Oh bloody hell. No reports from
the Cork gig, the Dublin one is reviewed below,
and the non-playing pantomime of the Belfast gig is also pieced together
at the bottom of the page. See what happens
at Manchester on the 13th I guess.
If this news ain't good enough for you, try Graham Coleman's
Alternative Fall
News page. Mail Stefan, or
mail FallNet. To subscribe to FallNet,
send mail here with SUBSCRIBE
FALL YOUR@E-MAIL-ADDRESS in the body.
The band are set to release new single 'Masquerade' in January.
Two more Receiver releases:
Oxymoron: Oxymoron, PowderKeg, White Lines, Pearl City, Birmingham
School of Business School, Hostile, Glam Racket, Italiano, He Pep, Rainmaster,
Behind The Counter, Bill is Dead, ESP Disco, Interlude/Chilinism, Life Just
Bounces. Release Date: 3-Nov-97. Sounds okay by all accounts
Cheetham Hill: incl. Time Enough At Last, Free Range, Chiselers,
Spinetrak, Oleano. Release Date: 24-Nov-97
From this week's NME:
ELASTICA's new album features Justine Frischmann duetting with THE FALL's
Mark E
Smith on two tracks. Smith joined the band at their West London studio and
recorded the songs 'LA' and 'We Want You'. They will be included on Elastica's
second album, work on which should be completed next month.
A spokesman for Elastica confirmed the collaboration had taken place, explaining
that Elastica's Dave Bush once played
keyboards in Smith's band. He said all of Elastica were big Fall fans. The
spokesman said the lyrics were of a typically
surreal Fall nature. He added that the as-yet untitled album was due to be
released in the spring.
Oh bloody hell. No reports from
the Cork gig, the Dublin one is reviewed below,
and the non-playing pantomime of the Belfast gig is also pieced together
at the bottom of the page. See what happens
at Manchester on the 13th I guess.
Mike Jones' pics of Dublin are up
at
http://home.clara.net/mikeyj/index.htm
From this week's NME:
The Fall, meanwhile, are due to start a UK and Ireland tour
today (November 5) at Cork Sir Henry's. They also play
Dublin Mean Fiddler (6), Belfast Empire Music Hall (7),
Manchester Sankey's Soap (13), Newcastle Riverside (19),
Aberdeen Lemon Tree (20), Edinburgh Venue (21), Glasgow
Garage (23), Dundee Fat Sam's (24), Oxford Zodiac (27),
Stoke Stage (30), Leeds Irish Centre (December 1),
Liverpool Krazy House (2), Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
(4), London Kentish Town Forum (5), Cambridge Junction
(7), Norwich Waterfront (8) and Bristol Bierkeller (9).
Also possibly:
26/11 buckley
Glasgow Garage, tickets from Cathouse, Ripping Records or the QM, phone
0870 601 0002
The Forum, Kentish Town, London: tickets 12 quid from 0171 344 0044 (credit
card, probably booking fee).
Cambridge Junction 01223 511511
Bristol Bierkeller 926 8514
Stoke: The Stage, Hanley, Tickets £7.75 from Mike Lloyd Music, phone:
01782 207777
Manchester Sankeys: tickets 9.25 inc booking fee from 0161 832 1111
Oxford Zodiac. Fall tickets NOT available til next Wednesday!. They'll probably
cost around 8 quid. Also, they now DO accept credit card bookings over the
phone (though they'll charge a booking fee of a quid or so a ticket). Number
is 01865
726336.
The Fall played Camden Dingwalls on Wed 24 September. Have a look at some
pics on Gez' site at
http://www.btinternet.com/~hmhb/dingwalls/ding1.htm.
Mark E. Smith played 333 Club, London EC1, Oct 10.
MES' recent appearance in Diary of a Madman on BBC2 has been Quicktimed by
Graham Wilson at:
http://www.geocities.com/soho/cafe/3207/mes2.mov
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Dublin.......
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Peter Reavy
Subject: Last night in Dublin
Lots of fuckfaces and fuckfaces' friends. A new bit of music as intro tape.
Band came on: Tommy, Karl, Julia, Steve. Mark had green trousers that were
baggy and a bit short. He alternated between a loose jumper with short zips
either side at the bottom, and a jacket.
The sound: hardly any electronics. Plenty of bass and drums. Julia played
one
finger type keyboards for most of the gig, also a bit of guitar.
On a few songs Smith went off as the song started. But after 3 or 4 minutes
he'd reappear. I thought the fear helped the band concentrate, although they
were tight anyway. Smith's late appearances tended to make songs pretty long.
The ones I particularly remember being affected were M5, Jungle Rock and
Ol'
Gang. Having put just enough tension into the group to get them on top form,
Smith relaxed a bit. We got to see the rockabilly hand clap. We also seemed
to
get fairly chunky improvised vocals toward the end of songs (I say seemed
because they were inaudible).
Jungle Rock left its recorded structure and became much more of a Fall song.
Ol' Gang went on for ages and Smith played the end of the keyboard, upside
down, with one hand, for at least a minute. Tommy played good slidey metal
type
guitar on Pearl City. Masquerade sounded pretty different with the bass and
drums standing in for the machine rhythm. Behind the Counter sounded as fresh
as the first time I heard it. Let the record show that Lie Dream and Spencer
were also heard. But at this point my powers of recollection are stretched.
Peter
> So Peter was it a good gig or not???
Well, for whatever reason, I found myself at the gig not in an overly
sympathetic frame of mind. I was waiting to be impressed. Objectively I
thought the band seemed together and Smith got into it. But did it have
that little extra something? I thought not. Efficient, but not exceptional.
But I did enjoy small details, such as Smith making delicate hand gestures
with his non-mic hand. The gestures of an elderly art critic, surrounded
by absurd volume and racket.
Also I give him bonus points for bloody mindedness. He got electronica
cred from the likes of the Wire and immediately seems to have dumped the
lot. That's me reading too much into one gig, though.
------------------------------------------------------------
From: Geoff Caves
>Storming set all agreed.
Correction: Storming set all agreed, except for Peter.
Well I take your point, Peter. With the programmed bits stripped out of the
songs one did feel a bit robbed. Is this unusual going by other recent gigs?
I had been hoping to hear Hurricane Edward, but there's always tonight I
suppose. Ol' Gang was the highlight for me with the singing done in the first
half leaving Smith and Julia to do their two note duet over the others'
wonderful din. Jungle Rock had a long guitar based intro which I couldn't
recognise, I had to ask Alan what it was. Initially thought we might have
been getting the much talked of Crack House.
Smith wore some very good shoes, the price label still on the hardly scuffed
leather soles. Grey drain pipes at half mast, silk shirt under ribbed sweater
of a TopMan ilk, which was replaced by dinner jacket. Rick was impressed
by his dress sense.
Feeling a bit wrecked after the long drive and little sleep, but enjoying
the DIW syndrome: work, drive, fall, drive, sleep, drive, work, drive, fall.
At least tonight's drive won't be long.
Geoff
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "David I. Williams"
Subject: Dublin - the facts
A big thanks to our fuckface hosts - you made it a great trip, despite events
(non-events) in Belfast on Friday nacht. Thanks too to Alan for driving.
Such
wonderful people deserve better behaviour ....
Dublin set was:
Intro (Oxymoron, remix from Oxymoron LP)
He Pep
Lie Dream of a Casino Soul
Ten Houses of Eve
Levitate
M5
I'm a Mummy
Pearl City
Spencer (instrumental)
Masquerade
Behind The Counter
Jungle Rock
Ol Gang
interlude (Jap Kid)
Spinetrack
Glam Racket
For the record, Masquerade was bloody awful - all out of time. Quite
remarkable that MES didn't walk off or call a halt to it. After that it was
a
storming finale. Ol Gang quite outstanding on the night.
Then there was Belfast ......
diw
----------------------------------------------------------------
Belfast.............
----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Geoff Caves (at 4.20 a.m!)
Subject: So wha'ppen?
arrive at empire 21;30, all seems well.
go to bog, all seems well,
exit toilet, Id says: MES went after you and didn't look well
worry
MES exits toilet
goes out to street looks hard
come in
crosses venue floor
exits at the back and was never seen again
nothing to do with our encounter in toilet that didn't happen
Alex starts spreading nasty rumour
Not going to show
Big ruck out back
Nah!
Talk to LRD
LRD has been negotiating and shruggs shoulders
resigned to no show
Nah!
Terri Hooley appears on stage
He's here to introduce The Fall I reckon
Nah!
Intro tape
Fall are going to show
Nah!
Crew dismantle stage setup
Nah! They'll be on
Empty stage
Refund announcement
Drink
----------------------------------------------------------
From: EXIT SE.Brown
Subject: belfast gig
D'you know when you presuade your friends to go to see the Fall ( a band
they
sneer at but secretly revere) and you drive the 80 miles to Belfast and
endure the execrable support band and things build up with the
instumental of Hey Pep! ... only to have voice come out of nowhere tell you
that 'The Fall will NOT be playing at the Empire tonight'!!.....
well well well well well it happened to me last night.
SeB
----------------------------------------------------------
From: "Johnathan McRoberts"
Subject: Re: Belfast gig - Reports from the front
That is a strangely close to what nearly happened
Spoke to Angus yesterday of Dr Roberts fame and he reports the following
that when he went backstage Mark was ranting with wild scary eyes
and insanity so close that the management had locked themselves in a room
to keep him away - Angus tries to calm him down and finds out that the band
have left after mark had got into some sort of a fight with a roadie - He
went round the pubs trying to find them eventually located Lavery's refuse
to
have anything more to do with him - return to find Mark even more wired
weird and filled with madness than before demanding that Angus goes
onstage with him to do backing vocals in a accapella set of Beach Boys numbers
too much Angus leaves - The band return to tidy up their gear word is that
even Steve has been sacked - A terrible feeling of bleakness
-----------------------------------------------------------
From: "David I. Williams"
Subject: Belfast - the rumours
This account is pieced together from the accounts of Alex and Tony, who both
managed to get backstage at various points (Alex before the announcement
-
Tony afterwards) and my own observations - I was very, very drunk at the
time
- so my recollection may not be the most reliable...
Yes, this sort of thing has happened before. Yes, they have recovered.
This time may be different. It sounds as if it was Steve who was leading
the
revolt against Mark - he simply has had enough! Apparently Steve is tour
manager, and presumably has to handle the flack from promoters, roadies and
the like. Everyone has their limits.
I saw Mark enter the venue, ushering an old couple (someone's parents?) in
through the front door. He then went into the toilets, returned and asked
the
doorman how he could get to the backstage area - had he just arrived, missed
the soundcheck and all? He looked pissed and pale - slightly worse than
normal.
There could have been no more than 20 minutes elapse between this entry and
the announcement. Whatever happened must have hapened quickly - unless of
course the band had decided before MES arrived that they were going to revolt
- maybe there was an exchange of words, which just tipped the balance?
The Fall without SHanley is as unthinkable as The Fall without MES.
It sounded, from Tony, as if other band members were willing to play, but
Steve pulled them out. Whats going on? MES to SHanley: "YOU tell them! Go
on,
YOU tell them!". SHanley: "You put up with all this, and get called a wanker!"
Shortly before the on-stage announcement, Alex told me that MES was planning
to come on with Julia and do a short set! Then the road crew began to
dismantle the drum kit, lending credibility to that theory. Then the
announcement. Then the rest of the gear is carted away.
Stangely muted response from the audience, most of whom queued patiently
for
their refunds. Almost as if nobody was at all surprised, perhaps even
relieved?
Sounds potentially terminal, to me.
diw
--------------------------------------------------
Subject: fresh from the rumour mill
Tommy sacked in Belfast? According to the Wedding Present list, relayed to
Fallchat this pm.
Stefan
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bits & pieces