- Chino
- Pacifying Joint
- Wings
- Fall Sound
- 50 Year-Old Man
- I’ve Been Duped
- Wolf Kidult Man
- Can Can Summer
- Tommy Shooter
- Carry Bag Man
- No Xmas For John Quays
- White Lightning
- Reformation!
- Blindness
NOTES
85 minutes
An average audience recording , quite a bit of subliminal audience chatter going on
Final performances of Pacifying Joint and Tommy Shooter
REVIEW
Mike Battman:
“The Picturedome, Holmfirth is proud to present for their last UK engagement, The Fall.”
A strange place, Holmfirth, famous for its Nora Batty connections, nestling sort of mid-way between Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Huddersfield; but near none of them and on a freezing November evening I did not relish the journey. But I am damn glad I made it.
The venue is like a 1920s cinema, in fact it probably is one; in need of much TLC; how they get away with the scaffolded balcony never ceases to amaze me. There are seats on the ground floor, although I think there were more last year; they seemed to have removed them from one side.
I’m sure there was a scam going on for people without tickets who paid on the night. I approached the theatre at about 8:15; I said I wanted a ticket, but was going to go to the pub before entering. They seemed to be only accepting cash, so I handed my £18 over and asked about my ticket or pass out. I was directed to the heavies on the door, one of whom gave me a ticket stub, I looked at it expecting it to be relating to tonight’s gig. It said “The Jamm”, from sometime in September this year. I suspect the door and ticket crew saw more of my money that Mark or Alan Wise.
After briefly meeting both Ed Blaney and Simpo in the pub, plus many Fall fans some I knew, some I didn’t, it was time to brave the Holmfirth traffic and weather and head the 200-yards to the venue. I walked in at about 9:50 as the excellent Safi was entering the stage, his usual entertaining set played with gusto despite the normal boorish calls of, “Get Off” and worse.
At about 10:10 the gruppe are seen descending the stairs above the balcony and entering the stage whilst Safi is still playing, guitars plugged in, drums re-arranged, handbag hung and we are into Chino Splashback. A couple of minutes later and Mark makes his way down the stairs to tumultuous applause from the now full audience. Pacifying Joint makes its first appearance since the first date of the tour in Liverpool; Wings and Fall Sound follow then a rather fine 50-Year Old Man.
Mark is in mischievous mood, smiling, messing with microphones at one stage all you could hear was bass drum; another time he unplugs Pete’s guitar and then sings to him, “I’ve lost your lead”; one-handed keyboard solos abound with Eleanor moving to the side to accommodate him.
A brief rest for Mark as Eleanor takes the lead on I’ve Been Duped; quickly followed by Wolf Kidult man and a very welcome return for Can Can Summer. The band are really on fire now and Mark decides to change the set-list order, going into Tommy Shooter, whilst singing, “Nicki, where are you?” Nicki was in the dressing room, not expecting to be on yet! He quickly descends the stairs and sings duet stylie with Mark.
An electric Carry Bag Man at full throttle is followed by Mark introducing a song from a long, long time ago; No Xmas For John Quays is played as well as it ever has been, far better than last year at Cricklewood. Then they are off.
A short break before a breakneck fast White Lightning and they are off again, Von Sudenfed is on the tannoy, it doesn’t look good; but Eleanor is soon back on, dancing to the VS beat. Reformation is the second encore, excellent. The Fall rarely play 3 encores, so when they go off again, most think it is over; but maybe Mark must have felt in festive mood, because back on again they came for a short (by recent standards) but universally welcomed version of Blindness.
80+ minutes if my reckoning is right, well worth the drive and an excellent way to end the year. I wonder if Simpo noticed Karl Burns at the bar?