The Fall - Last Night At The Hammersmith Palais

Never-ending band in soon-toend venue

The Hammersmith Palais, punk hangout, metal haven, latterly home to the School Disco phenomenon, closed for business to no small outcry in April 2007. The Fall were booked in to play, in support of their 27th album, Reformation, before the final night was scheduled; and so a mixture of Fall obsessives and Palais diehards gathered to celebrate the two institutions on the first of said month.

Many fans consider the lineup that took the stage that night to be the best of recent times. Mark E Smith, backed more than ably by Elenor Poulou (keyboards), Tim Presley (guitar), Pete Greenway (roadie/fill-in guitar back then – now promoted to main guitar), Rob Barbato (bass), Dave “The Eagle” Spurr (bass) and Orpheo McCord (drums) both audibly and visibly romp through new tracks, but Fall fans are a hardy bunch. That said, Blindness stood out on the night, and still sounds enormous now.

When distinguishable, Smith’s ad-libs are priceless. At one point in We Are Sparta FC, he refers to Gary Lineker as the “man from Walkers”, while, after a protester clambers onstage at the end to bemoan the crowd’s indifference to the history closing around them, Smith returns with a cry of, “Thanks for letting us into your security area.” Sly and gobby.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Sanctuary | tbc

Reviewed by Jake Kennedy
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