From http://thefall.org/news/04aug08.html#jul29 Thursday, July 29 - Rock Cafe, Stourbridge: Stuart: Pubic Fringe: great as ever, even given string-breaking mishaps. They did a couple of really nice almost surf-like instrumentals - if they're supporting The Fall outside the midlands you really ought to make the effort to get there early enough to see them. To be honest they're worth the price of admission on their own. The Fall: Line-up: Spencer, Ben, Jim, Steven Trafford, Eleanor, Ed Blaney (ushered off stage after two songs by MES) and MES. A curiously underwhelming night. A shame, as MES was really up for it, improvising lyrics here and there (a hugely long Mountain Energei was the highlight, with new stuff about credit cards and APR rates etc). Great version of Sparta, and new ones about Shipman, and a fabulous new disco-ey thing that went on for ever but was completely indecipherable. Contraflow was OK. There was a new Fall-a-billy number that I didn't recognise too. I never NEVER want to hear Mr. Pharmacist or White Lightning again at a Fall gig. Open The Box was a bit dull (no backing vox to speak of). Wrong Place Right Time was _dreadful_. Really dreadful. Spoilt Victorian Child wasn't much better, although amusingly MES announced it by saying "we are the Fall, from Manchester, from the Prince's Trust Music College". The weird thing was that there were 5 encores. The best of these was Dr. Buck's Letter, although they finished with a fun shambling version of Touch Sensitive which had MES muttering about "being written by an extra from the League of Gentlemen". Several encores were sung from the dressing room, with the security guys from the venue looking more and more anxious about what damage was being done to their precious cables. Other things: I think Trafford will turn out to be a really good Fall bass player if he stays long enough. There was no reason for Blaney to be on stage as he was completely inaudible (Mark later chucked his guitar up the side of the stage). Eleanor was turned up much louder than usual - audible keyboards again! Ben clearly functioning as band director in the way that Hanley used to - and doing a good job of it. I think this will be a great lineup once it has some more new material under its belt and has settled down a bit. It's just a bit under-cooked at the moment. Conway, you need to add Daren Garratt of Pubic Fringe as a "temporary band member" on the biography page - he was on stage doing extra backing vocals for Touch Sensitive. Dave T: Gig is taking place in a very small hangar (or very big garage) on an Industrial Estate (yeah yeah). Club is very friendly and appears to be run by bikers. One of them compliments me on my quiff and tells me that King Kurt will be playing at Christmas. Goody. He's 6ft 6 so I don't disagree. Pubic Fringe peddled their usual quality garage scuzz in a truncated set, though they still remind me of social workers on a day off. Invest in a couple of wah wah pedals and they'd really take off. Fallgruppe-well, what can I say? About my 25th+ gig and this was one of the best. A 90+ minute set and an unprecendented 5 encores. Sound dreadfully muddy to start with but gets better. MES in great form, really on it. Band pulverised the riffs of 'Childe', Bourgeois and Bucks into relentless submission. New bass player really looks the part. E. Blaney accompanies ineffectually on acoustic for 3 numbers then is shooed off. Great drumming by 'Bins' Birtwhistle too. MES came on with black glove on left hand. Who does he think he is - Alvin Stardust? Uncompetitive moshpit until Pharmacist livens things up, bass player from Pubic Fringe giving it some gip. Usual blend of hardcore, speccy tw*ts and curious locals. Never seen them do 5 encores before. Smith sings two offstage then comes back on again, he almost appeared to be enjoying themselves. Crowd certainly did. My first Fall gig was in 1982,but as the years pass the same questions assert themselves with ever greater authority. How has he retained his integrity when everyone else from that era has lost, or sold theirs, how does he keep going, continue fronting the band to end all bands, continue to be life affirming, thought provoking and relevant? In short-how on earth does he/they do it? And continue to do it? ================= From https://sites.google.com/site/reformationposttpm/gig-reviews/the-fall-live/2004/20040729---rock-cafe-stourbridge ‪20040729 - Rock Cafe, Stourbridge, England‬ Mark E. Smith   Elena Poulou  Ben Pritchard   Jim Watts   Steve Trafford  Spencer Birtwistle    What About Us?   Contraflow   All Clasp Hands   Open the Boxoctosis   Green Eyed Loco Man   Theme from Sparta F.C.  Mountain Energei  Mere Pseud Mag Ed   Mr Pharmacist  Blindness   Wrong Place, Right Time   White Lightning   Spoilt Victorian Child   Dr Bucks Letter     59m  Audience audio  Distant audience recording. Clear but a bit back of the roomy. Mark sounds like he is another room. Third gig of the new line-up with the returning Jim Watts and Spen Birtwistle. Definite muscular and rocky sound on this occasion. Ben released to do more lead work with Jim taking rhythm role and vice versa. Trafford is mostly inaudible. Most of the material is played straight with little variation. Very proggy in places and feels a little rushed - especially when Spen pushes the beat on "Sparta". Very little of note to report until later on in the gig with a quaint Sparkys Magic Piano keyboard patch on "Mountain" and an excellent scabrous early version of "Blindness" with extended verbal dexterity, feedback, long lunar notes, and funky guitar licks. There is also a completely untogether version of "Wrong/Right" where Mark is singing one thing and the band another. "Spoilt Victorian Child" is commenced before "White Lightning" and abandoned, and then started after and abandoned with some caustic comments from Mark and then taken at a very fast pace. "Dr Bucks" starts and stops as Spen appears to be playing another song (ie its too fast) - when it actually gets going it's a mammoth heavy rock tour de force recalling "Solid Gold" era Gang of Four. This is a competent gig however given the recording quality this is not essential unless you are a completist.  Martin Peters   Sep 5, 2009 This was, in fact, the debut performance of Blindness. It features some fairly radical lyrical differences from subsequently recorded versions. Martin Peters   Sep 4, 2009 A poster named Stuart is quoted on Fall News as saying that Daren Garratt of Pubic Fringe was on stage doing extra backing vocals for Touch Sensitive.