The Women of The Fall Weekender comes to South Manchester on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September 2026, bringing together women from The Fall’s history with a younger generation of musicians, writers and artists.
Following on from the Futures and Pasts Event at Band On The Wall a couple of months ago, next weekend sees another unique weekend in Manchester, this time celebrating the Women of The Fall. The event will be taking place on Saturday 5th at The Carlton Club in Whalley Range and on Sunday 6th at The Kamera Ballroom in Chorlton. Two days of music, film and conversation featuring The Fall founder member Una Baines, Dr Marcia Schofield, Julia Adamson, Miki Berenyi, The Fallen Women and artists from Manchester’s current independent music scene.
The Women of The Fall Weekender grew from a wider idea developed by Later At founder Paula Greenwood. Originally planned as a series of events and a podcast, it would celebrate women from Greater Manchester and the North West who have made an important contribution to music and the wider creative industries. Paula first discussed the idea with friends Sarah Champion, a writer, broadcaster and lifelong Fall fan, and Julia Adamson, who played with The Fall from 1995 to 2001. Both encouraged her to pursue it. After other projects temporarily put the idea on hold, Paula returned to it and
decided to begin with The Women of The Fall.
Paula later met The Fall founder member Una Baines at a Fall Q&A at Manchester’s Night & Day Café and invited her to collaborate. Together, they began developing a weekend that would look beyond the women’s time in the band to explore their wider music, writing, art, careers and lives as well as wanting to connect that history with the present. The programme brings women from The Fall together with younger artists, including Erin from Loose Articles, Glimmerpit, LIINES, Nico Harmony, The Red Stains and Phoebe Green. Paula says, ‘When Una and I first started talking about putting this weekend together, we knew we didn’t want it to be all about nostalgia, or just about The Fall. The weekend celebrates that history, but also looks beyond it, at what these women did before and afterwards, what they’re doing now, and the younger and newer artists making music today.’
One of the highlights of the weekend will be when actor, writer and longtime fan of The Fall, Maxine Peake joins the event as special guest interviewer, leading a conversation with Una Baines and Dr Marcia Schofield about their experiences in the band and their lives and work beyond it at The Kamera Ballroom in Chorlton on Sunday Sept 6 from 3pm. Maxine has previously joined The Fallen Women on stage to perform a Fall song, making her involvement in the weekender a natural continuation of that connection. Known for Dinnerladies, Shameless, Silk and her acclaimed theatre work, she also has a longstanding involvement with independent music. Speaking of her involvement, Maxine poses the question. ‘We as fans think we know who they are to a certain extent, but I want to dig deeper into their memories and to find out how they perceived their time served and their creative output. How much free reign did they have in The Fall and did they get their dues at the time?’
Weekend and day tickets can be purchased here
The schedule for the weekend…
SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER
THE CARLTON CLUB, WHALLEY RANGE (7pm to 1am)
Saturday’s programme includes Poppycock, led by Una Baines, a founder member of The Fall and Blue Orchids. Formed in 2012, the predominantly female collective performs music from Una’s extensive catalogue of post-punk, psychedelic and experimental songwriting. They will be joined by guest poets including Tamra Smith and Steph Pike.
Dr Marcia Schofield will give a special spoken-word performance with Poppycock. Marcia played keyboards in The Fall from 1986 to 1990, appearing on The Frenz Experiment, I Am Kurious Oranj, Seminal Live and Extricate. She later qualified in Medicine at Cambridge and now works in Pain Medicine while remaining active in music, writing and research.
The Fallen Women, an all-female Fall karaoke band, will perform songs from across the band’s catalogue with special guest vocalists including Miki Berenyi of Lush and MB3, Zoe McVeigh of LIINES, Phoebe Green, Nico Harmony, The Red Stains, Erin from Loose Articles/Randal Vandal, Glimmerpit and Carrie Lawson. Emerging artist Nico Harmony will also perform a
version of Nico’s I’ll be your Mirror with Poppycock and a short set of her own songs.
Julia Adamson will be Saturday’s special guest DJ. A member of The Fall from 1995 to 2001, Julia contributed keyboards, guitar, programming, vocals, arrangements and songwriting to several albums. She previously worked as a sound engineer at Yellow Two and Strawberry Studios and now runs Invisiblegirl Records and Music Publishing.
SUNDAY 6 SEPTEMBER
THE KAMERA BALLROOM, CHORLTON (Matinee: 3pm to 7pm)
Sunday afternoon and early evening features an in conversation with former members Una Baines, Dr Marcia Schofield and Kate Themen led by special guest interviewer Maxine Peake, alongside a second screening of Megan Brierley’s commissioned film. Manchester disco-punk band The Red Stains will perform a short live set, while Erin from Manchester post punk band Loose Articles will give the first performance of material from her new electronic solo project, Randal Vandal. The weekend will culminate in a one-off Women of The Fall jam.
Both days will also include the premiere of a specially commissioned short film by Salford-based artist Megan Brierley. Working with archive footage and personal contributions from members of The Fall, the film offers a different insight into the women’s stories and experiences.
Original artwork for the weekend has been created by Suzanne Smith, an artist whose work has made a distinctive contribution to The Fall’s visual history. Suzanne created the cover of the band’s 1980 album Grotesque (After the Gramme) and contributed artwork and sleeve design to several other releases. She has also produced work for Una Baines and Poppycock.
Throughout the weekend, there will also be merchandise and a book stall, including a new edition of copies of the exclusive Fall fanzine ‘Load o Bloody Nowt’ edited by Michelle Hickman (8bitnorthxstitch) featuring interviews with Una Baines, Maxine Peake, Miki Berenyi and other women taking part in the event.
Buy tickets for The Women Of The Fall here
All words by Iain Key. See his author profile here or find him via his LinkTree
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