i saw N.O on stage two times. The first time was in Montpellier (south of France), THe Zenith.I remember it was february 1989 and the band was making a tour, following the Technique album issue. There was not a lot of fans that night and the huge venue was not full(or half empty, if you want..."à moitié vide"). A belgian band (unknown) opened the show .The guys were very poor quality musicians and their songs sounded crap! Everyone wanted them to leave the stage very quickly (what they did).I've never seen a worst support band since that night! and i'm still wondering who choose them! Then N.O came.
It was the "house music" périod and the youngest fans were wearing baggy throusers and bandanas with "smiley".Me and my friends, our wifes or girl friends were wearing long black coats and grey raincoats(which made a difference,we obviously had a different attitude than the most part of the audience...and coming to that gig was like ...going to church ?)We were all 27/28 years old. At this time we were all still playing in a band called "Les Passagers",(since 1980) making new wave music.we did gigs in southern France and a few people in the audience recognised us and asked if we were going to play montpellier again (what we did 4 and 2 years ago at the Odeon Theater). But it was not "our night".It was N.O night! Someone asked me if i was happy to see them live, because he knew I was a great fan since the beginning. "Of course" I answered him , but "happy" was probably not the right word.I should better say "anxious"... and NO came on stage.
Barney said " Hi we are New Order". he began an exctatic dance, looking like Donald Duck(danse du canard)!They did the whole technique songs.The sound wasn't very good and the sound system had problems. At the end of the show Hooky amp suddenly stopped makin sound, and the bass player (wearing an orange coloured t-shrit) seemed embarassed for a little while, but simply sit down at the edge of the stage meanwhile his band mates tried to end the song with some difficulties.
They didn't play any other song ...I don't remember them playing Ceremony or one of the great numbers they wrote like "sunrise"(one of my favorites) or some stuff from brotherhood.I remember Barney drinking Pernod and it was clear that they were using drugs at this time.
To be honest and for my first live meeting with them, I wasn't very pleased by the night.The show had been erratic,the sound was too loud and the sequencers took all the musical space,distroying in some way the melodic aspects of their music.It was dance music they were trying to play that night and, at this time, I thought it was a kind of mess ! I remembered the Taraschenvko video , their awkward attitude and the intensity of their New York show. My friends thought the same and some say (I remember Jerome who was our manager and worked in a local radio , sayin:"I don't like them anymore. They don't make rock 'n 'roll! Ibiza has killed their rage!They play music for teenagers!") - In a way he was true...

Many years later ,in May 2002 , I went to Paris to see them again. I was older ( 40).The Get Ready album (long expected) had been a nice surprise .I made the trip with an old friend (former -and only drummer-of my band) and my wife. We were excited and happy.In Novemeber i had recorded their live perfomance at the Olympia for "le festival des Inrockuptibles" , who had been tuned on the radio by Bernard lenoir (our John Peel!).I liked it a lot.The new songs were good , with bright guitars and the band seemed very happy to play together again.
That night The Paris'Zenith was full.I was in front of the stage , au "premier rang".I don't recall if Alan Wise introduced the band. The Doves played first and , as usual, I liked their music.THe audience was polite , happy ,there were young fans and older. The band played JD material, songs from the mid eighties ,dance songs (True Faith, Touched, BLT) and new numbers like Crystal. They introduced their new guitarist with his gibson Les paul! It was a great night.A night for fun !
So...well it's not a real problem ...I don't still want them to be introspective as they used to be in their early days or as they were with JD and with Ian (any way i think Ian was a very introspective person but it was not true for the rest of the group members!).I just think NO is making good music.They never record a shitty album as many bands do.You can't spend your life suffering! And NO doesn't seem to be suffering anymore.That night in Paris was a big night out! N.O gave us a lot of fun. I thank them for that.

Quality post. I love reading people's memories and thoughts like this. I was at the Paris gig, but the Montpellier outing sounds like much my sort of scene: far more shambolic and, for want of a better phrase, 'New Order' ish.