The Sage, Gateshead, 19th October 2005

35 minutes.

Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?

Tosser.

I was enjoying the show until MES decided to walk off randomly during "ride away" which led to the whole band walking off after some woman told them something. I waited with my friend for like 10 minutes and then this woman comes and sas that they arent coming back on. For a first Fall gig, this was a major disappointment. The other thing which angers me is the fact my £16 went effectively down for no reason. I hope there was a good reason for this "walk off" and also hope that they to compensate people at that gig.

Well, they were great but you are right about being cheated. My mate asked someone in the Fall entourage what happened and they said MES had said he didn't want to continue playing with a band who were performing 'worse than a cabaret band'. They said MES was 'just being a wanker'. Agreed. BUT they were great!!!

£16! that's outrageous. It cost me less to see Killing Joke last week. I was going to go tonight- the Sage is a great venue (I saw Culture there last month) but opted for Leeds tomorrow. Maybe I 'll stay home and not waste any more of my hard earned on someone who ain't worth it. What an arsehole.

Small compensation: looking at other recent setlists tonight seems to been a rare outing for 'F-oldin' Money'. But it was a rip off at 16 quid. Perhaps that's why there were 2 support acts. You get the impression that the band are extremely talented and professional and Smith lets the side down on nights like this. I stress ONLY ON NGHTS LIKE THIS as the man is an amazing talent.

Any idea of what else was played ? F-'oldin' was last played at Sheffield on 7 Oct, by the way

Me and my mates loved all 35 mins and, while feeling conned now, agreed we'd laugh about it in a day or two. 35 minutes of that is better than two hours of Coldplay et al.

Didn't realise 'F-oldin' was palyed so recently. Thought I'd witnessed a rarity. Others tonight included: Blindness, Pacifying Joint, Wrong Place/Grass, Ride Away, Sparta, What about us? and not much else.

Cheers

What there was of the show as bloody good but the petulance of the fella that provides the vocals was just embarrassingly childish. I don't think the "but he's a genius" justification quite makes up for the disappointment.

I get the impression that we're supposed to feel honoured to have witnessed one of MES's impromtu departures. Aye. Not likely.

I hope I never again have to suffer reading about Smith's old fashioned work-ethic thing. It's clearly bollocks.

I'll stick to the albums from now on.

And who chose that joke of a support band!!!! Thank god Johnny Clarke was on form.

Oh, and Janet, Johnny and James. That may be the whole set. Began with a blistering Blindness (MES arrived after about 5 mins - goosebumps time and I'm 41 and no gig virgin!) and ending with Ride Away after which Ben conversed with someone (presumably MES) stage right and then led the band offstage. Every song in between was performed superbly. On Radio 2 in a while James Blunt is performing live. Compare an hour of that dross with even 5 minutes of live Fall.

Fucking hell - £16 for this. Started well - a storming Blindness, then, if I remember rightly, Pacifying Joint, again great, then What About us. No breaks between songs, sheer intensity, good loud keyboard, great scrunchy bass. Can't remember the order of the rest - Mountain Energie, F-Olding Money, with Mark Smith missing his cues. But that's part of it. It was great, just great. White Lightning.

A nice Mountain Aspen, with Mark right at the back of the stage - why not? A good Sparta FC. The usual pratting about with the mikes, all of which is great, adds to the whole thing. But then Mark Smith WALKED OFF before Ride Away got started. Got an instumental Ride Away instead. But FOR FUCKS SAKE 35 minutes for £16. Saw Elini crack a smile a couple of times at Mark Smith arsing about - yes it was funny, but then the fucker left after 35 mins. But the rest of the band seem BULLIED and FEARFUL. Come on lads, quit. Where's your self-respect? Give up.

Spoke to organiser, she said, Mark Smith doesn't want to play Newcastle, not that side of the river, understand that, but on this showing no audience next time in Gatehead, not one person.

They (Resist) were a bit industrial/goth and lacked musical merit but the singer was very pretty. JCC was hilarious. I think the 'genius' tag refers to his recorded output and is justifiable. He is a big bairn on stage tho'. I think that Resist played a longer set than the Fall. The Fall set was great tho' and I do include Mark's performance in that until he bogged off.

Conflicting reports about the actual songs played means we now appear to have an hour long set.....

ponsho

Blindness
Pacifying Joint
What About Us
Sparta
Wrong Place
Grass Grow
Janet
F-'oldin' Money
Ride Away

but also

lars
Mountain Energei
White Lightning
Midnight in Aspen

Can anyone nail it ? Is it possible Janet v Johnny was not played, but Aspen was ?

Sure about White Lighthing? Maybe you're mistaking it for F-oldin' Money?

Bullied and Fearful? I think you're right. Sadly tho' this is their living. I reckon they could've continued with one of the others singing but they'd be sacked for it. Strikes me that Eleni doesn't have the same influence on MES that Brix had. That could be/is a great unit. It's quite symbolic that he took away their mics one by one altho' I noticed that Ben always returned his amp to its original settings after Mark had tampered with it.

while they were on, they were fantastic. The band is as tight as I can remember. One thing that made me think something was amiss was right at the end of the first song (blindness) Mark begin dickin around with Elini's keyboards and she immediatley walked off stage. She was back on within a minute or so, be even so.....

All in all I still enjoyed it, but wasn't the best I've been to

Mountain Energei
White Lightning
Midnight in Aspen

I don't think these songs were played . . . and I wasn't drinking at the gig.

Spot on Ponsho, it was funny watching Ben turning his bass back up after Mark pissed about with it. The band were cracking, though, really great. Spencer was solid. OK fill us in on this 'band as bad cabaret act' someone.

Mark Smith clearly totally pissed. Nowt wrong with that, so am I, but 'DO YOU WORK HARD ...?' Where's the work ethic?

Okay, we'll maybe stick with ponsho's list, no offence to lars (the bass player is called Steve )

Blindness
Pacifying Joint
What About Us
Sparta
Wrong Place
Grass Grow
Janet
F-'oldin' Money
Ride Away

Perhaps not the correct order but that looks like the right setlist to me. Perhaps Sparta goes after Grass.

Help!

Sparta before Wrong Place sounds about right, if other set lists are anything to go by

Aspen definitely played - good version, that. If Mountain Energie is the one with the 'Dolly Parton ... Lord Byron', that was definitely played. I thought White Lightning was played but I was taking a slash for that one. Bought the reissue of Slates on the way out, so I'm consoling myself with that.

Midnight in Aspen was DEFINETLY played. I remeber cos some long hair was dancing like a muppet right next to me.

Apologies if long haired muppet is part of this discussion

No, I was home in Bulwell