The Fall 1998-04-07 Brownies, New York City AUD FLAC Additional info. WATCH THE MAGIC: https://vimeo.com/17077280 From 2005 on Dime when clays first posted this show: clayts’ original description beyond the text file: This gig probably goes down as the most legendary performed by the band due to the on-stage shenanigans that occurred, the collapse and self-destruction of the 'old' Fall in front of New Yorkers, and the subsequent arrest of MES, which we need not ponder here. An excellent audio recording, beefed up in Cool Edit Pro, and sourced from a very amateur video of the night (one for a later seed, methinks), the gig isn't half as bad as people make out. Indeed, aside from the fisticuffs, and general Smith nastiness particularly towards Tommy Crooks, musically it's a solid enough performance, aside from some boredom exhibited by Mark (barely any vocals until Burns correctly points out there's "no singer...where's the f-ing singer...you COCK ?!") and the relating of events prior to the gig (being held at gunpoint by a Pakistani "or someone", whilst the rest of the band "cower in the dressing room AS USUAL"). The whole thing comes to a head during Free Range when Karl snaps at Mark's constant messing with his drum mics, jumps off the riser, pushes Mark off stage, nearly knocking Nagle's keyboard off its stand and successfully sending Mark crashing into Steve's bass monitor, which is pronounced dead on arrival immediately afterwards. Hanley goes spare with Burns. Remarkably, Nagle carries on playing, as indeed does Hanley. Then comes a Smith rant - "that Scottish bloke and that animal on drums" are singled out particularly. Mark storms off stage and the rest of the band launch into an absolutely staggering performance of Levitate which just drips with anger. Remarkably, the band regroup to perform an even more staggering Lie Dream of a Casino Soul, replete with Mark taunting Tommy all the way through it, and getting a kick for his troubles, and a celebratory and very sarcastic 'well done lads' after it's over. Mark then taunts the band some more, before shouting "get this f-ing song going, you f-ing c-words" before Behind The Counter and mocking Hanley by screaming "Need a monitor ?" at him. The final song performed by the old Fall is He Pep ! and Crooks guitar sounds like it is in complete meltdown (he'd broken a couple of strings and couldn't get a replacement). The lads troop off as Julia kick starts the DAT to Powder Keg, with a very poignant rendition of the song, complete with complimentary comments about the audience, and not so complimentary comments about his departing members. As I say, this is far from a poor live performance - the events on stage overshadowed the performance. It was left to Steve Hanley to have the final say, when he asked who was to play him in the movie...I think most Fall fans know the answer, but for those that don't, I'll let Mr Hanley finish the gig off. Please don't dwell on what went on after the gig - that really isn't for discussion here. What is for discussion is the very last performance by the old guard. Some say it was the best thing that happened to The Fall, as they had become tired-sounding...others may disagree... And responses on the torrent: Baphomet36 at 2005-09-27 12:32:53 GMT Thanks for this one. I think I saw them in Boston on this tour - at the Middle East. MES was being right curmudgeonly. For large parts of the gig he "performed" from the confines of a little room off the side of the stage, reading lyrics off sheets of paper he'd brought with him in a large plastic bag. Periodically he'd emerge onto the stage and fuck with Julia's keyboard, and those of the other band members, and there was a point when I thought one of them was going to lay into him. I was convinced this was the end, and when news of his arrest broke, it seemed to confirm my worst fears. But then, like a phoenix (bonkers in)... #683681 by the_word_yes at 2005-09-27 15:55:53 GMT i was at this show and it was my first time seeing them.  not knowing a hell of a lot about the band at the time, i thought that this type of thing might be a regular occurance. they were playing two nights, i had tickets to the next night, also.  the thing that really bothered me was that i met a really cool girl and instead of exchanging numbers, we just agreed to meet the next night..... which was cancelled. i didn't know that this show was so talked about until now. ————————————————————————————— https://thefall.org/gigography/gig98.html Tuesday, 7 April 1998 Brownies, New York City, New York Spencer Must Die / Masquerade / Pearl City / Everybody But Myself / Hip Priest / Free Range / Levitate (instr.) / Lie Dream of a Casino Soul / Behind the Counter / He Pep / Powderkeg (Mark and Julia only after Steve, Karl and Tommy walk off) Last Fall gig for Steve Hanley (after 19 years' service), Karl Burns and Tommy Crooks. Reviews on the Fall news (scroll down). - "Good evening, we are The Fall. From your (jam rag) fucking MES fucking straight!" (during "Spencer Must Die") - "Your fat cheeks assimilate. They turn the crowd and this line of fat asses are (...)." (amended lyrics to "Spencer Must Die") - MES: "Right, we just have to take 10 minutes out while the old English boys have a little discussion about what the DAT's gonna be or if the DAT's gonna be on or not." 'Masquerade' sample: "This is new... fresh... fresh out of the womb." MES: "And if it's not, they're gonna beat me up like the big men they are." (before "Masquerade") - Audience member with mic: "British people in hot weather!" (before "Everybody But Myself") - "I've got a cassette in the bag of this (...) but I'm (...) at carrying spastics around." (amended lyrics to "Hip Priest") - Tommy: "Anybody got a spare guitar?" (before "Free Range") - Audience member with mic: "Come on! Fucking play, you stupid shit! This is a fucking gimmick! Fucking play! Fucking play, you fucking stupid shit! This is a gimmick! Are you in The Fall? Are you a gimmick? Fucking play! Fucking play! Don't be a stupid shit! Fucking play! Don't be a stupid shit! (...)! Play! Don't give me this stupid shit! Fucking play! No gimmick, man! Get behind the fucking drums and play, you..." Karl: "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" (during the chaos that is "Free Range") - "And I suppose this just goes to show the lie dream of the shithouse late-thirties cowards who enveloped the wrath (...) envelope of casino soul." (amended lyrics to "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul") - "They are back! The four fucking mid-thirties fucking (...)!" (more amended lyrics to "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul") - "Can they manage it?" [song ends] "Well done, lads! They ended the song at the right time!" [band starts "Inch"] "Hello, my dead New Yorkers! (...). Scottish, Irish, Italian and fucking Canadian. What a lovely fucking group! Get the fucking song going, you fucking cunts!" [band starts "Behind The Counter"] "Can yer manage it? They have to stand together!" (from "Lie Dream of a Casino Soul" into "Behind the Counter") - "They're so fat, they can't get them on the stage." (amended lyrics to "Behind the Counter") - "Pep!" (before "He Pep") - "You'd better listen to me! 'Words are the greatest expression of your soul', as the New York Times said yesterday. This is (...). All in collaboration with musicians. I'll tell yer, this town is a powder keg. You'd better listen. You'd better listen to me. You'd better listen, 'cos the town is a powder keg. Radio head, radioactive force. I had a dream. One, two, three. Radio head active. Where buck grunts had a program on the late TV. And then, there was three people who had to turn up, and then there was buck grunts. Three comedians. And then the owner of the Brownies club was real glad to see (...) three comedians turning up. But he didn't realise that the town is a powder keg. There was three comedians, there was buck grunts, the other one was somebody else, somebody else, and the next one in combination. And the owner of the Brownies club just hoped it made three figures. See you." [drops microphone] ("Powderkeg") ------------------ Wednesday, 8 April 1998 Brownies, New York City, New York - cancelled Gig cancelled due to Mark's arrest at around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, at the band's hotel in Gramercy Park. He was held in jail until Friday due to a mixup with the forms and the posting of the $1000 bail, and appeared in court on third degree assault and harrassment charges on Monday, 14 April. He was ordered to undergo an alcohol treatment program and anger management counselling. ————————————————————————————— https://thefall.org/news/980410.html Brownies NYC -------------- From: Peter Messiaen Subject: Brownies disaster *******The Fall @ BROWNIES / April 7, 1998******** The evening began with Brent Colyer, Ryan O'Connor and I getting together for a drink at the International (as usual....). That was pleasant enough. We discussed (what else........) the Fall. Albums past and present. Shows past and present etc... We headed over to Brownies just in time to see the opening band (The Chrome Cranks) play two last songs and then we waited for the Fall to make an entrance. Which wasn't long in coming actually....... Brownies was packed with people and if you can believe it this show was 10 times worse then Philadelphia. The "set" ( I use that term very loosely) didn't contain anything new. I guess it was something like: Spencer, Masq., Pearl City, Hip priest, He Pep, Lie Dream (Which was actually decent) and Powder keg. MES handed me the Mic during Pearl City and Brent and Ryan and I took turns singing that song and Hip Priest. Which was a great and a lot of fun, but I would trade it all in if things did not turn out as they did..... ----After much antagonizing from Mark, Karl jumped out from behind his kit and nearly strangled Mark. In the process completely knocking over HAnley's Bass rig. He kept saying "I'll kill you.... you bloody cunt!!" to Mark. ----A short while later after similiar harrassment from Mark, Tommy kicked MArk in the ass really hard about half a dozen times. Mark repeating over and over how Tommy was "a dead man". -----Mark proclaimed in a whinging and ephemeral manner (to the audience) that he had been "assaulted by a dumb as a goat" scotsman and that we were all witnesses. -----The band quit the stage after six songs leaving Mark to do Powder Keg with only Julia accompanying him. ------------ From: Kard2000 Subject: Re: Brownies disaster not much to add since the events have already been described: also in yet antother disaster, MES flicked cigarrette ashes over at Tommy, and then threw the lit ciggarette at him, also knocked over a mic stand that him Tommy in the head. Hanley's amp got knocked over in the melee with Burns, had to plug in through the same amp with Tommy, Band also ran through levitate sans smith. ------------- From: Peter Messiaen Subject: RE: Brownies disaster Within two minutes of getting on stage, with Spencer playing, MArk decides to smack Karl's cymbal to the floor and fuck up his drum mics. KArl stopped playing and patiently readjusted his equipment a look of perplexion and anger on his face. Resumes playing. Two songs later or so MArk attempts the same thing and that's when Karl snapped... jumped out from behind the drums and grabbed Mark's head which he looked like he was completely capable of crushing if he felt like and screamed at him ....... Hanley, protective as always, pushes KArl away and gets between the two..........thereby saving MArk's life I think most of the crowd was shocked....there were a few assholes who thought it was all a big joke.......... I guess at a certain point after the KArll incident....after the Tommy incident....I forget what exactly was being played, MES tried to make everyone smile or ingratiate himself back into the bands good graces and the band seemed to respond a little bit .....but then he went right back into asshole mode and flicked a cigarette, which I gave to MArk in the hopes of placating him and it did for a while, at Tommy and everything went crazy again. Hanley looked embarrassed, but determined to get through the show. After the band left the stage........and MArk was performing POwderkeg....(Approriate......) w/Julia... he made some remarks about how he was waiting for the other three to show up.........and then he sang something about his "Dear ...dear New Yorkers" . HE seemed halfway sorry ............then he started singing something like "YOu better listen!!!! You better listen ....the owner of Brownies is not going to like this and I hope he still comes across with at least 4 figures". Which was funny......tragic but funny. ------------ From: David Auerbach Subject: Brownies last night redux I figured out what Mark was on about right after the altercation. Some heckler yells at Karl to "fuckin play" over and over again. Crowd tries to shout him down, but he keeps going for a while. Then Mark speaks, something like this: "That guy is a scottish man, a fucking ____ on drugs and a fucking idiot. I been assaulted in public here by 2 people or 3 people, you be witness to it. Bear witness, laddies. They're very big. I tell you what, these three, I got a taxi (?), some fucker pulled a gun out on me, some fucking Pakistani or someone. These three were fuckin cowering in the fuckin dressing room.../as usual/...they're nowhere to be seen. They're very hard...all together." (during the last half, Hanley's doing the sad fiddle routine with his bass, put it up on his shoulder and moving his arm across it while mocking MES with a "pity-poor-me" look. the only real comic relief of the evening.) Then there's me on the tape, saying "Oh god..." a couple times. The thing was definitely testament to Hanley's endless good will...couldn't believe he went back to playing the Free Range bassline after stopping the fight, all by himself, and during Levitate really tried to get things going (he was even smiling!). He also gestured pretty vehemently to Tommy to LET IT GO when Mark was taunting Tommy (who showed remarkable restraint in not just leaving). Julia was also amazingly unshakeable, even when the fight was about two feet away from her. after it all, after the band had left in relative harmony, Tommy came back and snapped pix of the audience- Oh, and they played the original (pretty irritating) version of I'm a Mummy over the PA after the show. ------------ From: Kard2000 Subject: Brownie's set list They managed to get through eleven songs roughly: Spencer Masquerade Pearl City Everybody But Myself Hip Priest (maybe they shouldnt do this one, this seems to be where the disasters start) Free Range Levitate (intrumental) Lie Dream Behind the Counter He Pep Powderkeg also towards the end Mark started to strap on Hanley's bass but then tossed it over the drum kit. --------------- From: Michael J. Pinto I saw the Fall play twice in New York City recently. The first time was the second night at Coney Island High, and the next time was about a week later on their first night at Brownies. For the Coney Island High performance they didn't go on until about 1am. The place was packed with about 200 people in a small basement. The audience was a mix of young kids and much older fans here and there. The guy next to me proudly announced he was in his forties. By the time the Fall played at Coney Island the audience was pretty impatient, and even started yelling "we have to get up for work tomorrow!" Of course before Bush Tetris the audience had to sit through two really bad bands. But the Fall came on and played a really good set. I didn't see the black eye on MES that I later read about. The band played really tight and was a good contrast to the rough voice of MES. Mark looked tired, but not too out of it and was quite sharp on stage. He would keep singing by going from one microphone to another. He would toss the un-used mic to the ground when he was done. They played for about an hour and it was worth the wait, even if they didn't play anything we had heard before. The only note of tension in the band was when MES put his hand on a guitar to indicate that a specific set was to wind down, but aside from that things seemed fine. Next Tuesday I went to Brownies, which is a much smaller club. At the most Brownies can hold 100 people. The tour most have done well because they were sold out of copies of their new CD. I was surprised that the Fall went on rather early, about midnight and with little waiting. At first everything seemed great, their performance was even better than Coney Island for their first song. But then everything started to go downhill quickly. MES started doing things which were ticking off the band members like walking all over stage and turning his back to the audience and then sitting down to sing. MES looked quite tired and somewhat out of it. Soon MES did something that triggered an argument with the drummer of the band who stormed off stage.The rest of the band keept playing while the audience shouted "this is New York, get back on stage you @#$%#!" A few minutes later I was shocked that the drummer came back. The show was on again, but quickly falling apart. At one point MES flicked his cigarette at the guitar player (who was quite professional and keept playing). A song or so later the band walked off the stage, leaving Mark and the keyboardist. MES was trying to sing with the keys in freeform, but it wasn't working too well. Earlier he mentioned something about being upset with the three guys in the band because he was held up at gunpoint and they were "just cowering in the corner." He went on about the owner of Brownies "expecting a three figure sum." Seeing the band wasn't coming on MES and the keyboardist walked off stage. The entire performance lasted about 30 to 45 minutes and was quite sad. During the fight on stage an amp was damaged, and those who stayed got to see MES and the keyboardist arguing with the previous band on stage. I felt kind of sorry for MES being stuck at these small venues. While the rest of the band looks like they take care of themselves, MES seemed very worn out. The main difference between this tour and when I first saw the Fall around 1990 is that MES seems to have gone from being pissed off to bitter at the world. Michael Pinto New York City April 13th, 1998 ————————————————————————————— https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/thefall/brownies-1998-t11076.html (lots there, excerpts below) user anonyarena in 2004: The Fall had a fistfight onstage. MES kept harrassing the band. He wrapped his mike cord around Tommy's guitar neck and YANKED. He kept turning off Tommy's amp. He flicked a cigerette ask in Tommy's face. Then he threw all of Karl Burns drumsticks on the floor, and in a single bound, Karl leaped over the drum kit and threw MES against the wall. Mark said "why don't you get back behind the drum kit and BE the drummer?" Karl shot back, why don't your be the fucking singer?, yeah I know" and Karl made a drinking motion to indicate Mark was drunk. Steve Hanley attempted to intervene but no one wanted to pay attention to him at all. It was as if he was the invisible man. Then Mark E. Smith said "I'm being physically assaulted on this stage right? But when a Pakistani cab driver pulled a fucking GUN on me, those two were cowering in the dressing room, as usual!" Then Mark pointed to each member of the band and indicated their nationalities. "Scottish, Irish, Italian, and fucking Canadian! What a lovley fucking crew!" The whole gig just went ape. It exploded and flew apart at the seams, and then half the band quit, including Steve who'd been with them since 1979 and Karl who'd been with then on & off since 1977. It was all rather bizarre. Some kid who'd never seen the Fall turned to me and said "That was the scariest thing I ever saw. Now I know who I want to go as for Halloween." And I replied, "You mean Mark E. Smith? You don't understand...he's not usually like this." And he said to me "Oh that's too bad. I feel like I finally saw my first real punk band! That was the greatest show I ever saw in my life." If Conway has a video, it might be the one shot by the cameraman for the television program TV KILL who was right at the foot of the stage and who showed excerpts of the gig on the program. I didn't see another video cameraman there. But the TV KILL episode in no way captured the tension that was present in that room at the time. The program only showed brief excerpts of the gig. and another post from anonyarena in 2006: My commants in red BROWNIES The Fall Live @ Brownie's : 1998 Courtesy of: WFMU's Beware of The Blog If I were a disgraced memoirist I could describe this rock-historical moment in anguished detail, but I really don't remember much. Mark E. Smith and band came out and started playing. They sounded pretty good, very Fall-ish, all tighten-up and oratorical snarl. accurate thus far Next thing I know there's some kind of scuffle up there and Mark is kicking the bassist and the bassist is not smirking in the way bassists smirk when a front man kicks him in jest. Not remembered as I witnessed it. Mark flicked a cig ash in guiatrist Tommy's face, then wrapped his mike cord around the neck of Tommy's guitar and YANKED. It was Tommy who kicked at Mark, as both his hands were occupied with his instrument at the time. There is this hateful jagged feeling the room. No. Onstage, maybe, but not in the crowd. The audience merely gawked as the stunned are apt to do. The crowd is pressing in. Or maybe pressing out. neither, as I recall. Then some of the band walks off. During Free Range, Mark messed with Karl's drumsticks and Karl leaped over his kit like a gazelle and threw Mark against the wall. Steve tried to calm Karl down. Tommy, Karl, and Steve continued playing for a while after that, but at the end, Tommy, Karl, and Steve walked off and left Mark & Julia on stage alone. They kept on for a while, maybe waiting for the guys to come back, but they never did. Then Mark E. Smith stumbles off into the abyss, or at least an alley behind Brownies. Then it's all over. But it didn't feel real. It was like when this kid at a party in high school blew his finger off with an M-80. He showed me the bloody stump and he was laughing and then I started laughing. Er...um...well I also remember laughing at the outrageousness of it all, but it was not quite that...grumesome. and again from anonyarena in 2007: The "fucking animal on drums" bit was becausse Karl Burns pushed Mark into a wall, after Mark dumped all of Karl's spare drumsticks on the floor for no apparent reason. Mark said something like "Why don't get back behind the drums and be the drummer?" Karl shot back, "Well, why don't you be the fucking singer? Yeah I know why." Then Karl made beer-drinking motions with his hand, in a manner that displayed he was weary of the whole thing, and utterly disgusted. As I remember it, Mark then pointed to each and every member of the band and said; "Scottish, Irish, Italian, and fucking Canadian! What a lovley fucking crew!" He also said something like this: "Bear witness, laddies! I'm being physically assaulted on this stage, right? But when a fucking Pakistani cab drive pulled a GUN on me, those two were cowering in the corner, as usual!" When they performed Lie Dream Of Casino Soul, Mark pointed to the guitarists' HEAD when he sang the line "clothes-dummies." At another point he flicked ashes in the guitarist's face, and wrapped his mike cord around the neck of the guitar and YANKED as hard as he could. That's when the guitarist tried to side-kick him. He said a lot of crazy things to us that night. I can't say it wasn't entertaining. We all laughed about it at the time, because it was just that preposterous. Some kid came up to me and said "I've never seen them before and now I feel like I've finally seen my first real punk band. I wan't to dress up as Mark E. Smith for halloween!" The kid asked me if they were "always like this," but when I said, 'no' the kid was DISAPPOINTED! If you've never seen a band transform into a bar-brawl on stage before before, try to imagine that happening, and you'll sort of know what it was like to be there. To be honest, I myself prefer them to put on a good show, rather than a notorious one. But I cannot deny there's a sense of morbid fascination. ————————————————————————————— More commentary via a radio show here: https://hiptran.typepad.com/blog/2008/04/mark-e-smith-ra.html ————————————————————————————— And via Dangerous Minds: https://dangerousminds.net/comments/watch_the_fall_break_up_into_a_million_shards_live_at_brownies_in_nyc_1998