Sankey's Soap, Manchester, 6th November 2005 (merged)

Just back...too tired to be on long, so someone else can give the set details. No major surprises I can think of....blinding gig though...approx 65 mins and place was absolutely heaving...could hardly get through the door!! All I can say really is....Thank God for The Fall !!!!!!!

Excellent gig. Best I've seen them at in ages. Usual set, with encore of Blindness, Mr. Pharmacist, Touch Sensitive and Boxotocis.

Smith on good form, lunging at the mic in a mock 'I'm about to start' way for the first song (UWanner) before actual beginning shortly afterwards. Things were tense twixt him and Ben though, Smith actually pushing Ben out of the way at one point to get at his amp.

Keyboards were inaudible at first, and Elena was very vocally quiet throughout.

Still, an absolutely cracking show, and the first time I've ever been in a Fall moshpit - very friendly, I must say! - I usually tend to head straight for the front, but there was no chance of this at Sankeys.

Something seemed to have gone seriously wrong with the organisation, too - Alan Wise ended up having to check peoples' names against the list but, in the case of myself and my girlfriend, just ushered us straight through when we told him we'd bought our tickets online (we were supposed to collect them at the venue, but there seemed to be none to collect!)

Great show, though!

In no particular order:

ride away
pacifying joint
what about us
midnight in aspen
assume
grass grow
bo demmick
youwanner
sparta
open the boxoctosis
clasp hands?
pharmacist
touch sensitive ( encore )
blindness ( encore )
mountain energi?

i think

As above, place heaving, beer was shite/warm. It's a pity all those who saw only 30 minutes,walk offs etc, couldn't be here tonight. When MES WANTS TO we have a gig like tonight, cheers.

Can't comment on any on stage antics, i couldn't see fuck all

yeah

blinding gig. took a while to get started imho, but typically brilliant (on this tour) i think. bouncers provided human wall twixt gruppe and very packed audience throughout. had great fun singing 'you fat c*nt' at big bouncer who was blocking my view through much of touch sensitive encore, but all seemed to take it in good humour (?).
can't recall setlist, but mes turning bass OFF then back on during blindness was highliht. bless ST he kept going regardless.
nice to meet the mad mr clayts (again).

SHJ

oh well, thanks for thinking of us at least

Glad you enjoyed the gig

See, he's on his best behaviour in Manchester, but treats you like shit if you live in a little town like London. Bah.

Setlist in order:

You Wanner
Bo Demmick
Theme From Sparta FC
Pacifying Joint
Midnight In Aspen
Mountain Energei
Wrong Place Right Time
I Can Hear The Grass Grow
Ride Away
Assume
What About Us

Encore 1
Blindness
Mr. Pharmacist

Encore 2
Open The Boxoctosis
Touch Sensitive

The Fall were absolutely top last night.
The sound on stage was dreadful and none of the bands could hear anything from the fold-back monitors.
I’m surprised MES stayed on as long as he did, let alone do two encores!!

The band were on good form last night.
Not sure about the venue, I stood towards the back and could hardly see Elanor - or hear her. I only knew Spencer was there because I could hear the drums.
It was absolutely heaving.
Good to see Marc Riley still supprting his old band.

Can't find the thread, so I'll post it here...

The biggest news of the night ...GAZ made it. He's off on his honeymoon this morning.

A few more thoughts......... the only time I have been to S.Soap before was to see The Fall in 1997, and it was worse than I remember! The outside (and inside, come to think of it) reminds me of Steptoe & Son's place without the sofa and skeleton (you had to be there), and I hope it's another 8 years (at least) before I have to go there again!
I arrived mid-way through JCC's set, although it was a struggle just getting through the door! Pretty good set, although the sound was very low and it must have been difficult to hear him form further back. Also, pretty much the same set as in Wrexham, but all in all it's good to see him around again!
Fortunately, we then have an interval, meaning that half the audience moves from their good specs, to go to the bar. This enables anyone with DAT recorders to move in and get a reasonable place with a good view ...although anyone under 6ft may have had problems......
As for The Fall, blinding, as I said before. The band didn't seem as cheerful as at Manchester Univ, at the start of the tour, but at least they survived a month on the road! Really hope the present formation stick around. Re a previous comment, maybe MES does treat Manchester crowds slightly better, although I'm not complaining (selfish I know).
I suppose a Christmas concert in Manchester is too much to hope for............

how about a London Xmas gig where they play for 60 + minutes and MeS actually sings on Blindness (re: Kentish Town and recent Islington gigs)...bloody jealous after the 'performance' we had last Weds.

The group is so tight and "good" at the moment I feel it may be time for a change.

Nice to hear you all had a good gig, despite venue. Just as there are far better venues in London than Islington acad, surely there must be more suitable places in Manchester....???

The group's fine, it's just we're overdue for some new material. Like with the AYAMW stuff at the end of 2002, I feel these songs have been toured quite enough now.

Time for that 39-track concept triple-album about snooker.

I know MES is his own boss, but imho maybe some fresh songs would be better than dismantling a killer unit - the current rhythmn section is awesome, & Eleni & Ben sound incredible, when the sound balance/venue acoustics permit.

The venue truly is a shitehole, but the packed house made for a good atmosphere. MES didnt have to twiddle with the amps, as the sound was pretty fucked up already!!. The keyboards didnt kick in until Pacifying Joint, and Eleni also struggled with her mike all night.
All that said, the band were tight, and MES was in good form.
Couple of quibbles. Ride Away....why? It is rubbish. Also, and I'm sure it has been said before, we have all heard enough of Mr Pharmacist.
I half expected to hear some newish material tonight, as these songs have been kicking around for some time now by MES standards. Is laziness kicking in as the half century approaches, I wonder?
Much head shaking from Ben at the 'level adjusting'. I can see Ben walking soon, and it will be a black day indeed for Fall Gruppe. Musically, as a unit, The Fall are probably at their peak right now. Lets hope they get the chance to make at least 1 more album together.
Highlights for me were Aspen and, surprisingly, Grass Grow. Not usually a fan of Fall covers, but I think they have made it their own now. It sounds like classic Fall fare.

i'm sure some fire regulations were breached last night and as a result spolit the gig a little. I may be going deaf, probably not helped by a rather loud Goldblade gig a couple of nights prior to last night, but I really struggled to hear JCC stood near the bottle of lager stall. I actually enjoyed mr pharm last night for the first time since ooo 1988? probably the smile enducing sight of seeing two 'ex-fall', either side of me, tapping their feet. did my community service again by joining in for a bit of mountain nrg. smith was +vely laid back compared to the leeds gig. i saw the fall four times on this last tour and all were completely different experiences. 'Vivre la difference' as they say in France, or should that be "merde alors! ma voiture est sur le feu!" did you notice that ben did not have a mic tonight and steve had the sparta role!?

pike

Ben looked befuddled/uncomfortable when proffered the mic at Islington night #2 so maybe he just dont like it

I mentioned this on a previous review thread, and got no takers, but...
Hasn't the number of microphones on stage deminished as the tour progressed?
I have this mental picture of a roadie employed full time untangling them between gigs. I suspect he's off sick in recent weeks and less mics were therefore available

A storming gig from the fall at sankeys last night.
It was loud,it was charged, it was the fall!
Put it this way my ears are still ringing from last night
Sankeys is only a very small venue,and the amount of people in there was WAY over the top! Good job there wasnt a fuckin fire or owt! Nevertheless though i didnt let this overcrowded situation spoil my fun!
Nice to meet with josef,clayts,gaz and altfish! Top lads!
Oh, and i also managed (though god knows how) to get some decent photos of last nights gig!
(if only i knew how to bloody put em up!)

I'm guessing MES views mic stands along with guitar stands: 'on-stage combat traps'.

Ben looked befuddled/uncomfortable when proffered the mic at Islington night #2 so maybe he just dont like it

At Islington #1 MES offered it to both of them in turn.

Not thought of the stage as a War Zone before, but you may have a point

Absolute cranker, this gig, and more of a Fall mission for me than normal. Set off dead late as I overslept quite ridiculously - was supposed to meet josef and danjo in Mcr for 1.30pm, but due to zzz factor and crap Sunday train service only made it to the Old Monkey for 6.30pm to meet up with a very lucid danjo, and a very...er not so lucid josef Thankfully the lads despatched a parachuting monkey carrying three beers to Sheffield station to ease the travelling nightmare.

Then began Ticketquest 2005, with josef bagsing altfish's spare, and springheeled jim supplying danjo's. Which left Gaz, who I managed to prise away from Mrs Gaz on the phone, and moi.

So many, many, many thanks to the two bouncers on the door at Sankey's for sorting the two of us out with some lucky returned tickets which emerged from their magic trousers at the 11th hour - top geezers...

The venue was heaving. Massively. Gaz showed off immediately by saying 'Do you want to meet Marc Riley?' to which I replied in the affirmative. Said hello to Marc who confessed he was there to see JCC as much as The Fall and, too polite to tell us to piss off, endured altfish begging with him to release the Creepers stuff on CD...for 30 minutes (only joking, Mike)...which meant he missed most of JCC's set. He made some enfeebled excuse about seeing someone he recognised in a far distant shady nook/cranny and shot off (Marc, that is, not altfish).

JCC's set over (yes, avid reader, I'm disappointed to report I failed in my attempts to see Resist yet again ), the four of us carried out a military operation to get to the front. Mission successful. Danjo had me in stitches doing his MES vocals impersonation, esp the 'hup'/'hit it' bit at the end.

And so to the set - as per usual it's all a blur, but poor Elena was going spare as there was the grand total of nowt coming out of her monitor, cue some rather nifty clapping added to Sparta, Bo D and Youwanner. Eventually it stormed backinto life in time for Pacifying Joint.

The self same collapsing barrier that was apparently present at the last gig The Fall played there (in 1997 !) was present, and required the use of two men-of-steel security guards to hold it in place despite our best efforts to tip the fucker over. I got one or two steely looks from said security bods but did my usual 'air of innocence' face

For some bizarre reason there was an old red telephone with a dially thing at the front of the stage, so I spent a while playing with that and tapping others in the crowd on the back handing them the phone and saying 'it's for you'....well, I thought it was funny anyway...Never did quite work out where those fire engines came from (not really...)

Cracking encores....think there were some new names mentioned in Touch Sensitive, maybe ukslc can confirm what they are ?

James popped up to me after the gig and said 'you're coming to the party' so me and josef (to this day a mystery as to how he wangled it) ended up rubbing shoulders with a lot of mysterious, beautiful and wonderful people with free beer hidden away in a darkened corner and a groovey DJ. I did try my best to get danjo and Gaz back in, but the bouncers were having none of it, sadly

Met the wonderful people of Resist, special shout out to Jon who is a great bloke to chat to. And very tall.... Also said hi to Spen, Ben and Steve. Mark and Elena had seemingly left the building, sadly.

Left there at daft o'clock, and walked up the road with three of the Resist crowd before hitting the sack at the Travelodge Ancoats.

Wonderful, wonderful night. Me tired. Me now sleep for 100 years

that's how I felt the other night in islington: a performance of mr pharmacist that made me think "this is a moment I want to remember for ever."
I've loved ramshackle versions in the past, but this was truly uptight: like someone else comments, they'd got this great forward-facing formation - Ben and steve flanking mes, who was edging forward as the point of the arrow; Ben's guitar seemingly slung a little higher towards his chest, and against a red-lit backdrop they momentarily resurrected some 60's Garage scene..