NEW ORDER

LIVERPOOL – ‘Summer Pops’ 8 July 2006 by CJS

You realise just how incongruous the ‘Summer Pops’ moniker is when you are wandering through an apparent post-industrial wasteland by the side of the Mersey getting soaked in the inevitable downpours in this part of the world.

The gig is part of Liverpool’s now annual ‘Summer Pops’ series of concerts. Set in a ‘big top’ on the dockside, the series boasts an eclectic range of acts appearing throughout the summer, from the revered jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, through to the Sugarbabes, by way of El Divo. But tonight it is New Order, playing only their second gig in the city for 20 years so there was something of a festival air about the place. From the outside the ‘big top’ tent looks deceptively small. On entering you walk into a huge cavernous space surrounded by various food, drink and merchandising stalls. Having eaten, drank and bought…you then walk through to an even bigger space. As someone observed, it was like a Tardis experience. Ostensibly a fully seated arena holding 4,500, few people actually remained in their seats, much to the steward’s frustration. At least during New Order’s set. The opening band, Alloy Mental, were something of a cross between Killing Joke and The Prodigy. The three-piece band consisted of guitar / keyboard, vocalist and someone on decks / laptop. Neither Jaz Coleman nor Keith Flint need worry about competition, the vocalist here pranced around the stage with all the menace of Robbie Williams. Actually, this is doing them a slight disservice, their techno / dance sound wasn’t at all bad.

It’s become something of a tradition now in our circle of friends and family, at New Order gigs, (a) to predict the opener, and (b) to guess how many “whoooos” Barney will shout throughout the set. Its always a good bet to go for some of their album openers, ‘Crystal’, ‘Regret’ are both classic gig openers, they did both tonight, but not before opening the set with ‘ Love Will Tear Us Apart’, which none of us predicted. It must be said that this appeared to be done in rather perfunctory fashion, without, for example, the passion that drove the song at the recent Manchester vs. cancer gig. It did occur to me that they might just to want to get Joy Division out of the way at the beginning tonight. At the Manchester gig mentioned they did a full JD set, which for people of a certain age was exquisite. However, it was also clear that for many, there was simply bemusement. Tonight there was something for everyone. It was classic set, which pretty much covered their whole history.

As pointed out, ‘LWTUA’ was followed by ‘Crystal’, then ‘Regret’, I was hoping ‘Who’s Joe’ would follow to complete the triumvirate of most recent album openers but I was to be disappointed…for an instant. Because what followed, much to my relief, was classic JD. ‘24 Hours’ exuded all the potency and menace that it did when Ian Curtis sang it all those years ago, despite the less than perfect acoustics in this cavernous tent. Newer fans of New Order will have been pleased by the inclusion in the set of several songs of the last album. ‘Krafty’ and ‘Waiting For The Siren’s Call’ drew the biggest applause of the newer songs. Hooky did his usual pantomime prowling around the stage act, only stopping occasionally to berate the security staff for trying to prevent people getting near the stage area.

Book-ended between these we went right back to JD again for ‘Transmission’ and a rarely played ‘Your Silent Face’ from ‘Power, Corruption and Lies’. This was one of the many high points of the set, with its slow and atmospheric build up (no ‘Atmosphere’ tonight…) with Barney on trademark mouth piano.

‘Bizzare Love Triangle’ drew one of the biggest applauses of the night and it didn’t disappoint. ‘True Faith’ did for me. As one of NO’s finest moments on disc, I have rarely seen them perform this to maximum effect on stage. If the band insists on doing one of the many ‘remix’ versions, please let it be more like the extended, percussive-heavy Shep Pettibone mix in future. If BLT drew one of the biggest applauses of the night, ‘Temptation’ drew possibly the biggest applause. Another live rarity, ‘Perfect Kiss’ saw Barney reaching for his mouth piano again to add a plaintive backdrop to this classic. Always nice to hear the frogs …This segued straight into ‘Blue Monday’. Whilst undeniably a crowd pleaser and record breaker (biggest selling 12 inch vinyl etc….) I am always reminded of John Peel’s comment about considering trying to ‘fix’ the results of his listeners Festive Fifty poll many years ago, to ensure it didn’t win. It did of course. But it went down a storm tonight. And then they were gone.

But they returned to encore with ‘Ceremony’. Although essentially a JD song, and it is available on the JD boxed CD set complete with Ian Curtis vocals, it was also the first release by New Order. Again, despite the less than perfect acoustics, the original vulnerable feeling of the song came through well. This was followed by archetype JD. The heavy, doom-laden sound of ‘Shadowplay’ which, along with most of ‘Unknown Pleasures’, JD’s first album, created the template for a thousand would-be similar bands. Magnificent. Interestingly, the main t-shirts the merchandisers were flogging were indeed based on the the ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album graphic. Overall, a great gig. Oh, the “whoops”? I am reliably informed, 9.

CJS

cool review where's that from David?

This review was clearly by someone who didn't feel the brunt of those dickheads who provided the security. Just about everyone else suffered through their rediculous behaviour and nobody I know will ever grace the Summerpops tent with their presence again.

Great gig - wank venue. Don't do it kids :nono:

Yeah great gig,but shite choice of venue. SEATS??? FFS! And feel sorry for those of us who were ejected for "aggressive dancing" and just strolling up to take a couple of camera-phone piccies.The words nut and sledgehammer came to mind.
Mind you Hooky's words to the security were pure CLASS!