1. Reformation
  2. Senior Twilight Stock Replacer
  3. Wings
  4. Wolf Kidult Man
  5. I’ve Been Duped
  6. Pacifying Joint
  7. My Door Is Never
  8. Fall Sound
  9. Strangetown
  10. Theme from Sparta FC
  11. Alton Towers
  12. Mr. Pharmacist
  13. What About Us
  14. Blindness
  15. White Lightning

NOTES

66 minutes

Two excellent audience recordings recordings are available. Stunning quality and for once you can hear Dave Spurr’s bass. Some minimal non-intrusive audience noise. There is not much to choose between the two versions although the “Consortium” version has slightly less bass presence and more audience noise, and is also net of the Sniper intro.

This is exquisite – from the slightly mutated “Reformation” onwards this a classic gig with Line-up #57 finding its feet in a major way. Smith is in stunning form – extremely clear and articulate – spitting out the words with some joyous venom. Elena and Pete create a mesh of intervening leads whilst Dave and Keiron lay a solid bedrock of rhythm. “Reformation” has subtly altered with new little twiddles of melody.

“Senior” has – at long last – an emerging lyrical form – still pretty sparse but getting there. Excellent new guitar line from Pete is subtle and catchy and Mark barks about his life being destroyed by a TV programme – there is some very muscular riffing here. An immense “Wings”, with Elena taking the introductory “day by day…” line, is near perfect with Mark getting the words down well – although it would appear to be 2017 given he has been living under Ardwick Bridge for 157 years…..it morphs into “Wolf Kidult” which is also developing a lyric at last, something around “wolf, adult, kid” with yelps and howls in lycanthropic fashion – genius.

“Duped” is altogether more raucous tonight with some seriously noisy guitar and shouty vocals – highly entertaining. “Joint” is a little more intense than usual – and all the better for that. “My door” features new guitar figures and penetrating synth sounds followed by eerie whammy bar activity – a subtle reworking focusing around the slippery guitar and somehow more organic/vital in this reading. “Maria, aqua, Maria” apes the “Stingray” title tune has Mark remarks on the venues plumbing I assume as we leap into an amazing “Fall Sound”. “Strange Town” is a troubled mutated blues – Mark quotes from “Psykick Dancehall”. “Sparta” somehow more muscular tonight – is fast and furious.

A new track “Alton Towers” features a riveting bass riff from Dave Spurr and funky chords from Pete. Reminds somewhat the pastoral numbers of the past as Mark narrates a tale of “San Rocco” (an Italian restaurant in Central Manchester – which Mark describes as San Roccoco), “Rock Schools” and someone called “Judy” who is everyone’s friend. Typically Fall as it sounds nothing like the band but absolutely like them (if you see what I mean). Exceptional stuff.

The Pharmacist is dug up again after a long absence – a sort of grungy over the top version – the gig proper ends with a lengthy “hop hop hop” which is more Elena than anything else – a joyous rendition which has a fantastic audience participation at the end.

Encore One is another great reading of “Blindness” with a slightly more reedy synth sound than usual – bass dominated with great solid drumming from Keiron. Pete is restrained until 3 minutes in and then kicks in with a coruscating wall of unforgiving noise and it turns into a bubbling monstrous thing – he plays an odd constricted guitar noise at times – but generally, it is a fearsome thing. There is an extended unintelligible rant of some magnitude at the end.

It includes with a “twangy” version of “White Lightning” – the euro pop version appears to have been dropped.

An exceptional gig by any standards and proof positive that this the only band in the known universe worth listening to.