I've been fortunate to grow up with Joy Division around me, although I never got to see them live - and grown-up alongside New Order from their recording of Ceremony onwards. It's been quite a ride! I've seen them live many times over the last twenty years or so, and until the rumours started, thought Reading 1993 was a swansong of sorts. Reading 1998 and Alexandra Palace 1998 swung it around magnificently.

A lot has been said already, I know, but Liverpool 2001 is worth another look. It was an absolutely incredible gig - matching Reading 1998 for emotional impact and Ally Pally for physical punch, albeit more professionally delivered!!

There's still a bit of a problem with them live though. While it's clever to leave your audience wanting more (Mr Sumner referred to us in 'song' as demanding at the Royal Albert Hall I recall) their unpredictable working relationship makes it hard not to approach each live encounter as possibly the last - no matter how often they say they're sticking at it. The problem? Their vast canon of work that doesn't really get an airing.

I've long-maintained that the recorded New Order experience sometimes lacks something compared to the live experience, despite the charming hit and miss affair that is the New Order gig. This might sound strange to anyone reading this who's not seen them live, and very probably contentious among a large number of people who have seen them. Don't get me wrong - they've been a soundtrack to my lfe - but I believe they make a whole lot more sense on record after they've been experienced in a live setting. It's something I've struggled to understand over the years, but still can't quite put my finger on it. I took three people up to Liverpool for the gig last year - my wife and two friends - none of whom had seen them before. We were all floored by what we witnessed. They were truly stunning that night. Beautiful venue, fantastic crowd, Lee Coombs warm-up was an intersting set - including the dropping of Wang Chung's Dance Hall Days which seemed to come out of nowhere and somehow made perfect sense in the setting!

Only complaint - the contents of the set were a little limited. Movement has not been given a nod in a live New Order set for a fair while now (Hooky's solo/side-project performances of Dreams Never End aside). Power, Corruption and Lies is visited for Your Silent Face only. Low-life offers Love Vigilantes.
Brotherhood offers up Bizarre Love triangle - one of the two classy singles from the ablum, Technique is ignored (perhaps it holds some bad memories vis a vis the temprament of the band members around the time of the much-documented Ibiza-experiment). Equally, Republic is visited for two singles - the stunning comeback-or-not Regret, complete with musical and lyrical lilts to Ceremony, and Ruined in a Day. An interesting departure musically in 1993 - some of the drum sounds are still arresting live - there's something not that vital about it as an overall piece, while there is other engaging work to be found there. The other New Order singles played also worked brilliantly, and on this occasion, Blue Monday was also a gem. The new album material was fine although it felt like twinges of nerves hampered them getting a relaxed treatment - they've refined over the last eight months. The inclusion of B Corgan worked well and he behaved impeccably, and I must admit I had been a little unsure when I first heard the news. The repeat airing of the Joy Division material was also great live, albeit truncated from the inventory aired at Reading and Ally Pally in 1998.

And therein lies the problem - the enormous inventory of material no longer (or never) aired. There was a time they would have a whole heap of material programmed so they could pick and choose on a nightly basis if they wantd to. Understandably, this can lead to major technical problems, but there are so many other tracks of theirs that really deserve to have the cobwebs dusted off and given an airing - because of the quality of them - plucking two examples at random - Vanishing Point from Technique or the B-side of Temptation, Hurt.

Therein lies the crux - a band this good really shouldn't give up - they are one of very few who maintained credibility. They have all the best songs. Must be devils.

My wife and I left the UK for Europe in September 2001, and picked up tickets for the French and German dates announced. Stockholm was announced after we left, so we missed out there.

Paris 11th November 2001
Funny gig. I've read people's reviews online and in the press and I can't quite understand it - perhaps because it's New Order, the romance of the occasion smoothes the rough edges...

Aparently the venue used to be a beautiful vaudeville theatre, but it got torn down and rebuilt, so it felt like a multiplex cinema. It was a funny crowd - a lot of people were there to be seen apparently. It felt a bit like a London gig in that respect. For some reason, the two New Order gigs in Paris had become assimilated into an ad-hoc 'festival' - several gigs at several venues with no commonality, other than most being on Christmas release/end of year press promotion tours as far as I could figure.
As I say, funny gig. The support bands were shown little interest by the audience. The pre-gig Working Men's Club comedy spot appeared to have some veiled subtext to it (without wishing to put words into the mouths of others), as did Mr Sumner's on-stage introductions (ditto). We got talking to one of the New Order merchandise team about the merchandise, the developing tour and so on. Fantastic to hear Transmission out. Some problems with the sound mix throughout and Hooky's bass effects (especially during Touched by the Hand of God and Atmosphere). Mr Sumner's mood towards the end of the encore and getting his coat brought to him while on stage seemed like pointed gestures too - maybe because the audience was cold? Funny gig. My wife and I still laugh about it now.

Berlin 15th November 2001
Brilliant gig. Like Liverpool, but with the added bonus of Arthur Baker. Great exterior to the venue - inside the atmosphere felt a bit like the Hacienda although it looked nothing like it! Funny audience. Booing him. Elements in the audience didn't know who he was either. Thought it a pretty good set all in all.
New Order themselves appeared transformed. Perhaps it was the expectancy of something great in the air, as with Liverpool, and very lacking in Paris. The band were way more jovial, Hooky inviting the audience to note the novelty value in Mr Sumner's tuning up of his guitar (referring to Paris I believe also, although my hearing was a bit touch and go!), having a pop at someone wearing their coat during the gig as it was roasting and so on. Had a chat with one of the sound/lighting crew and purloined a setlist. We got talking to the same member of the merchandise team we spoke to in Paris. We'd found ourselves in a bit of a spot - the VW Kombi we had been travelling and living in was sick and we hadn't got the time or money to get to Koln for the follow evening's gig via public transport and back, but they weren't able to help out, unfortunately... so we missed Koln and didn't make Stokholm either, alas.

... and returning to my comments of earlier, there's been little variation in setlist through Europe, as many people have commented on while travelling round Australia following the Big Day Out... but what a ride these last few months.

Looking forward to Europe 2002.