Released as a double pack with both the audio CD and DVD footage of the event, THE FALL'S set captured at London's Hammersmith Palais on April 1st 2007 is historic for more reasons than one.
Primarily, everyone remembers it as a night of emotions running high because the famous London ballroom was about to close its' doors as a concert venue for the last time. The penultimate show was given by The Good, The Bad & The Queen featuring The Clash's Paul Simonon, who closed their show by producing a small axe and helping himself to a small portion of the stage he'd helped immortalise thanks to his old band's magnificent '(White Man In) Hammersmith Palais.'
Many would agree that probably constituted a fitting tribute to the grand old ballroom. However, thanks to a strange twist of fate, the very last band booked to appear at the Hammersmith Palais was none other than The Fall, a band whose curmudgeonly frontman Mark.E.Smith is well-known for having little truck with history.
Thus, what would probably have been an exercise in teary-eyed nostalgia in the hands of virtually any other band proved to be...well, not 'just' another gig, but a typically forward-looking show from MES'S current foot soldiers slogging their way to the repetitive, rhythmic peak of their form touring their recently-released 'Reformation Post-TLC' album. As a result, we get a set with only two brief concessions to The Fall's pre-Y2K past (the lunk-headed groove of 'Wrong Place, Right Time' and the Gene Vincent cover 'White Lightning') and the expected raft of new and recent material comprising 90% of the show.
It matters not a jot, for the second important reason to get your hands on this CD/DVD set is that the band's seven-piece line-up that night came from the 'squad rotation' system Smith was employing at the time, with the group's personnel drawn from both the American core of the group who'd recorded the 'Reformation Post-TLC' album and bassist Dave 'The Eagle' Spurr and guitarist Pete Greenway who would go on to feature in the version of the band currently working together.
On paper, that would suggest the band were undergoing transitional times, yet this version of The Fall was fully-formed and immensely powerful. The opening 'Senior Twilight Stock Replacer' rides a thrilling, motorik groove. The self-explanatory 'Fall Sound' is a dense, hypnotic mash-up with marvellous interplay between The Eagle and second bassist Rob Barbato and 'Over! Over!' wallows in that great, permanently descending riff. MES opens it with a quote from '50 Year Old Man' in a reference to the fact he'd just passed that personal milestone.
Apart from the benefit of the multi-camera angles and impressive sound quality, the DVD is worth watching for Smith alone. For someone who seemingly puts in so little effort, he's mesmerising to watch. He stalks the stage with a mixture of disdain and nonchalance, twiddles with the amps, fails to slot microphones into their stands and then throws them away and by the time of a hungry and vibrant version of football hoolie classic 'Theme From Sparta FC' he's down to his short sleeves.
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When we reach the obligatory cover version, he looks like he's actually enjoying himself. There again, said cover – the Mothers of Invention's 'Hungry Freaks, Daddy' - fits the Fall's patented garage-rock rumble like an envelope around a cheque and it's followed by a version of 'My Door is Never Open' (“whatever you say or do, my fuckin' spectre is coming after you!”) which is laced with vitriol.
The missus gets into the act on lead vocals with a sprightly 'Wright Stuff' though it's the ultra-hypnotic 9-minute version of 'Blindness' which really steals the show. Its' looming Krautrock rhythm seems like it could groove on into infinity and it provides the visual highlight of the set when Smith appears to glare down two microphones like a myopic Lord Nelson.
The charged atmosphere boils over when the band finally troop off. Barring his usual sarky “good evening”, Smith has barely uttered a word and it's clearly too much for one punter who grabs Smith's discarded microphone for a rant about how “nobody, however fuckin' mighty” should be able to leave the stage without mentioning that it's the last night of the Hammersmith Palais. What, like you'd expect Mark.E.Smith to get all nostalgic on our ass or summat? Get real, pal. Nevertheless, the band do re-appear for a rare encore of 'Reformation',even if Smith cuts it short and heats up the powder keg even further when he announces: “thank you for allowing us into your security area, we're off to civilisation now.” To which the peasants consider further revolt, light fittings get stolen and everyone finally leaves the Hammersmith Palais for good.
Or do they? Despite being sold on for luxury flats and restaurant space (like we need even more, right?), the Hammersmith Palais still sits vacant and the developers haven't yet had their day in the sun. It's quite possibly the venue that refuses to die and like Mark. E. Smith it could well surprise us yet. Major respect is due to both of these venerable survivors.
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