*******

And clayts, I wasn't drunk, I just felt like having a lie down (while shouting into a microphone)

Cranker!

[clayts]

It's all go - that was it...cheers, have changed my report

Bloody Guinness....

Thanks for letting me shout 'appreciated' into your mic, BTW

[chrisgoodhead]

[boris]

Apologies for the delay, I was in such good spirits when I arrived home I drank another bottle of wine and subsequently did something to the computer which caused me to lose my internet connection. Not sure what it was but have managed to re-install.

Not a lot to add to the above at this late stage, but it was great to see them play to a packed house one night and a very select bunch the following. And again they were on top form.

Good to finally meet so many people form this Board. And I got a set list, my first since the Wonderful and Frightening tour!

All in all a marvelous night.

[up2much]

Sounds and looks like a great gig!

[clayts]

Hi Boris - it was nice to meet you - glad the badge sizes were to your liking

[chrisgoodhead]

Um... this might appear a bit petty but whoever has put the songs played at this show up on FALL NEWS has missed out MOUNTAIN ENERGEI (between MIDNIGHT IN ASPEN and I CAN HEAR THE GRASS GROW)

Archive Historian Chris Goodhead