The Fall. Brudenell Social Club, Leeds. 28th November 2014.

“What god damn festival is this!”
 
I've always been told the Brudenell was the classic Fall venue but I've never actually been to the place myself to see exactly what all the fuss is about. The Fall never play anything but brilliant shows there, so after missing out of a ticket because of dithering on what to do, I was kindly offered one by Phil Hardy who would also turn out to be useful in putting me up for the night. I got into a dull and rainy Leeds early and was picked up and taken to the club to find the tickets. I was half hoping we could sneak in and tape the sound check, but considering the band were still 3 hours away on the M1, we went to get fish and chips instead.
 
We arrived back a few hours later and the place was already busy. No one wanted to risk the local pubs. There was a large converted hippy bus in the car park selling just pizzas. The pizzas must have been really big to require such a large mobile catering vehicle. Security at the club looked tight as well and a 70 year old bloke dressed up like a smart bus driver scanned my ticket like it was a dodgy £50 note. He applied the hand stamp with as much vigour as a steer being branded by a cowboy. I knew there wouldn’t be any trouble tonight with this bloke on duty. Maybe he drove the pizza bus? Once inside I found a large selection of local Yorkshire ales available so I bought a can of Red Stripe. I couldn’t risk getting ill this far from home.
 
The support band was a busker.
 
The Fall came on at 10, as they often do. I kind of knew this was going to be one of those special shows as the previous night had been great. I got a nice comfortable viewing position in front of Pete G, away from any drunk chattering women and on the safe side of any mosh pit monkey business. Perfect spot to savour every moment. Strangely though the mosh was pretty relaxed to start with. I really thought these rough tough northerners would have been givin it large, however, and even more bizarrely the real fun didn’t start until Cowboy George. Maybe everyone was too engrossed in the wave of noise being orchestrated by MES, or maybe those enormous pizzas were slowing them down a bit.  As I said in the London 'report' from the previous night, there's no need to pick out highlights. It’s one big highlight. Whether through accident or design the set runs seamlessly as though it was constructed as an album. However I doubt No Xmas For JQ was planned until MES spotted he wasn’t playing again until January; probably during the encore break.
 
This is generally considered to be the best Fall gig of 2014.

You can make your own mind up.

Hanleyfender XX Happy Christmas XX

Intro
Amorator
Mister Rode
Gone to Venice
Remainderer
BAM
Dedication
Cock In My Pocket
Hittite Man –
Jungle
Cowboy George
Facebook Troll
2014
Off stage
Wolf Kidult Man
No Xmas for John Quays
Outro

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 this time to the left of the stage right in front of Pete G.