Tim Almond

I went to see The Fall at The Zodiac on Thursday night.

I’ve been looking forward to it for a few weeks. The Fall are a great band and The Zodiac is a great venue. But I was disappointed.

I may not have been in the right mood for it. I’ve been redecorating a room at home, including a whole bunch of preparation, trips to Wickes and Homebase, picking out the "right yellow". As well as this, I’ve been doing a lot of good down the gym. It may have been that I was just physically worn out for going. The reviews on the Unofficial Fall website seem to disagree with me.

But there’s a few other things. First, we arrived late, thinking that we’d catch the band soon after arriving, only to find that they’d be on at about 10:30, and it’s now 9:00. There’s better drinking places on Cowley Road than the Zodiac bar. And the band that was playing was performing something that I’d describe as structured garage noodling instrumentals. My own drunken karaoke rendition of Born to Be Wild is a higher form of art.

The next band up were pretty good - a rapper called Faro who performed with a live band. Not sure that I’d go and buy it, but far more entertaining than most support acts that I’ve seen.

The final support act was a DJ/video/scratch piece of performance art that I’d normally expect to be up for a Turner Prize. Maybe interesting for 2 minutes, but after 10, tedious. Tedious to the point where I went to the bar and got another beer (I think I’m at pint 5 by this point). Only to realise that his video scratching thing merged in with The Fall coming on stage and performing.

It’s now 10:25. The Fall are on, and I’m at the bar paying for pint +1. I’m worn out and tired and clutching a beer in a plastic cup and it’s just not happening for me. The mixing sounds terrible with MES’ vocals way too low, the new material from Post Reformation TLC is unimaginative. There’s nothing of the greatness here.

I try to get into the encore of Blindness, moshing at the front, but I’m lacking energy and head for the bar for some peace. Not even Big New Prinz on a 2nd encore can get me back.

Either it just wasn’t right, or I’m just falling out with The Fall. I almost wonder whether it’s the veneration. The Fall have never had such good press, yet they’re making little more than vanilla Fall sound. Where were all the interviews when The Fall were making great albums like The Unutterable? There’s nothing on the last 2 albums that comes close to the genius of Dr Bucks Letter, Middle Mass, Paintwork or Leave the Capitol.

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Tags: The Fall, Gigs, Exercise //