Sunday, 28 September, 2014 – Salford Music Festival, Lower Kersal Social Club, Salford, England

1. Venice With The Girls
2. The Remainderer
3. Hot Cake
4. Cowboy George
5. Bury
6. Auto Chip 2014-2016
7. Quit iPhone
8. Hittite Man
9. Dedication, Not Medication
10. Mister Rode
11. Strychnine

NOTES

• 70:29
• Decent recording but MES a little low in the mix
• Final performance of Strychnine

REVIEW

Hanleyfender writes:

It felt a bit strange being in Salford on a Sunday night. The club bar seemed to contain the same clientele as the night before but the karaoke had been wheeled away into a cupboard. I was recognised from the night before and again made really welcome. I got there early and the place was sparse, but I was kindly  bought a couple of pints during the football. I returned the favour  before I headed towards the room where the support band were playing. As most of my new friends were ex ‘door staff’ from the Manchester club scene in the ‘good old days’, I thought that was probably a wise move to replace their drinks before I wondered off.       
 
The Fall were meant to be on early at 8pm, but as one of the support bands had blown up the PA earlier, this was delayed by about half an hour. A white transit van came screeching into the car park at the back of the club and a new system was unloaded in a hurry. Where they got it from at that time on a Sunday I’ll never know? Maybe Ed Blaney had one in his shed. But the plus side was that this replacement PA sounded a lot better than the previous night, and the recording supports this.   
 
This was the smallest Fall crowd I’ve seen. Maybe a couple of hundred at the most. Being a Sunday meant that only people staying overnight and locals could do it. 5 minutes before the band came on and the area in from of the stage was totally empty. It was like the first dance at a wedding reception when everyone waits for a drunk relative to start things off. But as the band arrive on stage it fills up quickly, and from then on it was pretty much business as usual. I think MES thrives on these sorts of occasions, especially as he would have had a Sunday lunch at home just up the road and could have walked down from his house in the late summer sunshine. He certainly looked in good shape, but clearly his voice had taken a hammering from the previous 3 nights, sounding pretty shot by the end of the set.
 
I think this was a stronger set that the Saturday. I was positioned almost touching Pete so the guitar is pretty much direct from his amp and not the PA. There is a lot of intricate guitar going on which I don’t always feel gets picked up on bootlegs. This sounds better than the Saturday, but if I’m being critical, MES isn’t that clear. Maybe because I wasn’t in front of the PA. There is also a little crowd chatter. Ironic due to there being much less crowd than usual, but of course it only takes one very drunk female to make her presence known. You may have read that there was an ugly incident after the gig what someone tried to storm backstage and confront MES? Well, guess who that was. Doesn’t spoil the recording at all tough. Also you will note that I have cut most of the encore break. This spoiled again by yet another female berating me for filming one of the songs. She was very Welsh. She took great offence to my camera and took it upon herself to rant on about how I wasn’t really enjoying the gig. She had a reasonable argument, but ultimately she got right on my tots. I’ve cut most of this.
 
Dedication again the stormer here. I was close enough to Daren Garratt’s kit to get the tribal rhythms he bashes out. Daren stands during the gig and only has two floor toms and a couple of hanging toms at his disposal. Kieron gets the cymbals all to himself. You can pick it all up well on this recording. Most of the backing vox are Daren as well. MES just slaps a bit of A4 in his face and gets him to read out his scribbles.
 
There really is no other band like The Fall.