The Fall - 27 September 2002, Oxford Zodiac, UK

Line Up:
Mark E. Smith (vocals),
Elenor Poulou (keyboards),
Ben Pritchard (guitar),
Jim Watts (bass)
Dave Milner (drums)

Lineage:
MD Master>Wavelab>Flac
Audience recording by Neil M

01 Mansion
02 Two Librans
03 And Therein
04 Cyber Insect
05 Mere Pseud Mag Ed
06 Kick the Can - F 'oldin Money
07 Touch Sensitive
08 Bourgeois Town
09 Mr Pharmacist
10 Enigramatic Dream - Ketamine Sun
11 Ghost in my House
12 The Classical
13 White Lightning
14 Dr Buck's Letter

15 Big New Prinz (encore - unrecorded*)
* somebody gleefully grabbed my minidisc recorder and launched it into the mosh just as Big New Prinz wa kicking in. Later recovered, though it never worked again, managed to salvage this recording of the main set.

Reviews from Fall News:

Mick:

    Same set list as Nottingham except with the addition of Ketamin Sun (merging from Enigrammatic Dream), Ghost in my house, and one encore, Big Priest. Band played as a four piece apart from three songs when the keyboardist came on.

    Support band were Nought who for once weren't bad, playing instrumentals (including a guitar with a power drill) and kept the audience's interest throughout.

    As for the Fall - awesome. Not one walk off by MES who seemed to enjoy the gig and at one very short stage, even interacted with the crowd! Cracking set, great venue and it was absolutely packed and despite the gig starting early, the crowd were up for it from the start. Apparently before the gig, MES wasn't happy about the on stage time and was moaning about e-headed ravers!

    Certainly worth a 200 mile round trip - but do the Fall know where Dorset is?

Tom:

    This is second hand, as I got the match report off James Sedwards who was supporting in the guise of Nought on Friday.

    Smith - fresh white shirt, black trousers with plumb-line creases, black boots (not wellies).

    Set List (from the actual set list hence spellings) MANSION / 2 LIBRANS / AND THEREIN / CYBER / PSEUD MAG ED / BENS > F'OLDIN > KICK / TOUCH / BOURJOIS / PHARMACIST / ENIGRAMATIC / KETAMINE / GHOST IN MY HOUSE / CLASSICAL / WHITE LIGHTENING (and also, but not on the set list) BIG NEW PRINZ

    Verdict: Absolutely fucking amazing apparently.

    Smith very focussed. Stayed on stage for the whole set. Lots of ferocious adamant hand movements, including, during 2 Librans, doing a sort of homeboy salute by holding up crossed forearms in front of the chest.

    Best stuff Pseud and Bourjois, James said, before going on to list each song postcripted by 'Yeah, and that was fucking great as well.'

Chris:

    Also Dr. Buck's and maybe one or two others.

    It was indeed fantastic, in a rockabilly fun kind of way. It was good to see young James leaning on the stage with a big grin on his face - he tends to look a bit serious during Nought gigs.

    Mansion has suddenly sprouted lyrics - well, I got 'Mansion' and 'Good evening we... ' but there were plenty more.

    During Mere Pseud Mag Ed I suddenly felt myself propelled to the front - I was... er... dancing at a Fall gig. First time ever that I can recall. Quite remarkable.

    I loved the crossed arms salute, also at the end of Touch Sensitive when Smith popped up like a little grinning imp for a couple more TS's.

    A few too many covers but who cares? Five years back at the Zodiac I heard Lie Dream for the first time - this time MPME and The Classical. What will it be in 2007?

Niall:

    I came to see the Fall here a couple of years ago, it's a small cosy venue, lots of students about (freshers week so I'm reminded subsequently).

    Terrible HM/Pog Rock support band on beforehand but fortunately I came in only to catch their tail end. The Fall came on not long after 9ish, preceded by a long muddy spoken tape, references to soccer and Jimmy Armfield (I think?). Looks like the setlist broadly mirrors Nottingham (not necessarily all in order):

    Mansion / 2 Librans / Cyber Insekt / And Therein / Mere Pseud Mag Ed / Kick The Can>F-oldin Money>Kick The Can / White Lightening / Bourgeois Town / Mr Pharmacist / Dr Bucks Letter / Ghost In My House / Touch Sensitive / Ketamine Sun (preceded by a poem) / The Classical / Big Prinz (only encore)

    Band looked sharp, not much messing about from MES either. I'd not seen Dave Milner before, but assume it was him on drums, bit stodgy... only cut loose on The Classical really. Sound was generally OK, although I missed any off-hand quips. MES seemed to be enjoying himself, rest of the band very efficient, joined by an extremely fit looking female playing hastily constructed keyboards for The Classical and Big Prinz. It was good fun hearing The Classical and MPME again - and I think the last time I heard Big Prinz played was the farce at Reading Festival a few years back. The 'renditions' of the old stuff were faithful enough although (a bit like with The Joke). Ben has introduced his own touch to the guitar on The Classical, not bad at all. All in all, a good night out, but could do with some new songs now!

There's some photos here:
http://www.visi.com/fall/news/pics/02sep27_photos.html