The fun of any Fall show, pre-set, is people watching. Fall fans are a curious bunch - committed and fervent in their love. Woe betide any band foolish enough to play prior to the entrance of Mark E Smith; Fall fans have little tolerance for you. Tonight, a VJ gets the brunt of the aggression, bravely performing through constant insult and cursing. One wonders whether Smith has put him up there deliberately to test the patience of the crowd and work up their expectations.
No would would deny that Smith has entered the ranks of the musically canonised - along with the likes of Morrissey, Paul Weller, Billy Bragg et al, he's one of those survivors who came out of Punk and survived the detritius of the 80s to deliver material of musical value in his mid years and some noteworthy records beyond that. He's maybe a few years short of being a bonafide British legend but his reputation precedes him and there's clearly many here tonight who are seeing The Fall for the first time, visibly excited to be in the presence of the the great miserable one.
When he comes onstage, Smith is what you'd expect - all geezeryish attire and swagger with ne'ery a word to the audience. Complimented by a Fall line-up operating at 110 percent, Smith barely stands still for a moment. The stage is his office - he wanders between amplifiers and musicians, shuffles through pockets for scraps of paper and twiddles knobs when he thinks the guitars are too quiet. He's as much the curator of The Fall as their frontman and I'm reminded of a similar experience watching Lou Reed tear through his re-interpretation of Metal Machine Music a few weeks back.
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Tonight, we get all but two of the tracks from Your Future Our Clutter, the current record Smith's here to push. The title track's a killer, sounding punchy, focused and tight. Amongst the other nuggets "I've been Duped" from 2008's Imperial Wax Solvent causes a near riot amongst the hardcore front rows and the title track from 2007's Reformation Post TLC sounds bigger and crunchier than ever before. A sole encore of "Theme from Sparta FC" tops things off nicely. There's little doubt that The Fall are operating at the top of their game right now.
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