News Section
Melody Maker, November 19, 1997

The Fall have emphatically denied reports suggesting that their 21-year career has finally reached its end. The reports suggested that the band's notoriously volatile leader Mark E Smith had sacked the band and cancelled their forthcoming tour after a scheduled show at Belfast Empire Hall on Nov 8 was cancelled minutes before it was due to begin because of a back stage bust-up.

However Smith has now hit back in a statement issued by the Fall's management company Circus, in which Smith simply says: "The show goes on. The Fall do not cancel tours!"

The statement continues: "Contrary to erroneous reports, The Fall tour is definitely going ahead. The Belfast show November 7 was cancelled by the promoter rather than the band, and the group are looking to perform a replacement show in the near future."