Rabarock Festival, Estonia, 13-14th June 2008

Come in Estonia...

Hello, this is Ray (now in Riga), calling to give the marks of the Estonian jury ... etc etc.

More tomorrow (including some pics) as off to bed in a mo, but suffice to say the Fall were magnificent. MES on top form, they really took the festival by the scruff off the neck.

You can have setlist in the meantime:

Is This New
Wings
Wolf Kidult Man
50 Year Old Man
Fall Sound
I've Been Duped
Pacifying Joint
White Lightning
Latch Key Kid
Reformation
............
Mr Pharmacist
Blindness

sounds a good one ray
look forward to further posts

Nice one Ray.

Any photos?

thanks ray, our man in estonia ! welcome too.
seems quite a short set, but then noticed they played 50 year old man...

yes, they were magnificent! here's some pics. plenty more to come.
http://orants.planet.ee/rabakas/index10.html

also here's a link to the interview (online version) i did with mes, only it's in estonian

http://www.ekspress.ee/2008/06/12/areen/30...u-familiaarseks

http://www.weekend.ee/?gid=1893#&pid=137323
http://pilt.delfi.ee/album/74399/?page=13

i'm sorry but there's gonna be loads of these links. estonians do like their pictures.

http://www.u-pop.ee/foto/picslist/3029/?to...&search_from=48

Good pictures plastic G,
I think the pilt.delfi ones the best myself.

Thanks for the pics and reports.

Still no new material I notice.
They haven't written anything since the LP was recorded, sometime around a year ago?

http://www.heikkileis.ee/fotod/rabarock200...nt/index_6.html

these are good!

Nice One!!!

http://www.heikkileis.ee/fotod/rabarock200...6372_large.html

typical Fall fan

same the world over

Righto, back home now, so for any of you still interested, here's a more detailed account. Photos will follow shortly - not as good as our man from Estonia, but I've had a go ...

Location: the forest, Estonia - tall pines murkily silohetted through the mesh at the back of the stage.

Weather: a slithery, wet persistent rain of varying degrees of intensity prevailed through the afternoon. If I was someone who lets the conditions affect their mood (which I'm not), then I would have found it increasingly dispiriting (especially with the subtle wind chill) rather than hostile - much like the not-quite-comprehensible depression of a once-close uncle.

Constituency: a slight majority of well-insulated metalheads, who in various ways are beginning to look like the animals they regularly consume. (This is not a slight). I watched them trudge around carrying their pirate flags (and the odd confederate flag as well), black leathers becoming increasingly brown due to the mud. This was fine: metal fans, in hordes, express a softness and homeliness that their cartoon hardness makes all the more obvious. And my ease was seasoned with amusement when I discovered the heavy metal karaoke tent.

Right, I'll get on with it.

Just prior to The Fall's scheduled stage time of 9pm, the rain stopped and it brightened slightly, threatening to clear. A portly compere, with facial hair something between Lemmy and the aristocracy, ambled on and gave a lengthy introduction speech. And 'speech' is the word: after the initial attempts to rouse us into call-and-response by shouting 'Rabarock!' (a muted reaction), this MC then went into an address which seemed touching in its considered solemnity. It was about 2 or 3 minutes long; he looked at the floor at times, seeming to take great care over his choice of words, and spoke quietly, apparently keen to infer a strong sense of stateliness, gravitas and respect. I was concerned for a time that he might be explaining that there was some sort of serious problem which would curtail proceedings - indeed, the tone was almost that of a tribute to a deceased icon. However, he concluded with a brief upsurge of pace and volume, telling us (from what I could make of the Estonian) that this was "a British group" - then bellowing, "THE FALL!".

Then we get "The Horror In Clay" for a few minutes, before the band appear ...

"Is This New" - went on for quite a few minutes before MES appeared.

It is immediately apparent that MES is well up for it - verbose, spontaneous and wilfully comical from the off. Lots of elongated syllables, howls, trilled rrrrrrrs throughout. The band seemed to buy into the spirit of intent/intent of spirit; from thereon, all the songs seemed to take off into the twilight air, as if the sound was enjoying the space on offer.

"Wings" - MES wound the bass amp up from the start, and it stayed at that level pretty much throughtout the set. As has been the case recently, lyrics faithfully observed and spat with a wonderfully percussive clarity, MES even audible when leaning forward to shout "Wings!" out, off-mic, at the end.

"Wolf Kidult Man" - MES singing with some deliberation from lyric sheet, which flutters vigorously in his hand, the wind threatening to tug them from his grasp.

"50 Year Old Man" - MES singing into hand-held tape recorder as well as his mic; he then tries to play the tape back into his mic, on several occasions, but nothing audible. Later he leans out and addresses someone or something - "What are you, security? Are you supposed to be security? You are a fucking gimp!"

"Fall Sound"

"I've Been Duped"

"Pacifying Joint" - bright and breezy, MES cartoon blase, at one pint launching a mic stand off the front of the stage into the 'pit'

"White Lightning" - an impromptu MES selection, very insistent version, seemed to go on for a long time

"Latch Key Kid" - now the rain starts to slide down again. At one point in this (I think) MES started reading from another lyric sheet, something I didn't recognise, maybe new.

"Reformation" - now it's raining harder. A fantastic version, taut with restrained spite, with MES using hand gestures to lead the band through a series of peaks and troughs. At the start, MES sifts through his handful of papers and gives Elena a lyric sheet, putting it on her keyboard and pointing at one portion. She then reads the same 3 or 4 lines over and over, in time with MES vox, so we get a duet. There's a long MES keyboard solo. Then an astonishing bit in which MES, back to us, lets out a long, rising, high-pitched anguished howl/growl, at the peak of which he slings his mic into the kick drum, and the song seems to smash its way out of its own constraint with an upshift of volume and intensity.

Off they go, soon to return ...

"Been doing this stuff for 100 years, and still twat cannot use mic stand ... HEY MR PHARMACIST!" Best version I've heard, really slamming, like one person is playing everything.

"So you gotta understand, we're not really a festivals group, we're, ah, more of a club group - but we're tryin' to, ah, INGRATIATE ... to the festivals ..."

"Blindness" - initially the vox are a deliberatley unintelligible grunted gargle/growl - then, "So now you're thinking, hey Smith, get the fuck on with it, so I say - blind man, have mercy on me ... !" Another fine version, great economy of playing from Pete I thought.

They all seemed to enjoy it, Kieron and Dave really playing hard, Elena smiling a lot, MES doing lots of exaggerated holding court, with both arms stretched out wide, clicking fingers, etc.

Simply wonderful.

(Afterwards we met Robin, an English guy who lives in Estonia - he'd had tickets to 2 Euro Champs games, flights and hotels, and had cancelled the lot when he found out The Fall were playing).

Sound review Ray! Cheers

This group are producing the goods and they know it.

Cheers.

Now then. How do I post these photos?

Excellent stuff Ray, especially mister miggins cancelling his tickets !

Cheers Ray & Plastic G!
Thanks for reporting and welcome.
Re: pictures - you could set up an account at flickr or such and link directly to your pictures using the "IMG"-button in your reply-panel. Easier as it sounds.

thanx Ray! i was wondering what was the bit before pharmacist. to me it sounded like Mark was talking about 100 euros for the mic stand hahaha..

here's one more
http://kertu.planet.ee/Rabarock_2008/

This is perhaps my favorite review on this site. Sounds like a blast. Who is that crazy englishman Robin? Seems he made the right choice.

Great reviews & pics, thanks very much

Seconded !

This Ray geeza is a right chap. One of the 0.0000000001% of forum posters who go to Fall gigs.

Why the fuck is he in Estonia?

Euro minidisc anyone?