I'm going to my first ever Fall show next week at Oxford. It's my first visit to England too.
What should I expect? And shouldn't expect?

Disappointment.
A drunk old man braying.
Twenty-six minutes.
That kind of thing.
Best gig in your life ever, though. :applaud:

and that's just the audience.

Can you see what he did there? :rolleyes:

Expect a very intense set. Don't expect it to last more than 45-50 minutes.

Also, don't forget your umbrella: as every non-English knows, it always rains cats and dogs, there.

Oxford isn't all that great. Very chavvy.

It's best not to expect anything, really. I wasn't sure what to expect on my first Fall gig and was completely blown away by it.
You can expect drinks at the bar to be expensive, though. :(

At the very least you can expect a warm welcome at the Hobgoblin.

Don't forget to do the Morse Tour.

Drop into the Bodleian library for a spot of reading aswell

or watch the mighty yellows march back into the football league. and win the fa cup as well.

Mr. Pharmacist

I forgot to mention men telling old jokes (if John Cooper Clarke is supporting).


If you get to Oxford a bit early, you can grab yourself a degree and the morning after the gig you'll be on the fast track to government.

(Seriously, try and get there in plenty of daylight, it's an amazing town to visit for the first time and wander around)

You're right. Maybe I shouldn't expect anything. But it's hard no to, I have been waiting for that gig for a long time.

The Hobgoblin is going to be pretty good too.

Screw that, the Ashmolean reopened yesterday, that's how a visitor should spend their day.

Anyone staying overnight should, nay must, have breakfast here.

Or the BBC.

Free parking available in Blackbird Leys.

Something to cheer you up the morning after.

If staying in a Bed and Breakfast hotel:

Creaking pipes
Miniature sachets of sauce and marmalade at breakfast
Baked beans at breakfast
One coathanger in the wardrobe
A miniature kettle
Viscose polyester bedding
A crack running right across the ceiling
A shower cubicle the size of a coffin

You never know what you will get. Sometimes he brings back an old band member like Marc Reilly ("Joker Hysterical Face") or Mike Leigh (Teddyboy) or Brixie Smith for a single show. Sometimes he will have the band play an old classic album (like Wonderful and Frightening World) in its entirety a la recent Devo shows. On the new songs, it is nice to hear how his lyric writing has come back around and the the words aren't just slurred nonsense anymore! The observations are as sharp as they were back in the day, but they are clearly the observations of an older and wiser man, living in post 9/11 Britain. Gone are the days when he would just say "I am fifty-two years old and I like to drink beers" over & over for eleven minutes.

:lol: :lol: :lol: thank you, CT...

plus silent tension and psychological warfare with your hosts

Did I ever tell the one about the neat pile of toenail clippings I found in the corner of my room in Huddersfield? Not that I'm complaining, it was one of my most memorable B+B experiences.

I think you can expect never to forget the experience for the rest of your life. I will never forget my 1st Fall show. I've fogotten many of my first shows of certain bands, but I never forgot my first Fall show. I think its because they're totally unique.

go expecting nothing - and you will recieve everything !!!!!!!!!!!!

and on that note I will be back in the UK next year and will be seeing my second fall show

You wont get back to your hotel room in time for cocoa and news-night...guaranteed

Thanks for the advice. Thanks for the "Words of Expectation".

You will remember your first gig forever, mine was a lifetime ago. The Fall were not preaching to the converted then, so there were those of us who were really ecstatic they were playing in our town, and the usual bottle /glass throwing morons. After your fifteenth gig or so they might begin to blur a bit, depending how much you partake!

I found a ticket stub for a gig at the Brixton Academy in 1992 a few days ago,in a suitcase hoiked down from the loft. All I can remember about it is bumping into a mate of mine, Charlie, and having some sort of argument about The Smiths (he, the fan), and not much else. :beer:

That'll be my first one as well, I've just moved to England.

:lol:......................... :o :(
Some people need to persevere a while before they 'get' the Fall. It can be a base, visceral experience full of expectation, frustration and a fearful intensity (Astoria 'Wings') that may change your life.
Then again, it may not. Go see.

I was taken to my first Fall gig with the bloke later designed most of the Pixies album covers, and whose brother later married Sally Gunnel.

That’s all completely irrelevant of course.

However, sine 1981, I’ve become a musical retard with far fewer friends than I would have expected at my age.

The Fall have enriched my life, but unfortunately made the lives of those around me a complete misery.

The Fall are like ‘Trainspotting’, but without the needles.

I was there! I keep my ticket (a kind of orange and silver thing) as a bookmark for the book I was reading at the time: John Aubrey's "Brief Lives" (still one of my favourite books).

I went with two people for whom it was their first Fall concert. It was also their last. :(

I know who that was. His name is Peter and I used to share a flat with him in Cambridge.

:lol: fucking hell

i think you should go expecting to rock out.

there might be some songs you dont like.

but there will probably be somethat you do like. these are the ones you can shake yer butt to.

Was it good then? :lol: :lol:

I thought it was. :D One of them thought it was OK, but not enough to go out of her way to see them again. The other one just didn't like it - I think The Fall are a blind spot to him.

:D Like I say, I recall little, but remember the pub before ...but who was there???