Blindness / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Irish / Fall Sound / Jetplane / Hittite Man / Mr. Pharmacist / Sir William Wray / Spider // White Lightning // Bury
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Kinder of Spine / Mr. Pharmacist / Sir William Wray / Chino / Loadstones / Hittite Man / Bury / What About Us? / Blindness // Theme from Sparta F.C.
Reviews on the forum, and thanks to Jonathan for the poster and Stephen for the setlist.
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Wednesday, 8 May 2013 Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast
Victrola Time / Strychnine / Hot Cake / Chino / Sir William Wray / Hittite Man / Bury / I've Been Duped / Loadstones / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Kinder of Spine / Weather Report 2 / Mr. Pharmacist / Blindness // White Lightning
Reviews on the forum and thanks to Little Frank for posting the setlist. Also a couple of press reviews:
It is both a tribute to their longevity that a book, The Fallen, has been written cataloguing the fate of all 61 former members of The Fall. But 2013 has seen a significant milestone in the band's history, as the current personnel are now the longest-serving stable line-up.
With a new album, Rem-it [sic], imminent, have they reached that dread place, respectability?
The band enter to a miasma of white noise and spooky voiceovers cranking up an electro punk rhythm into which a leather-jacketed Mark E Smith wails imperiously. It's an incredible sound, both subterranean and futuristic.
Smith shares vocal duties with keyboardist Elena Poulou on some tracks, but when their main man is in such imperious form as tonight they are a revelation, this nation's saving grace.
THE FALL, led by perennial frontman Mark E Smith, played to a sell-out audience at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival marquee on Wednesday night. The band are still going in some format after 35 years, while the latest incarnation including Smith’s Norwegian [sic] wife Eleni have been together for five years, which is long by Fall standards.
There was to be no repeat of the band’s almost no-show from 2008 as Smith (56), looking sprightly in a crisp blue shirt, appeared on stage promptly at nine thirty. After a dramatic extended intro, the band launched immediately into superb new tracks from their forthcoming album, Re-Mit. This 30th original studio release was given the full treatment with tracks like latest single release Hittite Man, Sir William Wray, Irish and Bury all showcased. Crowd pleasers like Strychnine, Theme from Sparta FC and Mr Pharmacist were also thrown in for good measure, along with an electrifying rendition of Blindness, a good humoured Smith passing the mike into the crowd for accompaniment. The hour-long set, which saw the now typical on-stage fiddling with the amps from Smith, was well received by a boisterous but good humoured crowd as the band returned for a thunderous encore of White Lightening [sic].
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Thursday, 9 May 2013 Fibbers, York
Victrola Time / Strychnine / Hot Cake / Chino / Sir William Wray / Hittite Man / Bury / I've Been Duped / Loadstones // White Lightning // Theme from Sparta F.C. // Mr. Pharmacist / Blindness
Reviews on the forum and thanks to Mark for the setlist.
John Peel once said Of The Fall, “They are always different; they are always the same”.
How right the late voice of the BBC was. Come Monday, the Manchester mavericks will release Re-Mit, their 30th studio album since post-punk’s dawn in 1977; the one constant being sarky Mark E Smith as band leader; the constant difference being the ever-changing line-up.
Many have fallen by the wayside, but the 2013 line-up was brutally magnificent on Thursday night. Smith doesn’t go in for eye contact, his eyes almost closed, his face sour as vinegar.
Not even wife Elena Poulou, the Linda to Smith’s McCartney but a vastly better keyboard player, receives more than a cursory thrust of a microphone when it’s her turn to sing.
Keiron Melling’s pneumatic drums crash and smash and drill and thrill. Combine them with Peter Greenway’s abrasive lead guitar and David Spurr’s bludgeoning bass, and it is a mighty, moody, muscular racket, repetitious yet exhilarating.
Around them Smith prowls and growls, sneers and mocks like a grown-up Hamlet, itchy on the trigger, sometimes singing out of view, other times leaning over his audience, many as long-lasting as Smith himself.
Smith doesn’t do chatter, never mentioning the new album; that’s not his remit. Lyrics are often indecipherable, although you can hear snatches: “Can’t string a sent…”; “Blah, blah blah”; “Sir William” (the new number Sir William Wray), but it is as much the sound of the fury that signifies everything.
Fall favourites bring communal singing: especially Bury! and three encores with ever lengthening gaps between, White Lightning, Spartacus and Mr Pharmacist. “Thank you Yark,” said Mark. Thank you Mark; long may you bark.
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Friday, 10 May 2013 East Village Arts Club, Liverpool
Victrola Time / Strychnine / Jet Plane / Chino / Sir William Wray / Hittite Man / Bury / I've Been Duped / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Loadstones / Kinder of Spine // Reformation // White Lightning
Reviews on the forum and thanks to Mark for the setlist Loadstones and Comrade Gonzo for most of the 11+min Reformation.
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Sunday, 12 May 2013 Trades Club, Hebden Bridge
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Kinder of Spine / Mr. Pharmacist / Sir William Wray / Chino / I've Been Duped / Loadstones / Hittite Man / Bury / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Jet Plane / Reformation // White Lightning
Reviews on the forum. Thanks to Mrs. Wee Davey and Neil for the setlists and Mike Dawson for the ticket.
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Friday, 17 May 2013 Clapham Grand, London
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Sir William Wray / Chino / Kinder of Spine / I've Been Duped / No Respects / Hittite Man / Bury / Loadstones // Jet Plane (aborted) > Theme from Sparta F.C.
Reviews on the forum. Thanks to Dan for the setlist.
“We are The Fall,” Mark E. Smith intones during the opening “Victrola Time”. “Do not think you’re going to get anything else.”
The loyal, still growing tribe crammed and jostling for position to watch the latest instalment of The Fall’s 37-year, ongoing last stand for Smith’s caustically individual values take that as a promise.
There have been times where it’s seemed more like a threat. Smith’s fondness for a pint can lead to behaviour running riot with the sensibilities of more delicate souls, not least his own band-members (dozens have jumped ship over the decades). But as the new, thirtieth album Re-Mit proves, everything remains a variant on a stubbornly rewarding theme: Mark E. Smith’s fascination with language’s arcane possibilities, set to primal rock’n’roll.
The Fall survive by moving forward, and as usual the set is drawn almost entirely from Re-Mit and other recent work. On “Sir William Wray”, the relatively young band Smith has kept together for five years now hold down a garage groove, his wife Eleni Poulou adding downbeat colour on her vintage Korg synth. Smith is an abrasive, unstable presence, one minute Les Dawson lugubrious, the next puffing his pigeon chest out as he haughtily inspects the crowd. At first, it’s funny - what’s mad old Mark going to do now?
But the humour is deliberate, and quickly turns into more ferocious energy, as “Kinder of Spine” brings the night into sharp focus. “Spider, spider, I hate you,” Smith whines. “Please judge me. I want to be judged…” Over rhythmically streamlined, slowed rockabilly which shifts into brighter 1960s R&B, Smith starts to declaim, his sometimes garbled words potently clear. The “spider” could be Simon Cowell, prostituting the working-class which spawned The Fall, or any one of a thousand held in Smith’s wry contempt.
When Poulou takes over the vocal for “I’ve Been Duped”, Smith turns his back to her, arms folded, somewhere between a Salford Napoleon and Steptoe. Poulou can hardly contain her grins at a husband who is unusually, playfully happy and singing with proud power over the band’s thundering, relentless groove. For the encore “Theme from Sparta FC”, Smith holds the mic with his arms flung back like Christ, and prowls the stage with the exaggerated grace of a benign drunk. He clocks off on the stroke of 60 minutes: all business, all pleasure, all Fall.
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Wednesday, 22 May 2013 The Globe, Cardiff
Victrola Time / Strychnine / Jetplane / Chino / Sir William Wray / I've Been Duped / Hittite Man / Bury / No Respect / Loadstones / Theme from Sparta F.C. // Kinder of Spine / Blindness // White Lightning // Mr. Pharmacist
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Jet Plane / Chino / Sir William Wray / I've Been Duped / Hittite Man / Psykick Dancehall / Reformation
Reviews on the forum and thanks to Mark for the setlist and Jim Cook for the poster.
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Thursday, 24 May 2013 Princess Pavilion, Falmouth
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychine / Jetplane / Chino / Sir William Wray / I've Been Duped / Hittite Man / Mr. Pharmacist / Kinder of Spine / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Psykick Dancehall // Container Drivers / Reformation // White Lightning
Reviews on the forum. Thanks to Glyn for the setlist.
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Saturday, 8 June 2013 Long Division Festival, Wakefield
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Jetplane / Chino / Sir William Wray / Hittite Man / I've Been Duped / Mr. Pharmacist / Spider / Theme from Sparta F. C. / Reformation / Nate Will Not Return / White Lightning
Reviews on the forum and thanks to stAn for the setlist.
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Saturday, 15 June 2013 Highbury Hall, Birmingham
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychnine / White Lightning / Sir William Wray / Nate Will Not Return / Bury / Hittite Man / Mr. Pharmacist / Blindness / Theme from Sparta F.C.
A private gig for a wedding anniversary.
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17 June : "Live in San Francisco" (19 November 2001) live album released
Saturday, 22 June 2013 Día de la Música, Matadero, Madrid, Spain
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Hittite Man / Sir William Wray / Chino / I've Been Duped / Kinder of Spine / Nate Will Not Return / Theme from Sparta F.C. // Mr. Pharmacist / Reformation
Thanks to David for the setlist and Sergio for the photo. More on the forum.
Friday, 28 June 2013 All Tomorrow's Parties, Keflavik, Iceland
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Hittite Man / Sir William Wray / Kinder of Spine / Nate Will Not Return / I've Been Duped / Jetplane / Bury / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Reformation / Mr. Pharmacist / Blindness
Reviews on the forum and thanks to Gaspop for the setlist.
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9 August : "5 Albums" (Beggars box set) released
16 & 17 August 2013 : lineup # 65 : Mark E. Smith (vocals), Elena Poulou (keyboards), Pete Greenway (guitar), Rob Barbato (bass), Keiron Melling (drums).
Friday, 16 August 2013 Kilkenny Arts Festival, Set Theatre, Kilkenny, Ireland
Victrola Time / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Over! Over! / Hittite Man / Sir William Wray / I've Been Duped / Jet Plane / Psykick Dancehall / Chino / Kinder of Spine / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Blindness / Mr. Pharmacist / Bury // Container Drivers
Setlist TBD. Rob Barbato on bass for both Irish gigs. Thanks to marvell78 for the set and johnniejukebox for the video. Reviews on the forum.
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Saturday, 17 August 2013 Button Factory, Dublin, Ireland
Set included 15 Ways with Rob Barbato on lead vocals. Lots of photos by Fergus Kelly on Flickr. Thanks to Michael Stanley and Maurice for the setlist.
Legendary post-punk poet Mark E. Smith took to the stage at the Button Factory in Dublin with his band the Fall, playing a blistering set of pulsating music.
Swaggering onto the stage, Smith held the crowd in the palm of his hand from the beginning as he gave sermon, growling his lyrical musings to the distorted wash of the Fall’s energetic raw sound. The avant-garde vocal delivery echoed and cut through the harsh tones and harmonic unison of the band’s wailing music.
Lurking and stalking around the band’s equipment and incorporating them in his nihilistic, improvisational performance style that created a chaotic spontaneity and constant shift in visual and sonic focus, Smith directed and challenged the group to follow his artistic thesis.
Using great swells and dynamic stabs of screeching feedback, rumbling overdrive and syncopated rhythms that shattered and shook the venue, the Fall’s ability to maintain order and a keen sense of musicality amid the anarchy and conceptual weight of Smith’s approach can not be overlooked or understated.
The pulsing fuzz laden synth and thrashing guitar of ‘What About Us’ brought the show to an expectant crescendo of call and response crowd participation. A swirling noise aesthetic engulfed the Button Factory as the Fall audibly built the tension to a visceral culmination of sound.
An experience of artistic realisation, the Fall’s performance was a palpable sonic balance of style and concept that resulted in a show of unmistakable individuality. Almost forty years in existence Mark E. Smith’s the Fall remain vital and uncompromising.
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12 October 2013 - 28 November 2013 : lineup # 61 (redux) : Mark E. Smith (vocals), Elena Poulou (keyboards), Pete Greenway (guitar), Dave "The Eagle" Spurr (bass), Keiron Melling (drums).
Friday, 12 October 2013 Out.fest, Barreiro, Portugal
Reviews on the forum. Thanks to Little Frank and Facebook for the setlist.
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Wednesday, 30 October 2013 La Gaîté Lyrique, Paris
Amorator! / Hot Cake / Jet Plane / Strychnine / The Remainderer / Hittite Man / Muzorewi's Daughter / Sir William Wray / Chino / Bury / Kinder of Spine / Mister Rode / 15 Ways / Reformation / What About Us // White Lightning
Reviews on the forum and thanks to José Raúl for the setlist.
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Thursday 31 October 2013 Soy Festival, Maison de Quartier de Doulon, Nantes
Many thanks to Alexis for the setlist and Karim Gabou for the videos.
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Friday, 15 November 2013 Clapham Grand, London
Amorator! / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Jetplane / Sir William Wray / Chino / The Remainderer / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Mister Rode / Cowboy George / Reformation // What About Us? // 15 Ways
Reviews on the forum. Thanks to Mark for the setlist and Stan Mission for the video.
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28 November 2013 : lineup # 66 : Mark E. Smith (vocals), Elena Poulou (keyboards), Pete Greenway (guitar), Dave "The Eagle" Spurr (bass), Keiron Melling (drums) + Tim Presley (guitar) for the encore.
Thursday, 28 November 2013 Le Guess Who?, Tivoli, Utrecht
Amorator! / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Jet Plane / Sir William Wray / Chino / I Am Nate / The Remainderer / Mister Rode / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Cowboy George / Bury // What About Us? / Reformation
Tim Presley on second guitar for the encore. Reviews on the forum. Thanks to the Soul Representative for the setlist.
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29 November 2013 : lineup # 67 : Mark E. Smith (vocals), Elena Poulou (keyboards), Pete Greenway (guitar), Dave "The Eagle" Spurr (bass), Keiron Melling (drums) + Daren Garrett shared drum kit for a bit.
Friday, 29 November 2013 Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
Amorator! / Hot Cake / White Lightning / Jet Plane / Sir William Wray / Chino / The Remainderer / I Am Nate / Mister Rode / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Cowboy George / Bury // I've Been Duped / Reformation // Psykick Dance Hall
Daren Garratt formerly of The Nightingales shared the drum kit; I hear he will take over when Kieron goes on paternity leave. Reviews on the forum and thanks to Little Frank for the setlist.
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9 December : "The Remainderer" single released
13 December 2013 : lineup # 68 : Mark E. Smith (vocals), Elena Poulou (keyboards), Pete Greenway (guitar), Dave "The Eagle" Spurr (bass), Daren Garrett (drums).
Friday, 13 December 2013 Week-End #3, Stadthalle, Cologne, Germany
Amorator / Hot Cake / Strychnine / Jet Plane / Sir William Wray / Chino / The Remainderer / Theme from Sparta F.C. / Mister Rode / Cowboy George // Psykick Dancehall / Bury // White Lightning
Daren Garratt on drums while Keiron on paternity leave. Reviews on the forum. Thanks to Mark Howard for the setlist and Robert Forster for the poster.
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