The Fall at the New Century Hall
Last Saturday I went to see The Fall at the New Century Hall in Manchester. Despite the recent line-up change during another turbulent tour of the states which resulted in every one but MES’s wife being sacked, they didn’t disappoint. I’m beginning to see a method in MES’s madness because the high staff turnover in the group keeps the band alive in a way lesser groups aren’t. Personally I would have liked to see the last line-up one last time because they do represent a productive and quality period in the groups more recent history and it remains to be seen how long these new kids MES picked up in the States will last. MES was on good form though the venue was a bit strange. It was essentially a large bingo hall, not a theatre exactly, but a place for entertainment and variety. This choice I’m sure reflects MES’s personal taste and his feelings about South Manchester venues in general. Bingo Masters Breakout would have worked well here. The unfamiliarity of the surrounding meant it didn’t feel like being in Manchester at all but this probably had more to do with the sweltering heat than anything else. The fall have also ditched the old and excellent ‘official fall website’http://www.visi.com/fall/ in favour of a new ‘official website’http://www.thefall.info/fallsite/ the old ‘official’ one now being the ‘unofficial fall website’. The reasoning has something to do with the band wanting more emphasis on the representation of how they are now. There are also rumours that the involvement of old band member in the now ‘unofficial fall website’ was not to MES’s liking.
I realise it’s been a while since I posted anything. There are reasons for this. Rumours that I’m addicted to Myspace are not true. Myspace is a bit limited in it’s appeal unless you want to throw yourself into it completely and have weird virtual relationships with people – I’m not sure I do. Another reason for me not being able to find the free time I used to is that the World Cup has kicked off and so far it’s been pretty marvellous. I’ve enjoyed pretty much every game apart form those involving England. And no I’m not glued to Big Brother either. It started out moderately interesting and quickly became unsalvageable and dreadful. What a witless charmless bunch of morons (apart form Nicky who is possibly a genius). Besides this a fair amount has happened of moderate interest and I’m not sure where to start. After a week characterised by a palpable sense of paralysis and featuring long periods of sitting in the garden observing our resident nesting robin (Robben in honour of the Dutch player) whose industriousness served only to highlight my own lethargy, I’ve managed to sort one or two things out and found a job. Well actually by some bizarre twist I’ve managed to return to my old job, I’m tempted to say even that I was head hunted. God bless the public sector. Despite my track record I’ve been welcomed back into the fold. Last weekend in particular ended very much on a high note though the 35 hour drudgery of the week just passed has quickly brought me back down to earth again.
Benicassim is all definitely happening now. Tickets have been bought and arrangements made. For a while I was getting a bit worried there. The new Futureheads album ‘News and Tributes’ is very good indeed, but I was anxious that on listening to it in years to come it would forever haunt me as reminder of the festival I never made it to. Thankfully this will not be the case and I’m pretty sure this is shaping up to be a memorable summer in many respects.