Royal Festival Hall, London, Friday, 23rd January 2004

My first post, so hello everybody.

I was a bit dubious about seeing the Fall at the RFH, but not a bad gig after all.

The RFH is like an airport with bars, self-service snack bars, Book & CD shops. Although unlike an airport, there was an awful Jazz band playing in the foyer, so I couldn't wait to get to see the band after all this.

The arena wasn't as big as I thought it would be, but I don't like sitting down at a gig. The 'Jobsworth' security stewards wouldn't let anybody move down to the front (I was sitting in the terrace section)

Anyway, regardless of the stewards and seats, a good gig; Mark looked a little worse for wear (but no more than usual ) Mr Pharmacist and Sparta FC stood out for me.

Set list (I think?)

Boxostosis
Mountain Energei
Green Eyed Locoman
The Joke
Middle Mass
Walk Like A Man
F'oldin' Money
Pharmacist
Janet & Johnny
Sparta FC
Mere Psued Mag. Ed!

Didn't get to see the Magic Band, as I lost my ticket when going to the bar and the 'Jobsworths' wouldn't let me back in.

But that might of had something to do with me telling them shut up and get a proper job!

I Agree with track listing. Shame nothing new added since islington. Enjoyed it but it did make me wish for another guitarist and louder keyboards. I went down the front for a bit but felt too bloody self-conscious.

After the interval the tracks [sorry Im a bit unauthorative with the Instrumentals] were as follows:
Diddy wah diddy
Smithsonean Institute blues
Circumstances
Nowadays a womans gotta hit a man
[a bass solo by Rockett morton] INSTR
On Tomorrow INSTR
Sugar and Spikes (?) INSTR
Abba Zabba INSTR
[complex thing poss of Trout mask]INSTR
Alice in Blunderland INSTR
[complex thing poss of trout mask/Decals]INSTR
Evening bell[guitar solo gary lucas]INSTR
Electricity
Floppy Boot Stomp
Mirror man
Sun zoom spark
Grow fins
When it blows it stacks
Click Clack
Moonlight on Vermont
Big eyed beans from venus

All the non INSTR tracks had vocals By John French. Enjoyable stuff, better than a tribute band, yet obviously not Beefheart. Nothing to be too sniffy about.

I agree about the keyboards, thought that there might be some new stuff or maybe The Past or Xyrolphep (spelling?). But nevermind....better than a kick up the arse I suppose

I wondered what the Magic Band would play, if Beefheart was there, I would have been royally pissed off about missing their set.

F*cking Stewards

Roll on Camden.................

hey they should be playin the tunes off the next album......just cos the record co blah blah dont like too many releases.....don't stop mr smith n co doing new tunes....they dont have to release em ....mark sez he like doin new stuff....so what is this record company shite in the interviews for?

Well Ponty, its not laziness that's kept me low, but mixed emotions (where's a good copy of 'Jackie' when you really need it?)
The Magic Band quote gives you an idea - "all in all, etc" (ie. it was shite) 'ish.
Both of the bands tried to create a loud, Rock sound, but couldn't get it right in that RfFH (I don't know anything about sound engineering, but can feel irritation/pain/indifference without difficulty).
But it surprised me that they didn't play into the strengths of that space - you know, being so sensitive to sound and all that - you can a hear a pin drop, etc.
Plus the fact that it was seated - I had no problems with sitting, because The Fall have plenty of reflective material to draw from, but can't stand sitting down to glam/beserker-stuff. It was alright to move around the Terrace, but just couldn't get into the stalls (hey! stewards). Probably sounded great down there, but I did end up sitting behing the sound desk, so - you know.
I was really looking forward to a rare set of songs (I'm already starting to re-arrange my personal recollection of the gig. Set list went something like this: Impression of J.Temperance Janet, Johnnie & James Frenz ol'gang Hotel Bloedel Recovery Kit Older Lover NWRA the Quartet of doc Shanley Living Too Late. Winter
. . Papal Visit ).
Powder Keg might even have worked, because the organ opens up the sound.
Of course, they did play Middlemass, and that, but they were a swamp for lack of crisp sounds. The drums were quieter than everything else, so what can you do? I know, what do I expect? Perfect sound or something?
The good thing is, Mark didn't seem to give a shit.

Having arrived in London in good time (so we thought) it took us 45 minutes just to travel the few hundred yards from the V & A museum... past Harrods... to the junction with Sloan St. Thereafter the traffic became relatively light again... making ya wonder why it was ever moving so fucking slowly in the first place. As a result of being near-stationary for a few handreds yards of our 92 mile journey.... by the time we got into the hall The Fall were midway through Middle Mass.

Sound was clear - bar a bit of vocal distortion - but it wasn't nearly loud enough. We went and stood at the right end of the walkway behind the stalls for the next couple of songs before the aforementioned jobsworths (staff, rather than security in our case) made us and the other few people there go back to our seats. It woulda been fair enough if we'd been in anyone's way..... but in the corner over there by the exits/bogs there was only a wall.

Sooo.... from our seats.... watched MES twiddle with a few amps for the last couple of songs..... treat us to a (not very loud) keyboard solo towards the end of Mere Pseud... before he left the stage followed, about 30 seconds later, by the rest of the band. Stagehands immediately swooped and began dismantling their equipment so it was obvious an encore was out of the question.

I'm guessing that it was probably a good gig for those in the stalls sat near to the PA - performance-wise MES & Co were great - but when you consider that those who arrived on time only saw 4 1/2 more songs than me..... and what I saw seemed like 5 min's... you have to conclude that it was TOO SHORT for an (alleged) "shared bill".

Further putting lie to the "shared bill" premise was the sound of the Magic Band. They were MUCH louder and still crisp n clear..... and it wasn't just a case of the volume being raised. Noooooooooo...... above the stage was a Zappa-esque PA#2, suspended from the rafters. Quite obviously, this was only utilised by the 2nd band on the bill.

I was dreading John French doing a Beefheart impersonation... but he DID do it and, to his credit, did it pretty well. Thing is though... while he's a good Beefheart impersonator... he's a shit-hot drummer.... as evidenced by those 5 or six instrumentals where he took to his kit. I was hoping he was going to do that again once he returned to the vocal mic'.... but he didn't. The entire set then was about 70% vocal ("guest" drummer) ..... 30% instrumental (Drumbo drumming). Personally, I think I'd prefer it to be the other way around... especially since some of those songs would work perfectly well as instrumentals..... and there are some excellent instrumentals that weren't included in the set - Suction Prints, for example.

They did suffer some equipment problems. Gary Lucas had BIG trouble trying to keep one of his Fenders in tune while Denny Walley lost sound then developed a "buzz" while trying to set up his effect for Electricity... the one song they fucked up a little.... seemingly under-rehearsing the part where the verse changes to chorus. It overlaps on the recorded version... any live rendition requires a longer verse. Apparantly, they weren't quite sure how much longer that bit should be.... the resulting change sounding a bit messy.

(EDIT) The part where the time signiture changes in Click Clack wasn't performed too well either, again suggesting a few more hours of rehearsal time woulda been beneficial.

In conclusion:
Shared bill it wasn't. The Fall limited to half a set, played through half a PA.
The Magic Band were excellent... and while they SHOULD acknowldege Beefheart.... their own contributions to those old albums are enough that they don't have to pay as much tribute to their former "leader" as they did. There's still a place for instumental music under rock's umbrella and the Magic Band are more than capable of providing it. If, for whatever reason, 70% vocal is the route they want to take..... I think they should get a "guest" vocalist so that Drumbo can do what he does best.

pardon, i'd missed some words from the magic band quote; here they are:
"...
Girls! Several of them! Dancing! This puts paid to one myth, at least....
...
we'll have to compare black clothes and attractive brunette companions another time, i guess!
...
"

wowowow!, cheers
marco

oh, plenty of dancing - and it was nice to see some kicking-off under the Royal Box.
But we're not talking wrecking-pit here - it was tree dancing/ stallion in the wind/ flickering flame.
A favourite moment: in between songs, the calls for Magic Band songs rose up from the crowd - loud, hearty voices that travelled well; they snowballed - into a . . . tidal wave. No, like that farmyard in Bremen. That was the moment we could have stormed the stewards.

I went down to see the Magic band at Shepherd's Bush last April and it was a completely different kettle of fish. 1st half of the set was all instrumental, and although Mr. French did sing for the last half, at least they had Robert Williams (Shiny Beast /Doc) drumming in his place. Awesome gig! I thought Friday was one step up from a tribute band - a wonderfully unfathomable tribute band nonetheless, but it didn't have the joy of the first gig. I thought the guest drummer just didn't have the 'wallop' that the Magic Band require, and I do question John French's current motivation. I couldn't decide whether he was trying to rewrite history and put a final stamp on the largely-accepted claim that he was the practical interpreter of Don's abstract ideas, or whether he's fulfilling a lifelong desire to BE Captain Beefheart?!! I'm probably way off the mark on both instances, but it did seem increasingly like the John French show, and that, for me, was backed up by Repitition's observation about what a difference it made when he got back behind his drumkit - that instrumental section was unbelievable. When the other drummer came back on it just highlighted his inferiority. He was a good drummer, don't get me wrong, but watching him follow Drunbo was as awkward as watching somebody like Dave Grohl take Art Blakey on in a drum battle!! Different class. So the Magic Band then.... still gave me a tingle, but sadly disappointing.
Whereas The Fall where probably the best I've ever seen em!! Saw em twice in October and December, but Friday knocked it all into a cocked hat, for me. I've never seen em so playful!! The extended sections in Middle Mass, F-Oldin Money and that blistering version of Janet vs Johnny were joyous. Mark even almost returned to mid-song banter but then seemed to add his comments to the songs.... "We're so happy to be here..!!"
Yeah, the sound left a lot to be desired, the RFH is a vile, sterile venue, but, for me, The Fall were a revelation...again!!

Just followed Marco's link to the Beefheart discussion list to see what they made of The Fall, here's a couple excerpts;

I hope these people don't mind me copying & pasting their postings

Well, that's made me feel alot better.
It did strike me on the night, just how fleet-footed Mark is; thought there was a skip in his step (up to no good, again ).

i've found also a review by steve...
...after some amletic doubts about what i should quote...:

http://www.stevegriff.com/music/livereview/1581.html


ciao!
marco

Given the length of the other reviews here, i won't embellish too much. In a nutshell The Fall may have been working with half a PA, but they blew The Magic Band off the stage, which i genuinely didn't expect.

Apart from a disappointing "Mountain Energei" which suffered from MES's apparent inability to deliver more conventional melodic songs live ("Bill Is Dead" always suffered from the same thing), the rest of the set was earthquakingly powerful. "Sparta" and "Mere Pseud Mag Ed" were the undoubted highlights, but I had goose pimples through almost the whole set. And I was sitting in the very back row of the RFH.

The Magic Band had some awesome moments - "Big Eyed Beans", "Smithsonian Institute Blues" in particular. But they seriously missed their band leader. The set structure was a mess, and there was a drum solo for fuck's sake, which Beefheart would never have countenanced. Drumbo's Beefheart impression was seriously misjudged too, it only served to remind you of his gaping absence, and dragged some of the more bluesy material into ZZ Top land.

But I wept with emotion throughout "Big-Eyed Beans"

hey! the back row? Of the Terrace? That's where I was, and happy with it too, because the sound should be caught well - with leather upholstered walls 'n all that. I've already made a few bones about all that (which didn't improve by moving to the front of the Terrace - could just see a little better) but perhaps neglected to say that the performance was a cracker (eh Dids?)
Repetition's right though about the length of the set, which was over far too soon. No 'shared' status there . . . Must've been wishful thinking that Mark would join the Magic Band later . . . for half an hour or so
And yes, not only were there drum, bass & guitar solo's, but they came in such close succession to each other, and so early in their set! Never mind.

. .. also my friend pointed out the glaring difference between Drumbo's 'Beefheart' persona, and his own - chatting between songs and stuff. I suppose he was pulling no pretences.

i always thought beefheart was taking the piss out of session musicians.....n the band was the session musicians with like no creative talent at all

Thought Rocket Morton had more personality than Drumbo.

Also, it was rather churlish of the magic band not to cover The Fall's Beetle bones and smoking stones.

Did anyone else hear that night, what Mere pseud mag ed. heard in '81?
Mic might as well've been a toilet roll . ..