Spiegeltent, Dublin, Tuesday, 9th September 2008

new song, extended wings and pacifying joint, carry bag man. best fall gig ive been to. crowd were full on as were gruppe

Cracking gig, still drunk.

as the name might suggest the "Hennessey Spiegeltent" had a substantial supply of Hennessey Cognac, and I drank a lot of it oh my fuckin' head today
WHat a gig


I
don't
need
to
sit
comfortably
down!
but
I
still
need
arm
chairs
in
my
room
to put
carrybags on

There was a bespectacled elderly gentleman to the side of the stage who seemed to be enjoying the gig immensely, my friends & I gave him a hearty ovation outside the tent
I also took the opportunity to shout "don't get run over by a train!" at MES as he swaggered towards the park exit

good sound glitches meant MES had to be heard ambiently

Hennessey Cognag what a kick in the fuckin' head
crikey

and today, all the 7 years bad luck from all the mirrors broken on 911 comes to an end

Great gig, that elderly gentleman referred to above ran on the stage at one point and exhorted the crowd to go mental, which they duly did. Sound was better up front than at the sides, and a great encore of Blindness made the wait all the more worthwhile (they were a tadge late coming on, so no change there then.)
Nice to hear Wings again, and Carry Bag Man also. MES was in good form, although the Airtex short sleeve polo type shirt was a bit of a surprise!

Rarely Seen Above Ground was the support act, a fresh take on the one man band, and worth checking out.

New Song
Wolf Kidult Man
Fall Sound
Fifty Year Old Man
Wings
Theme From Sparta FC.
I've Been Duped
Pacifying Joint
Tommy Shooter
Mr Pharmacist

Carry Bag Man
Blindness

DaD

The Consortium.

What's the New Song like?

I am reliably informed it is about Cheese

amazing varieties of cheese, bit of an ambling beat but rises to a couple of peaks. interesting new direction alert

Has anybody got a photo of head-the-ball they'd care to post?
If only I'd brought my camera....
I'm still in an intense state of post-gig euphoria, with hangover well receeded

few aditional details:
the venue flooring is nice springy wooden, so much better than concrete, I didn't get tired on my feet as I sometimes do, just kept bouncing along throughout, it makes such a difference, the Iveagh Grdens are beautiful, first time in there after dark, very magical

I truly love this line-up more and more each time, and cannot say I've seen a better gig by The Fall before

and the ladies & gentlemen of Dublin City know who go out on a school night and have themselves a rockin' good time!

Eire go brach!

new song

first Dublin gig I've missed since 1984 [didn't know 'em then] and it turns out to be a winner!

glad you enjoyed yourselves. Wish I had gone now!

groundhogs

Cheers.

groundhogs

which song? forgive my american ignorance

Just back from Dublin myself.
Great gig. Best I've ever seen.
MES in great form - smiling, laughing with groupe, taking piss out of drummer, hugging Fall guitarist. Dont think he did any of his mid-gig wandering off stage - stayed on for Duped, and even joined in, making it an even better version.

Lots of knob twiddling, and organ bashing, especially at end of Blindness, which was great. A few microphones into crowd, microphones on ground near bass drum, and also using microphone as a a slider on guitar.
Walked on with bundle of papers and read song form sheet. Something about pollution is the only thing i remember.

At one stage, he swiped a drink from someone near the front, an drank it back.

Band very tight, and looked to be enjoying themselves.

Only complaints were:
1. Sound to front of house failed a few times, but MES carried on.
2. WTF was the video art about. Dont think it was FALL intro graphics.

Good video,
I love the way the Drummer is sitting between the two figures on the backdrop.

thats pretty good... needs to be developed into a 10+ epic if you ask me though... with more electronic burbling. thanks for vid.

also checked out freerangers Carry Bag Man Video - that boy should be snapped up by Industrial Light & Magic for his ingenious use of movement and colour.

thanks, i attempted to get it but was in the middle of the moshing and half knew there wasnt much memory left on the phone so i just held it aloft to catch the audio and proceeded to jump the fuck around

Jesus, it was interminable. I wouldn't be surprised if Pascal Le Gras had something to do with it. There were bits that were interesting I thought but not enough to suggest that it was the unedited "work" of someone arseing around with a plug-in they'd got that afternoon. I realised that I would make the gig start by going outside for drinks and did so, so you can thank me for that.

Fantastic gig indeed, I think this and the Cork Spielegltent stand as the best I've seen. Realised that any Fall song played for double its length = instant masterpiece. New song sounds great, nice doomy riff. Carry Bag Man was a surprise (to me anyway). The old guy was very amusing/disturbing... 2 lengthy keyboard solos from MES! At one point he left a mike beside Elena's amp which doubled the volume, she looked alarmed and carefully turned down the volume on her keyboard to the original level - so much for "live mixing", eh?

Obligatory grumble corner: That guy near the front in the Mission of Burma t-shirt is inevitably going to get his head kicked in one of these days if that's his usual behaviour. Students+whiskey=annoyance. The whiskey that was passed up to Mark at one point seemed not to be unsolicited, but later some student type was repeatedly waving a naggin at him which would be offensive if it wasn't merely an act of ignorance and stupidity.

Afterwards bumped into Greenway, Spurr and Melling who tolerated my nerd-talk admirably. They eventually hurried off because "Mark is with someone we don't know". Came across Mark shortly after having his ear thoroughly bent by some middle-aged geezer - my friend overheard it, apparently the guy's son was in a band and he was hoping Mark could set him on the road to stardom.

Jesus, it was interminable. I wouldn't be surprised if Pascal Le Gras had something to do with it. There were bits that were interesting I thought but not enough to suggest that it was the unedited "work" of someone arseing around with a plug-in they'd got that afternoon. I realised that I would make the gig start by going outside for drinks and did so, so you can thank me for that.

That's the "Safi Sniper" pantomine. He's cropped up before The Fall at most gigs since the Fall Heads Roll tour

He's an Israeli VJ based in Berlin, a friend of Eleni's. He is also a militant vegan, and used to run a bar called Safi's Bar but I'm not sure if he still does...

You get used to it after a while... I really enjoyed it in Dublin for once.

There is a Safi noodle bar about 5 minutes away from where i live, that must be it then

Didn't realise he was back in the fold. Endured rather than enjoyed his "art" a few times.

Just listened to Toby's recording of this on Dime.

Really hope The Cheese Song, or whatever it will be named, gets developed into a future classic as it is a corker. Tragic if it became another The Boss, or even Hungry Freaks and doesn't get recorded.

Gig played at a blistering pace, frantic Sparta, great extended Pacifying Joint with manic keyboards from MES. Tommy Shooter with rare vocals from Mark, to boot.

The prat in the crowd doing all the hollering was a real tit, though.

groundhogs

Best post ever.

Wish I knew what it meant.

Safi 'killjoy' Shiper deleted from The Consortium Christmas card list.

The Consortium will send him some B12, and a nice rare rump steak instead.

Should sort the lad out.

I hope not. He's a nice bloke.

in fact his older brother leant you his bass one night
and was to the left of the stage with his mates keeping an eye on him.

Very favourable review in today's Irish Times *****(5 stars)

I liked the video-art Elvis Unchained Melody, Michael Jackson all mixed up, serving to alert me to the fact I was really fuckin' gee-eyed, before a very large brandy