1. Open the Boxoctosis
  2. Green Eyed Loco-Man
  3. Middle Mass
  4. Mountain Energei
  5. Telephone Thing
  6. Mere Pseud Mag Ed
  7. I Can Hear the Grass Grow
  8. Theme from Sparta F.C.
  9. Janet, Johnny & James
  10. Mr. Pharmacist
  11. Contraflow
  12. Mike’s Love Xexagon
  13. (We Are) Mod Mock Goth
  14. Big New Prinz
  15. I Am Damo Suzuki

NOTES

60 minutes

Steve Trafford’s first gig

Birmingham Evening Mail, April 5, 2004 

Shouting to the faithful

WELCOME to the wonderful and frightening world of The Fall.

Twenty five years after their first appearance in Birmingham, the shambolic genius of Mark E Smith showed why he has always been an unconventional frontman.

While in the past he has berated audiences with a megaphone and spouted lyrics from behind a lecturn, this time a broken hip forced him to stay seated some way from the front. A new fresh-faced Fall ground out a relentless stomping bass guitar as Mark alternated between microphones and spouted forth to the faithful.

Kick in the Box (sic) started the show before the band dredged through a lot of their newer stuff, while during one song Mark careered off his chair and collided with the drum kit. But it wasn’t the same as Mark prowling around the stage, and the band – probably the only musicians in Manchester who haven’t been sacked by him yet – looked a bit lost.

Meanwhile the keyboard player (Mark’s girlfriend, I think) couldn’t be heard above the din, making it seem a bit like Linda McCartney.

It was only with the older favourites that things really got going.

A choppy Telephone Thing with wah wah guitars and thundering Mr Pharmacist were lapped up by the fans who have followed The Fall through thick and thin.

The Birmingham Post, April 10, 2004 

Stooped behind a table, Mark E Smith was at his most marvellous and mischievous on his 25th anniversary return to Birmingham.

He may have been immobile, but a broken hip did not stop one of music’s great frontmen strutting his stuff – albeit from the back of the stage.

Smith said in these pages recently that he loves coming to Birmingham – and Birmingham will forever welcome him when he is on this form – especially as he offered us a fantastic rendition of The Move’s classic I Can Hear the Grass Grow. Cheers for the tribute Mark. Our local musical history might get a slating from most quarters but it is this sort of appreciation that really matters.

In support, John Cooper Clarke was at his most biting, delivering both poetry and comedy in a style that is purely his own.

Then The Fall. Open The Boxoctosis #2 – probably the stand-out track from the latest album – was a lively opener. Green Eyed Loco-Man followed, which, along with Theme From Sparta F.C., sounded as fresh as it did at Bilston’s The Robin Club in December.

After 25 years in the business, Smith proved that he has finely-tuned his own brand of sublime pandemonium.

Standing up or sitting down, The Fall are head and shoulders above the rest.