Mark E Smith is squaring up to me and everyone else in the audience. The bloody cheek of us Fall heads having paid £20 a ticket to come and see his band. How dare we?

And they are his band. Within minutes the Fall front-man is asserting his authority by turning down the amps of guitarist Tim Presley. Not that he seemed to notice – twisting around in front of his speaker stack like David Byrne doing a Wilco Johnson impression, Presley still played with passion and precision regardless of what Smith did.

Even Mark E Smith’s wife had her keyboards turned up and down throughout the set. But unlike some Fall gigs, every time he did it, it worked. Grabbing the neck of his bassist’s guitar, stopping any notes from escaping, allowed for blistering guitar riffs to be heard in all their glory and the pounding drum beats to whip up a whole audience into a pogoing frenzy.

After an hour’s set taking in plenty of tracks from Ersatz GB, their new album, they left to rapturous applause. After what seemed like an age, the band returned with their front man feeling a little bit more grateful that this crowd had come to see his band.

Opening the encore with fan favourite ‘Theme From Sparta F.C.’, Smith no longer looked like starting a fight. He actually seemed happy to have us there.

After two more tracks, the band exited the stage for the final time. Fans poured out of the venue, with almost every one of them saying at high post-gig volume how it was “without doubt, the best night of my life!”

Fans of The Fall always say that after a Fall gig. And rightly so.

Originally published on Brighton Noise.