New Order #14 1986 03 28 Brighton Centre
A cold and windy Good Friday saw us head to Brighton to see New Order supported by The 15th (who I have no memory of).
Alan Wise introduced the band as "four young people from Liverpool who write their own stuff - Joy Division!"
This was pretty much a show of two halves. Again opening with State of The Nation (replete again with lots of whoops), then Love Vigilantes was followed by the underwhelming trio of Sub-culture (Hooky commenting on someone's disgusting shoes), Shellshock and Confusion.
Things then changed, starting with a rare outing for Let's Go. For this show, 5 8 6 was the song to gain additional cowbell accompaniment.
Things went wrong with the sequencer at the start of Temptation, but this allowed some improvisation with Hooky starting the song, then Stephen joining in before Bernard, resulting in a very good version.
Age of Consent and Sunrise were both good versions, before finishing with The Perfect Kiss, featuring the lyric "My friend took his final piss" and some excellent guitar work at the end.
On leaving, I noticed two bins near the doors where tickets had been thrown, so I grabbed a handful. I didn't quite manage to get number 1, but this was close!
NEW ORDER
Brighton Centre
NEW Order are just another smooth supergroup chasing the Sminds, U2, The Cure, and The Banshees into clinical complacency, acceptable harmlessness. So it goes.
Slick, bland, empty, their stance for challenge, atmosphere, and emotional meaning is now drowned in Vangelis sound effects, air-raid spotlights and Albrecht's disturbing penchant for guitar solos. New Order - an artist, a worker, a lad and a lampshade. The beautiful Steven Morris shines as ever. The smartly spruced-up Peter Hook is roused into sporadic action only by the disgusting shoes thrown at him, while the cute, Pernod-soaked Albrecht still can't sing and play the guitar at the same time. Such boyish naivety is touching, but even though he has made New Order lyrically backward, there is at least a twinkle in his eye, which is more than can be said for the hapless Gillian.
Their flock of followers barely care. Increasingly violent and thoughtless, they are the least discerning, demanding audience since the days of The Jam. They get what they want, take what they are given - an abrupt, heartless set of singles and "Low Life'' highlights. "Confusion", "Subculture", "Perfect Kiss", perfect beats padded out with hi-tech nonsense. "586" by-the-numbers, music for car-stereos, discos, compact discs and burger bars.
Besides the exceptionally ordinary "Shellshock" - Depeche with brains - the only new moments are "State Of The Nation", the next single, and a speeding instrumental exercise. The former - the Human League with grace, with genius - is their most brilliant, mindless, perfect pop song since ’Temptation". The latter simply shows us, along with "Murder" and "Elegaia", that the only New Order music to move us will be speechless.
Technically superb - like Supertramp - the swift power, the flow and thrust of New Order's music remains. But they have stopped taking chances, they have nothing to say. This show was merely professional, proficient, perfunctory. Live at least, they've made their choice and they have chosen Entertainment. On this evidence. I'll make mine and leave them to it.
JIM SHELLEY
Set and song timings | |
| 1 State Of The Nation | 7:13 |
| 2 Love Vigilantes | 4:28 |
| 3 Sub-culture | 4:54 |
| 4 Shellshock | 6:35 |
| 5 Confusion | 5:24 |
| 6 Let's Go | 3:43 |
| 7 5 8 6 | 5:03 |
| 8 Temptation | 9:02 |
| 9 Age of Consent | 5:01 |
| 10 Sunrise | 6:29 |
| 11 The Perfect Kiss | 9:33 |
Only one concert between Warrington and Brighton. Two weeks before, on Saturday 15 March, it was The Sting Rays (I seem to have liked them, but can't remember much else) and The Cramps at Hammersmith Odeon. Songs included "Thee Most Exulted Potentate of Love", "You Got Good Taste", "Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?", "Surfin' Bird", "Human Fly" and "Love Me". At one point Lux Interior pretty much stripped.
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