The Fall

Now, I'm a big fan of the Fall - I first saw them in the late '70s at St Helens Tech lecture theatre. What a strange place for a gig - I felt like we should all have been taking notes. The youth of St Helens had done themselves proud - one even turned up in his pyjamas. I'm still not sure if that was a rebellion against the ongoing constrictions of the vagaries of fashion or whether he has clinbed out of his window after his mam had tucked him up for the night.

I've seen them, probably about 7 or 8 times since then but I was really disappointed in their performance on Later on Friday. They (well, Mark E to be honest) seemed really flat and disinterested. I wonder if he has given up trying to convert people to his sound and is happy to pander to his loyal audience. The best bit was the cheesy wave the band gave at the beginning of the show - nearly caused me to lose valuable beer as I suppressed a guffaw.

I'm not one of those people who think he has produced nothing of merit since the early '80s - some of the later stuff (Sparta FC, Touch Sensitive, Reckoning) is up there with the best but having anticipated the performance so much I was disappointed.

Oh well - I suppose I will have to try to justify the purchase of Perverted By Language Bis with the bonus of one of the Leeds gigs I went to now.