[kj] and you thought the Killing Joke tour had some problems.....

Tue May 9 13:02:50 EDT 2006

I wish Id been there...
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "death wish" <dwish2000 at hotmail.com>
To: <gathering at misera.net>
Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 3:11 PM
Subject: [kj] and you thought the Killing Joke tour had some problems.....


> The new album is fantastic.... but looky!:
>
> The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos
>>Amy Phillips reports:
>>"The Fall Tour Descends Into Chaos"...well, duh. Is Mark E. Smith capable 
>>of
> doing anything that doesn't descend into chaos? I feel like he goes to 
> brush
> his teeth in the morning, and the next thing you know, the sink is 
> shattered,
> wild dogs are tearing up the bathtub, and there's toothpaste and blood all 
> over
> the place.
>>
>>The Fall's current American tour, which kicked off on May 2, has been no
> different, although there doesn't seem to have been any toothpaste 
> involved.
> Last night's show at the Brick House in Phoenix was cut short when Justin
> Williams, frontman for the tour's opening act, the Talk, threw a banana 
> peel at
> Smith's head. A banana peel! That's gotta hurt.
>>
>>According to Williams, the peel-throwing was the culmination of days of
> frustration with Smith. In a MySpace bulletin entitled "FUCK MARK E. SMITH 
> HE
> SUCKS," Williams wrote: "MARK E. SMITH a.k.a MR. BURNS has managed to piss 
> off
> his band so bad they quit and left him in america with his crazy wife 
> slash one
> fingered keyboard player... MARK pulled a corkscrew on his bass player 
> poured
> beer and ashed on the head of his tour manager while driving (who has also 
> quit
> the tour) and played only one full set without slithering off stage to his 
> R.V.
> to dive into a bottle of scotch."
>>
>>(The Fall's booking agent confirmed that the tour manager had quit, but
> countered that Smith had indeed played full sets at all of the trek's 
> three
> previous shows.)
>>
>>Williams continued, "the man is in his late 40's and looks older than my 
>>dead
> grandfather i'm sorry to those out there who are fall fans but you do not 
> know
> this guy he is an idiot the three other members of the fall are great guys 
> nice
> as can be and i wish the best for them..."
>>
>>As far as the incident in Phoenix, Williams wrote, "i was told by the 
>>falls
> tour manager he and the rest of the band were going home without mark 
> knowing
> and this would be the last show this really pissed me off BAD!!! if this 
> had
> happened a few years ago i would have beat the shit out of him but i'm 
> older
> now so i picked up a dirty banana peel ran onto the stage and threw it in 
> his
> face as hard as i could and walked away he ran after me with some 1800's
> English boxing hands and wanted to fight i laughed and walked away knowing 
> in
> my head this man has only a few years left..."
>>
>>Pitchfork reader Jeff Moore, who attended the show, wrote in to say that
> Smith returned to the stage a few minutes later. "Mr. Smith distractedly
> continued the set while removing bits of flung matter from his hair, 
> several
> times smirking. After several half-hearted attempts to reassert his 
> trademark
> amp-twiddling, mic-disdaining stage persona, he approached [wife Elena] 
> Poulou
> at the keyboard. After a brief discussion, the two left the stage, once 
> again
> leaving bass, guitar, and drums to finish the song in a vocal vacuum. At 
> the
> close of the song, they too stoically filed offstage."
>>
>>"Several minutes later Ms. Poulou returned to the stage to announce that 
>>the
> Fall would be unable to continue the show. Her brief announcement was cut 
> from
> the 'we were not shown the respect that we deserve' mold, which was not 
> well
> received by audience members since the assault came not from members of 
> the
> crowd, but from the opening band. She also referenced technical 
> difficulties
> early in the set before telling the crowd "'I'm sorry' and vacating the 
> empty
> stage to a chorus of booing and chants of 'USA, USA'."
>>
>>"USA, USA"??!! WTF? Is this a punk show or a NASCAR rally? Reader Bill 
>>Smith
> added that the crowd also yelled "Down with the British!" Come on, people,
> what's wrong with you?!
>>
>>Williams offered an apology: "p.s. sorry to everyone in phoenix i threw a
> banana at mark during the show i know you payed good money to see that 
> shit but
> if it was not for us talking the rest of the band to come to phoenix they 
> would
> not have even showed up so be lucky you even got that much do not be mad 
> at us
> be mad at MARK E. SMITH he does not care if you were there or not he does 
> not
> care about his fans trust me i know first hand"
>>
>>The Fall's official website said only, "Apologies to all for the curtailed
> set, caused by technical problems." I guess bananas do technically count 
> as
> technology...if you're a monkey.
>>
>>As of right now, the fate of the rest of the tour is obviously in doubt. 
>>But
> we'll keep you posted about what's going on-- whether it's another fight, 
> more
> fruit projectiles, or just plain old drunken craziness.
>>
>>Dates:
>>
>>05-09 San Diego, CA - House of Blues *
>>05-11 Pomona, CA - Glass House *
>>05-13 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
>>05-14 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
>>05-15 San Francisco, CA - The Independent *
>>05-23 Los Angeles, CA - Knitting Factory *
>>05-25 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot *
>>05-26 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater *
>>05-27 Kansas City, MO - Record Bar *
>>05-29 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theatre *
>>05-30 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *#
>>06-01 New York City, NY - Knitting Factory *$
>>06-02 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw *$
>>
>>* with the Talk
>># with the Cairo Gang
>>$ with Vaz
>>
>>The Fall have a few shows scheduled after the American tour. We don't know
> what's going on with those either. Sorry.
>>
>>06-10 Manchester, England - New Century Hall
>>08-12 Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
>>08-26 Reading, England - Reading Festival
>>08-27 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
>>
>>* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: Fall Heads Roll
>>* Pitchfork Review: The Fall: The Complete Peel Sessions, 1978-2004
>>* Pitchfork News: The Fall to Tour America This Summer
>>* Pitchfork Feature: The Fall Pick Up the Thread
>>* The Fall: http://www.thefall.info/fallsite/index.php
>>* Narnack Records: http://209.200.80.36/
>
>
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