Hove, Old Market, Thursday, 29th March 2007

Yes, tonight's gig in the New Labour arts venue was indeed wonderful.

Warning: the following gig review is by a dilettante Fall gig gower ('85, then , err, 2005 and then tonight!) and one who is still a bit pissed, so be gentle with me.

Pre-gig: about 20-odd in the Robin Hood including some very young blood (not meant to be patronising incedentally) courtesy of Toby D.

Gig would have started at 10-ish apart for a fire alarm. Whilst waiting on the pavement, a taxi pulled up , out of which came MES. The crowd parted like the Red Sea in Cecil B DeMille's 'Moses' and MES entered the venue to the sound of ringing alarm bells as the crownd went out. Got to shake the great man's hand, which although some could consider tacky, was worth it.

Got down the front for the gig in front of Eleni's keyboard. Set list included:
My Door is always Open
Pacifying Joint
Fall Sound
What About Us
White Lightning
Sparta FC
The Wright Stuff
Blindness
Reformation

The Fall fucking rocked!! Brilliant gig. (I'm sure there was another song in the set but blame the beer and deafness as I was stood next to a speaker!).

MES appeared to be enjoying himself as did the wife. Got to sing at the end with the passing of the mike. Very warm audience. Can't wait for Brighton on Saturday.

Not to forget Stock Replacer & a belting Over Over.

I too was at the parting of the red sea & would have been reasonably happy to go home at that point having had enough Situationist incidents for a month. Brilliant gig although I could hear very little guitar or keyboards from where I was. What's wrong with 2 bass, drums & MES high in the mix, I ask.

Enjoyed Wright Stuff much more than anticipated as did Ms Smith as far as I could see.

Good to meet you Phil - we seem to have got separated later on - see you Saturday. Nice to bump into you Karl - ditto I hope (with [my] son in tow)

Some fukka blew up Dave's fucking bass amp.

This gig is as good as it ever gets.

Oh my good Lord it was.

This is why I'm a Fall fan.

Have mercy on me, I'm shitfaced listening to it again.

I love Karl.

So true.


And by the way:

is there a record for holding off an incipient looming inevitable chorus? because I'm sure we cracked it with What About Us tonight.

classic gig i love mark kevin karl james gary and of course elaine my wife
dr robert is very jealous and looking forward to saturday

i'll say it again classic gig

words
less is more

great great great gig
eleni great vocals

great is the word

AT THE MOMENT

So I gather this was a good show then?

Fantastic - never heard such a clear Fall Sound. Definitely one of the best ever. Song selection was spot on as was exclusion of certain others (White Lightnin so much better than Pharmacist, a belting Wrong Place without Grass Grow).
Also kind of the venue to arrange a fire alarm so did not miss the start!

That was the best Fall gig I've seen since my first 6 years ago...

...the sound was great- really loud and clear when the band struck up the LCD Soundsystem-esque Senior Twilight Stock Replacer, but when MES swaggered/hobbled onstage and joined in for the last couple of chants with his usual "Good evening, we are the Fall, over the long long days blah blah" or whatever the hell it is, his voice was even louder and clearer than the band. So every word was more or less audible for once.

The setlist, in *roughly* the right order, from memory:

Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
Pacifying Joint
Over Over!
Fall Sound
My Door is Never
What About Us
Wrong Place/Right Time
White Lightning
Theme from Sparta FC
The Wright Stuff
Blindness
*encore*
Reformation

What can I say, the fall were absoutly fantastic last night. Apart from the fire alarm and the amp almost exploding the fall gave us a flawless performance for at least an hour (From about 23:10-00:07).

The fire alarm incedent was very comical indeed MES must have got a right shock at seeing so many people outside cheering him into the venue as he got out of the taxi.

As for the amp that was smoking away during blindness I did notice it and got a little bit worried.

As of many people in the front row, I managed to get a hold of the microphone when MES passed it around during Reformation and Blindness that was truly an amazing expierence.

To top the night off after the show I bumped into a Mr Frank Skinner and shook his hand before he slowly slipped away from the venue.

I did take a few pics on my mobile phone so i'll try and get those up A.S.A.P.

First visit to the old market venue and overall it is a very good venue; roll on saturday at the Pav. Theatre

o.k. ive managed to get a few of my pics up on Flickr so you can see them at the following address MES, Old Market

I had a really good night. My thanks to Swiss Gnomes and his pals for getting me the tickets and making me feel welcome. Took a few drunken photo's but they're not as good as Superseagulls. Hopefully this buzzing in my ears will have stopped in time for saturdays gig.

I was clutching three pints when that fire alarm went off!

I think Sparta came between Fall Sound and My Door, and What About Us and Wrong Place may have been swapped round, but otherwise my memory agrees with Nick. Ah, what a great night though! Except, inevitably, the support bands...Grrr, Bloc Party have a lot to answer for.
Ow, I'm hungover.

Me too. When it all comes together like that The Fall are shockingly wonderful.





All the money we spent on beer at the Robin Hood goes to charity? Did I mishear that?

could anybody stick an audio on yousendit or one of those sites for those of us without faciltiies for dime?

really frustrating to have to READ about these gigs!

Yeah the Robin Hood profits all go to charity, it's a "people's pub"...


btw forgot to say in last post, this Fall line up I really think is better than the last- sometimes with the last lineup I'd get the impression they would just play on and get a bit pissed off when Mark just vocalised over it any old way...but this line up really plays behind Mark, they listen for cues and then really rock out when they sense he's going into a chorus (eg. What About Us? is a track I'm not so keen on but last night the chorus was extremely loud and frenetic and whipped the moshpit into spin-dry (or sthg))... they're much more sympathetic to his "ways", it seems...

is that mes in a purple cardigan?
fuckin student!

I confirm the set played was as follows-

Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
Pacifying Joint
Over! Over!
Fall Sound
Theme from Sparta F.C.
My Door
Wrong Place Right Time
What About Us
White Lightning
Wright Stuff
Blindness (8.31)
Off stage
And finally, a stunning version of Reformation

The paper set list I have has Systematic Abuse as an encore.
I will post a photo of this, but unfortunately my camera is currently ‘in a car boot moving away’.

What a fucking brillant gig. After not seeing them for a while i was very excited about last night for qwite a while. Somone menchioned "This Is Why There a Fall Fan" I said the same thing to my mum when i got in. Best time ive seen them probebly. Lets hope pav tav and hammersmith are as good as old market aye! My fraind james who came along also injoyed it very much so and took some brillant photos what ill put up on here once i get hold of them.

Oh also nice meeting some new and old faces.

from the hills of Hove
it was an amazing one this night.
nothing to add other than that the meet-up was pretty well, nice pizza service and that the red sea theme was very special. applause for the Priest. All had to leave the building but only one had the permission to go into the old market! Excellent.

Storming opener - with a change of lyric, maybe. Shop replacer...
Solid performance, brilliant at all with a good, engaged crowd and a nice mosh then (not as static as the day before).
This time the passed out mics were fine - so a full shout for the Blindman and later the Confirmation of the Reformation. Looks like we are all Centurions now!



BTW the saturday gig in Brighton seems to be sold out.
Here is an offer from my mate sudost36 to sell a spare one for the Pavillon Theatre.
Any interest, please contact me (pm).

absolutely stunning gig

When the fall perform like that to an up for it crowd, you know it can get no better...

...or can it??
bring on brighton saturday night, let's 'ave it

kiespijn speaking through mjungblu's log-in:

you can imagine the dramatic atmosphere, starting with Safi's dark set: longer stretches of stillness, starting with the mute face of Sinead O'Connor, pale on the massive expanse of heavy blue curtain, a face like the moon caught in a mirror beneath the surface of the disturbed lake; later Barbara Streisand, struggling to mouth even a word, 40 seconds, or a minute at least of this tension. Of Barbara Streisand, picture this: the portrait of Cronos on the latest Venom Lp, Metal Black - a certain age, silverblick, Satanic. How can you communicate with this person? What corrections can be made to fix this?

Elvis; then that scene on the grand staircase: tumbling onto the couch, tearing her heart; Safi set deep upstage (removed from dissenting mobsters) stretching the scream with a crashing beat ..time for stage entrance, still in shadows: Presley, Barbato, McCord, plugs arranged and the stamping rhythm of Senior Twilight Stock Replacer, the cyan, Reformation Blue Backdrop brilliant at last!

Fantastic night.

I would very much like to not purchase a recording of this show.

Almost as good as the Top Rank cracker in 74.

Some may wish to be made aware that Deltics and Steam trains have not travelled along the coastal route ( Littlehampton - Brighton,) now for many years.

This gig now on Dime.