Roadmender, Northampton, 21st October 2005

Just got back from one of the best Fall gigs I've ever been privileged to witness.

MES was in total control tonight - apart from a short section of Grass grow when he was having trouble with the mike stand.

By that I mean he was in control of both himself and the band and the show and everything else.

The band were storming, producing a wall of sound that even Phil Spector would be jealous of. I didn't write down the setlist, hopefully somebody else will post it, but it was similar to most of the tour so far, with a few exceptions. We got about one verse and chorus of New Big Prinz before MES called to Spencer and it mutated into Boxtosis.
We got F-oldin' money, we got the best version of Mountain energi that I've ever heard.

On the way home the mate that I had dragged along said that he thought that at times Ben seemed to be playing for his life. That was spot on as far as I was concerned, but it weren't just Ben.

It was my wife's birthday, she thought that they were great, said that they rocked.

Didn't see either support (were there two?), so cannot comment.

It's shows like this that remind me that the Fall are the best live band in the world.

Tremendous stuff tonight.
10.10 to 11.20.
Opened with Higgle-dy Piggle-dy.
The rest of the set was the usual stuff from the tour so far. Can't remember the order though.
No Aspen, no Mr Pharm.
The encore was Big New Prinz (a reminder?) and Boxoctosis.
Mountain Energi was the highlight for me, though it was hard to single anything out in a storming, good humoured performance. Loads of disappearing guitar and bass.
MES seemed to enjoy it more and more as the night went on.
I had bouts of anxiety everytime he put his jacket back on. "Oh no, he's gonna fuck off and it's going so well". He didn't, infact I really thought he might appear for a 'lights up, coats on' 2nd encore. Great venue the Roadmender.
There's only Leicester to go now for me, and if it doesn't happen (I hope it does), I won't be too bothered after witnessing that tonight.

Grog, we must've been typing that at the same time - and how similar are our comments. Even the Mountain Energi euphoria!

Resist and JCC supported. Thought Resist were boring.

just got back
it really annoyed me that mark turned the bass down on the track before mountain energei
so it became a guitar heavy version
mark was funny with that mike stand
I laughed heartily

the gig reminded me of gigs around the time of bend sinister
where the music becomes really hypnotic

mark did this funny spreading out of his fingers a couple of times
and that look where it looks like he is sucking a boiled sweet

eleni was all in black, and she had her bags with her on stage!!


JCC was excellent

resist were kinda funny
they had a lot of songs that had that antidotes riff running through them

lead singer reminded me of toyah

makes a change tho' from the usual fall support gruppes


fave fall song tonight: assume

fucking brilliant

Fucking amazing.

Possibly the best Fall gig I've seen.

Not only can I not find a single fault in the performance, I can't think of any way the gig'd have been improved. I had a smug grin on my face the whole way through. Wish you all could've been there.

Smith on superb form and in good humour.. During 'Assume' (I think), said something along the lines of.... "Julia Nagle... will greet you at the gates of heaven". Also, towards the end of a very short 'New Big Prinz'.. "Spencer... I am watching you!"

'What About Us' was outstanding.

Setlist was roughly..

'Higgledy Piggledy'
'Sparta FC'
'Bo Doodak'
'Clasp Hands'
'What About Us?'
'Ride Away'
'Blindess'
'Moutain Energei'
'Touch Sensitive'
'Pacifying Joint'
'You Wanner'
'F'Oldin Money'
'Grass Grow'
'Assume'
-
'Big New Prinz'
'Boxoctosis'

We've certainly got ourselves a battle-hardened Fall at the moment. Tight as a nut, barely stopping between tracks and showing intense stamina - make sure you go see them on this tour..

Brilliant!

Wasn't the Resist vocalist more Hazel O'Connor than Toyah! They were shite. JCC was on form and The Fall really hit their stride I reckon during Blindness followed by a glorious Touch Sensitive. Mark's vocals were fantastic tonight too. Rarely did the band respond to the knob-twiddling and they all seemed to get a lot out of this performance.

Sounds like a greeat gig- where's 'Higgledy Piggledy' from?

Monks cover

This was my home gig. Pitched up with Mrs Puritan, sister and brother in law.
Have sister to thank for set list [can't scan it in computers not my thing]
higgledy
sparta
bo
what about us
clasp hands
ride away
blindness
touch
pacify
mountain
assume
foldin'
grass grow
u wanna

encore
midnight
box-white lighting

except midnight became one verse of big new prinz and box didn't segue into white lighting

JCC good but badly needs more new material
Was able to resist resist.

Now Northampton is Englands newist university town, about one week old after a seven hundred year gap but you wouldn't know it from last nights turn out. The average age of the audience seemed like 103, and as a result, to me and Mrs Puritan, there seemed to be precious little atmosphere. Perhaps i've been spoilt by the recent Edinburgh and Nottingham gigs.
Didn't think MES was completely focused though he and Eleni certainly seemed to enjoy the evening. The dropped mike was funny, as was the invisible mike thingy at the beginning of the show. There was no false start singing but a fair degree of gurning. Also did anybody else see him spit out the water that he stole from Spence, perhaps he thought Northampton was a Spa town [or perhaps we wear to many deerstalkers].Nice to see him getting into the puritanical thing though with his black and white outfit, and as always, a nice pair of shoes-fitting for the venue.

Higlights of the set for me were Higgledy, first time i've heard it. Also storming versions of mountain, what about us, u wanna and blindness- i loved the industrial sound coming out of Elenis organ during the last nights version and she was ably assisted by Mark. Abridged version of big new prinz was fantastic, agree with Spence on that one who incidentally does have a new bass drum. [Presumably as a consequence of their evening in Stoke],but pity about midnight being missed out of encore. Perhaps next time that pair of Northants Weekender hosts should be persuaded to push the gig a bit harder.
Anybody going to Stockport away [Deerstalkers-get it?]

not bad, eh? Lovely place, foam on the ceiling and everything - one of the best sounds I've heard for a venue. Grog's right about the wall of sound.
John Cooper Clarke we were up in the snug balcony - padded alcove away up the end to capture the sound.
Couldn't get into the main hall anyway, because it was ram-packed.
Anyway, that's where we came in: missed resist - which I was sorry - but jcC was holding court - nice colours his saphhire shirt +red spectacles, feeding on the good response he was getting, and he came out with a few lines I'd not heard before.
For one: a dedication to northampton, home of footwear and his beautiful boots.
But you know, this set up the gig for me - support act as it should be, and The Fall came on not long after.
But we talked too long last night, and I'm mixed up on the facts.
I'm not callsign5XX, but mark, kiespijn - guest.
We'll listen to that northants weekender show later - were they chatting with the group in the studio?
There was strong airconditioning in the venue - maybe the reason why mes couldn't make up his mind whether to keep his jacket on or off, off or on.
There was a new sound in 'blindness', very high pitched - shrill - and with a little stomping going on around me, and the young greebo on my shoulder headbanging, for a while I left my body and thought I saw the norden lights.

Again as a guest:
here is mjungblu reporting.


All The Way
Down To Heaven

so it started with higgle-dy piggle-dy.

Very good venue, The Roadmender, good mixtured crowd, the enjoyment was fine. Sound was wonderful, best I heard so far, since months. Thanks to the good sounddesk worker a lot of varities were shown up.

As already mentioned the gruppe was tight, powerful and again very inspired.
MES handled complicated situations while the two existing mics for vocals got broken.
Self fixed.

Set gave us 71+ minutes of full satisfying joint.

more reflection:

mes rolling the r-r's of "rrrragitan!!" like a tiger cub, channelled by the mixer to spread from the centre, out to the far right, far left of the hall



Callsign 5XX :
http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/villai...an/ratigan.html

I can only echo the comments already posted.
One of the most enjoyable gigs I've been to
I too was impressed by the venue and the sound.A very decent crowd with perhaps a lack of younger fans , decent beer flowing from a well staffed bar and a tight performance from Fallgruppe.
Managed to get a spot at the very front directly facing Ben.
I also agree that MES coat on then off then on etc was a bit unsettling for a second but he seemed pretty happy with it all.
The meet up consisted of Mark , The Man Who's Bed Diminished, Mjungblu and myself in The Maltshovel.We then met Callsign 5XX and Tom Damosuzuki at the venue.
The first time I've travelled any distance and stayed overnight for a Fall gig.
Well done The Fall , Roadmender and Northampton (good place , the B&B had a peculiar goatish smell though!!)

One of the best Fall gigs I've been to. It blew me away.
Nice to see JCC also last time saw him was at West Runton Pavillion in Norfolk with the Buzzcocks (not sure though! )

I too can only congratulate everyone on a great night.

After fighting my way through the M6 traffic managed to get to the Roadmender about 8-30. The venue is very different to the last time i was there (89), but he changes are for the better, good sound and nice bar area.

JCC slightly different to the Liverpool set and good to see him going down well with the crowd.

As for the fall they never cease to amaze me, Higgledy Piggledy a great opener, with Eleni looking over her shoulder anxiously for MES to come on stage. Assaid previously a not too dissimilar set to previous gigs although welcome appearences of f-Oldin' Money and New Big Prinz.

for me the funniest moments were Mark forcing the mike on both Ben and Steve when it seemed neither was too keen, i am sure Mark even now believes Steve kicked 'that' mike stand over!

Loved the Manchester gig, felt that there was a bit of tension about the liverpool gig, but it was a joy to see everyone so relaxed again

Anyone know if there is audio circulating yet?

Only in my head I think, which is not bad considering it's Monday morning now. I've only just calmed down enough to write anything.

Anyway, wonderful night, tight band (except an instantly forgiveable two second wobble during Sparta). The length of the set was a delight too particularly, as kiespijn commented, with MES continually putting his jacket on and then taking it off during the last third of the set. The air conditioning could get quite powerful so that was understandable. Were Roadmenders expecting us to be a sweaty lot from the outset? Otherwise a very good venue too.

It was amusing to see the emotions Ben tried to stifle during the night, from apparent fear at times, to frustration ("leave the amps alone, please" - I imagine) to laughter at one of MES' mumblings.

Finally an excellent crowd too, and great to meet Smudger, mjungblu, Mark - kiespijn, Callsign 5XX and tom_damosuzuki.

I worked at The Roadmender for a bit, and tried unsuccesfully to bring The Fall there some while back. I ran the gallery side of things, and my idea was pretty simple... get the Fall in, show a film - a good night. In my discussions with the then director, a top woman, it became apparant that she'd never heard of the Fall, so my idea (after afew weeks of 'yes') got shelved as she wanted 'guaranteed' revenue. Usual cash crisis shit.

'But this is The Fall' I shouted. I told her about the fact that the Fall are the most important band in Britain, but of course that would come across as daft to someone who hadn't heard of them. So I had to crawl to the Arts Council like a dog and hated every fucking minute of it. I'm glad Ed said 'no, fuck off.' I salute you Ed. No, it's not that I was being 'unprofesional', it was a very simple idea. Yes, I would have charged less... was Barbera Streisand in support?, but it was well worth it. Cheers for a top night. Su-fucking-perb.

I bumped into Pat Fish (aka The Jazz Butcher), who said that that was the best Fall band he'd ever seen. He's seen or supported Fall far more than I, but I had to agree. Good luck with everything, and thanks again. Was good to see you here. Good to see a 'profit based audience' too.

Finally an excellent crowd too, and great to meet Smudger, The Man Whose Bed Diminished, Mark - kiespijn, Callsign 5XX and tom_damosuzuki.


on newspage is my report of Roadmender, The Zodiac and Rescue Rooms, go here

hi,

As widely reported locally, it does indeed look like the Roadmender is under threat of closure. Pls post messages of support, here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/england/F2770282?...06&phrase=music

Thanks

This is terrible news. I immediately added my signature, and am encouraging all and sundry to do likewise.

Northampton needs a venue like this to continue to attract bands like The Fall, c'mon NTC how else are your children gonna attain enlightenment. It aint gonna be via the rugby or football teams that's for sure.

Petition may be found here:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/futureroadmender

Comments left on local BBC Discussion thread will be passed to Councillors & Mgmt. This may be found here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/england/F2770282?...06&phrase=music

I'll add this to the General Forum too - thanks for the links, Callsign