The Fall Assembly Rooms, Worthing 8th October 1996 LINEAGE Audience recording -> CD (? generation) -> Exact Audio Copy -> Cool Edit Pro 2.1 -> CD Wave -> FLAC Front End level 6 SETLIST 01 Intro - Ten Houses of Eve DAT (3.01) 02 He Pep ! (3.04) 03 M5 (4.12) 04 Spinetrak (3.49) 05 Oleano (5.55) 06 problems with PA - MES explanation (1.25) 07 Mr Pharmacist (2.12) 08 Das Vulture Ans Ein Nutter-Wain (4.32) 09 MES leaning on the keyboard symphony (0.31) 10 The Mixer (take 1) (5.19) 11 Crowd unrest (0.42) 12 The Mixer (take 2) (4.07) 13 edited break (1.20) 14 Behind The Counter/MES collapse (4.26) Total running time : 44.40 PERSONNEL Mark E Smith - vocals, accidental keyboards Julia Nagle - guitar, keys Steve Hanley - bass Simon Wolstencroft - drums Additional info, from clayts' original post: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Hanley is on record as saying this is the worst Fall gig ever, and I think after you hear this (not too brilliant audio recording), you'll no doubt agree. The late September/early October 96 tour started off reasonably enough, although there were snafus on the way (3 takes of Birthday at Norwich, for example). The Fall clearly had a sadistic booking agent, forcing the band to decamp from leafy Gloucestershire (Cheltenham 4 Oct, where it is alleged Mark sacked the band [b]during[/b] the performance !) to the wilds of Scotland (Motherwell 5 Oct 96 - playing to one man and his dog, replete with soundcheck bust-up with the ex-missus, Brix, resulting in her withdrawing her labour) and then back down to Sussex to play a Worthing Council sponsored gig in a venue the size of the Royal Albert Hall. The stresses and strains of this excessive travel, courtesy of an over-zealous and probably sadistic booking agent, coupled with poor health took its toll on Mark and it all came to a very undignified and horrendous, cringe-inducing head which really [b]is[/b] the worst gig ever performed by the band. With no main guitarist, Julia was forced into an emergency role as lead but unfortunately her plucking skills were no where close to that of the still absent Brix (who, to her credit, did play the final gig of the tour in London on 11th October - miraculous as it may seem that performance was a very credible and enjoyable gig). Give her some kudos, mind - Julia has a bloody good try at it. The sound is truly woeful, courtesy of a shoddy PA, alluded to by Mark ahead of Pharmacist. Having said that, Mark's vocal delivery is best described as 'slur-ry' (cough !). The constant 5 yr old playing keyboard noises throughout the gig was not, as one might imagine, the normal random prodding of keys still done to this day by Mark, but actually his arse on the keys as he tried to keep his balance, as he was a little bit, er, giddy. To give him his credit, he tries very hard, and indeed his delivery is reasonable on the first few numbers. It does however gradually deteriorate into a farce. A cast of thousands (well, the fans at the front of the crowd) chip in with random vocals on a fair few numbers (He Pep, Oleano the notable ones), comical because of the interchange of mics from Mark to the audience, to security, to Mark, to the audience, etc, etc... The gig really assumes the shape of a pear during the first run out of Mixer. Mark's arse-playing intro completely drowns Julia's normal intro, and then it is alleged he disappeared off stage to get a caffeine boost, aided and abetted by his musicians, but soiled his shirt in doing so (come on, we've all had the 'missed the mouth completely' drinking problem !). He returns onstage, [i]sans[/i] shirt, but with Julia's anorak on, and asks the band to perform The Mixer again, this time with him delivering a Tourette's-induced lyrical interpretation of the song. The reaction of the crowd is, in retrospect, highly amusing - cries of 'I want my money back - I'm on the dole you know' and frequest shouts of 'bullshit - this is bullshit' from a couple of ethereal voices make it loud and clear onto the recording, coupled with incredulity at Mark staggering back on stage wearing a girl's jacket (the big jessie). After Mixer take 2, the band disappeared off stage for about 10 minutes. Perhaps the saddest song is the last one - Mark's delivery is truly screwed up on Behind The Counter, the caffeine injection clearly not having the desired effect. He gamely tries to keep up with the music, but fails miserably at the last hurdle. The sound of the microphone dropping after his last line was accompanied by the great man collapsing in a heap on stage, and you hear Hanley's bass disappear from the mix, and eventually Funky Si's percussive onslaught whimper out to nothing, as both he and Steve assisted the truly zonked Mark off the stage. Julia winds the gig up with an improv stab of the keys and then it's all over. Worthing Council were truly horrified and refunded everyone who attended (bonus - get to see a horror show, and get paid for it too !). The management company noted (and this still makes me laugh heartily) : "We've never come across anything like this before and we've dealt with everyone from Motorhead to Julia Iglesias". The Fall are ROCK and don't you forget it.