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NewOrder live at the Academy - review

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited January 2023 in General Chat
Alrighty, here goes...
The Academy was it's usual state, that rubber sloped floor always fucks me off, but the warm up DJ (no support band) was pretty good, with lashings of drum and bass plus a curious "Anarchy In The UK" hard house remix set up the mood and warmed up the woofers.

I'd considered setting up the mini-disc to record a bootleg with my new super-dynamic stereo microphones but knowing as I do the security set up, I would have probably got them confiscated. Besides, I didn't want to restrict my movement and effectively be working.

I lost everyone I arrived with pretty much as soon as I picked up my first Stella, and after a bit of wandering thought "fuck it", and headed for the front. Wriggled my way right to the front bar in front of the drumkit, (got to get yer moneys' worth innit!) and found myself surrounded by devoted and on the whole fairly cool people.
A bit of a footy crowd mentality which always pisses me off at concerts, but what do you expect from a crowd who's band made that bloody awful "World In Motion". The best official footy song by far, but that's like choosing your favourite turd.

Lamented the lack of chemicals in my bloodstream, and worried about the faint burning of the bladder having just downed a couple of jars but there was no way I was going to nip to the karzi and make it back to the front once they'd started.

The lighting tests they had been doing whilst the warm up DJ was playing turned out to be the lighting they intended to use all night, and at about 9.35 on stepped Barney and the boys. Gillian still missing from the line up due to her and Stephen's child being in a bad way, and the new boy dragged from the gutter (his words!) to replace her on keyboards/guitar looked a bit like Martin Fowler from Eastenders I thought...

Kicked it off with "Crystal" crowd goes mental, feels like 1000 people are trying to shag me as I bravely attempt to hold the masses back whilst punching the air at the appropriate moments. It was good.
The band looked comfortable, seeing as they'd not played central London for 15 years or so.
I was lucky enough to have been right at the front when they did the Reading gig too, so I was getting weird flashbacks, though if the truth be known I thought the Reading system sounded better, but open air gigs always do.

Hooky was doing the usual, winding up the crowd with his provocative piss-easy bass licks, but the sound was authentic New Order, and you could tell they had rehearsed well for this tour.
Barney strummed away determinedly on his axe, and Stephen's drumming was sublime as always. The man's a human drumatix machine.

The lovely backing vocalist seemed drowned out by it all, but it may have sounded clearer further back from the stage. I had no choice by then, I was at the front and staying put.

Surprising to hear a few tracks I didn't expect.. Your Silent Face was a good one, and I'm sure I got a smile for giving him the finger on the "why don't you piss off" line.
Great to see him play the intro on the mouth-organ keyboard thing too.

Then they went Joy Division retro, starting with Atmosphere, never my favourite track (it reminds me of nooses and bleak Manchester rainy days) but Barneys vocal always lightens it up from the gloomy bastard original. Then they did Love Will Tear Us Apart, and I thought I was going to be torn apart for real. Several people get pulled over the barrier by security, one of whom is in a bad way. I get jealous.

Every time Hooky pranced too near me the random girl behind me would dig her nails into my back in exitement.
Quite how I would explain this to miss pk I didn't know. Fuck it, that's rock and roll.

"Temptation" was my personal highlight, it's a bit of a theme tune for me anyway, and I was absorbed in it for a while. Which was nice.
They played a few from the new album, maybe two (other than Crystal), the good thumping ones, and it surprised me how well they came across, for new songs.

Other than that it was a brief "Greatest Hits" kind of affair, I was disappointed not to hear "Bizarre Love Triangle" which I'm convinced is about some girl's dodgy "gash".
(sorry ladies...)

Then they strolled offstage to a rousing bit of applause (cue more rib-crushing), and we were told they'd be back in fifteen mins, only for them to shamble back onstage in five with the even more tramp-looking than the last time I saw him Bobbie Gillespie.
Cue "Rock The Shack", a song which for me lessened the impact of the album but kicked Brixton's arse, echoing around the Academy.
I made a mental note right there to mention this fact in this post here now, and I just have.

Then Gillespie fucks off, and for the finale "Blue Monday", probably the record I will be buried to the sound of.

Good points = loads, they're my consistantly favourite band for fucks sake.
Main bonus for me was no Keith Allen fuckwit helping them sing World In Motion.

Bad points = no Billy Corgan on vocals, putting a large set of keys in my jeans so that the combined pressure of fuck knows how many people made a huge welt on my thigh, and no e tablets organised. Also had to make a decision whether or not to spend a month on the Afghanistan border for work, which I decided to do, only to be told after the show that I hadn't got it. Kind of departed my usual train of thought though.

All in all, a fucking great night, and I'd go again if I could find the time.

Cheers lads.

Your roving reporter, pk.

Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru

    Nice one pk, good review. Angling for a job at MixMag by any chance?? Or just looking to be theSite's roving entertainment reporter??
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by pandakiller:
    "Temptation" was my personal highlight, it's a bit of a theme tune for me anyway, and I was absorbed in it for a while. Which was nice.

    Nice on Panda. I was there too and you're right, Temptation did kick arse like nothing else.

    Mogwai up next for me...


    Dom
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