The Fall on The Park Stage at the 2015 Glastonbury Festival, Sunday June 28th.

Recorded with a Zoom H2 in my top pocket, about 30 feet from the stage, dead centre. If you watch the beginning of the BBC coverage, you can see me taking up my position, for the only recording I made all weekend.

For those who know Glastonbury, I always camp over near The Pyramid Stage; a good mile’s hike over to The Park Stage, but so worth it every time (I also saw Mavis Staples and Jon Hopkins there). 

So we arrived at The Park, one of the loveliest parts of Glastonbury, and ordered a drink from one of the bars. We decided to go to the toilet before the band came on. “It’s ok,” I said, “they’re not due on for another ten minutes, so we’ve got at least a quarter of an hour, if not twenty minutes. Loads of time.” 

We strolled back into the field and were amazed to see Mark E. Smith wander out onto the stage a full seven minutes early! And without the band. What the hell was going on? 

“Shit!” I thought as I struggled to turn on the recording machine. I missed the very beginning of him talking, but I patched on the BBC recording of the first few words (up to “not used to the countryside”), so it’s ALL there. 

The BBC do a great job with Glastonbury, they really do, and I’m a huge fan of the corporation. But, sometimes the sound on TV is not quite up to it. Sometimes, it’s all a bit too compressed. Certainly, a lot of the atmosphere can go missing. I think you’ll find it’s all here in spades on this recording.

I was dead centre and there seemed to be a proper stereo mix coming through. Listen to this on headphones and you’ll see what I mean.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the band. After all, Glastonbury? The Fall? I wasn’t sure what kind of audience would show up. It wouldn’t be the usual Fall crowd of course. It was fairly mixed, like most crowds at Glastonbury, but they soon got very into it. By the end, they were mostly all having a great time. The band was absolutely on fire, which helped. There was even a mosh area….very unusual at The Park. Drinks were getting thrown about too, loads of it; something I’ve never seen at Glastonbury before. Behind me, the crowd was clearly impressed, if a little baffled. 

Halfway through the show, my niece arrived and started talking loudly about anything and everything. I wondered about telling her to keep quiet, but I thought I might end up with some comedy moments if I didn’t tell her I was recording. There were a few…..my favourite was when she turned to my son and said “Oh, god, it’s that bloody band you and your dad like and I hate, isn’t it?” There were a few sarcastic “Oooh, yeah, The Fall, woo-ooh” moments and I thought I would leave those in. Don’t be rude about her in your comments….she’s as entitled to her opinion as any of us, plus…..she’s my niece, so back off.

One other audience highlight for me was the bloke nearby shouting “Y’knobhead” after the first song. Brilliant.

1. My Door Is Never
2. Venice With The Girls
3. Dedication Not Medication
4. First One Today
5. Hittite Man
6. Junger Cloth
7. Dropout Boogie
8. Wolf Kidult Man
9. Pledge
10. Theme From Sparta F.C.
11. Auto Chip 14-16

Total Time: 54m 59s