Gig Description

May 1977 : lineup # 1 : Mark E. Smith (vocals), Martin Bramah (guitar), Tony Friel (bass), Steve Ormrod (drums). Note that before they played any gigs, the lineup was to be Martin on vocals, Mark on guitar, Tony on bass, and Una on drums (a drum kit was too expensive, so Una was saving up for her Snoopy keyboard at the time of this gig).

Monday, May 23 1977   North West Arts basement, King Street, Manchester

The Fall's first gig was in the North West Arts office/shop/cafe complex and was part of the Manchester Musician's Collective, organized by Dick Witts and Trevor Wishart. Dick Witts recalls the venue as being "like a fashionable restaurant in the late 70s, with everything white. It was done out like a small white cave. We just took the tables and chairs out. Mark and Martin, who were taller than the others, had to bend down because of the low ceiling. It wasn't really public, the audience was just a group of other musicians sitting around listening."

Martin Bramah recalls, "The first gig was recorded, so somebody might have a tape somewhere. It was a small room and about half the audience was The Buzzcocks. Mark just let fly with such venom from day one. I remember he just sort of reached into the audience and virtually poked his finger up Howard Devoto's nose."

The set included Hey Fascist, Race Hatred, Bingo Master's Breakout, and closed with Repetition. Una Baines had not yet got a bank loan for a keyboard so watched from the audience; the drummer was "Dave," an insurance salesman and "rabid conservative" who lasted just the one gig.

Details about this and some of the other 1977 gigs are taken from Simon Ford's excellent article in the May 2002 issue of Wire. The date is probably correct and was deduced from a letter MES wrote to Tony Friel shortly after the gig.

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