The Fall. Lower Kersal Social Club, Salford. 27th September 2014.

“I wrote this song in the year 2039”.

I've never been to Salford. I've been to Prestwich, but not Salford. Unlikely I would go there unless I was seeing The Fall of course, but you do really get the feeling that this is home turf for MES. Geographically only a couple of miles from the centre of Manchester, but with a fierce, almost anti Manchester identity all of its own, Salford exudes a strange Fall feel. The Lower Kersall Social Club is straight out of Phoenix Nights, with glitter ball, and 'Dave's mobile disco'. The place is split into two large rooms each with its own interlinked bar. The main club area was busy with locals singing to the karaoke, clearly curious why 'foreigners' had invaded their close knit circle of Saturday night drinkers. I liked the locals bar area. The sort of place where you have to keep your wits about you. Where you end up playing pool without knowing the rules, and get a bocking when walking in front of the karaoke screen on the way to the bog. I tried to explain about The Fall and the fact the MES probably shops in the same Tesco's at them, however, they seemed totally unfazed until I said he had supported U2. I was struggling to be honest.
 
So onto the actual show. For a start it was very loud. There was a low stage and the stack was right in from of it, not to the sides as usual. I found it pretty painful but just eased around closer to the stage. I love the Venice intro song, and then I think the set moved along at a pretty standard pace until Get Off The Phone kicked it all into overdrive. We had a stage dancer doing exotic moves while this was on. Elana gave a few evil glances but MES continued like she wasn’t there. Great song this. Then we start to warm up again for the big finale of 2014, Dedication and Rode. Juggernauts the lot of em. Bish bash bosh.  Getting these 3 songs in the same set kind of makes Blindness a bit redundant. Weather Report started as the encore but MES seems to lose interest from back stage where he had dragged the mike. Psykick Dancehall was just what the crowd deserved I think. Big oldskool closing number.
 
The 'Fall are on top form' phrase can be overused at times, but not at the moment.  These are happy days for Fall live fans. 
 
Which should start alarm bells ringing immediately.
 
 Intro
Venice
Remainderer
Cowboy George
Bury
2014
Wold Kidult man
Get Off The Phone
Hitte Man
White Lightning
Mister Rode
Dedication
Off stage
Weather report (aborted)
Psykick Dancehall
Outro

Hanleyfender XX
Linage = Sound Professionals-CMC-8 microphones mounted on Dalek hat #3 - Sound Professionsal-SPSB-10 battery box - Edirol R09 24 bit – Audacity (down to 16bit) - Wav Editor. Recorded on the left in front of Pete. The stack was fucking up my ears.