Cuttings

A massive earthquake hit Mexico City on 19 September 1985 , prompting this benefit gig at ULU. I only actually found out about it on the Tuesday (22 October) of the same week of the gig, so we didn't have advance tickets and it was a case of chancing it on the night. The car breaking down twice, once in Trafalgar Square, the second in Shaftesbury Avenue, didn't exactly help our chances, but we did it just - with one of us being the last but one admitted. Support were James , who performed a slow version of " Fire So Close " and a song about earwigs (amongst others). New Order were on top form this night, borne out by the reviews in Melody Maker and NME below. State of the Nation featured some additional lyrics and interesting use of echo on the drums towards the end. Echo also featured on guitar parts in Everything's Gone Green , embellishing it nicely.  Hooky introduced Age of Consent as a tribute to Gary Holton , who'd died earlier that day, and was

The East of England has not been served well by New Order. Only one gig in Norfolk ( Pennies in Norwich in 1982 ), none in Suffolk, only one in Kent ( Margate Winter Gardens in 1984 ), and this, their sole appearance in my own county of Essex. I wonder if in part it's proximity to London, although that logic can hardly be applied to part of Suffolk, Norfolk and Kent that can easily be two hours away. WOMAD itself has had a nomadic existence, although unlike some of its venues, Mersea Island was not repeated. Mersea Island sits a little way outside of Colchester in North Essex, and is reached by a causeway that can flood at high tide (and the official programme for the event included high tide times to help with that). This meant that getting to and away from the venue was not an easy task. On the Saturday in question, there'd already been plenty of thunderstorms rattling around, so a late July festival was not likely to be as pleasant as the season would s

 

SHAMING THE NATION With last year's album 'Low-life', NEW ORDER finally laid the ghost of Joy Division and emerged as one of this nation's saving graces with a unique sound and demonstrable staying power. One night at the Hacienda in Manchester, they spoke to Adam Sweeting about past, present and future. Moody and magnificent poses by Tom Sheehan By Stephen Morris's account, New Order are very shy. Very, very shy, in fact. I'd suggested to Morris, who's the drummer, that New Order often seem aloof, even entirely dismissive of their audience. They play their songs, stop and walk off. End of story. "Er..." said Morris, wincing in the general direction of the floor. "Very very shy..." Is that right? "Certainly is. Cos you're just being yourself onstage. It would be quite easy to go 'are ya feelin' alright!' and all that, but ... Good grief, no! I don;t think we've been aloof. You can't really ignore an a