This is the third time I've seen New Order live, and each time was a very different experience.
The first time, at the Brixton Academy in London, they were supporting The Communards, and they were just okay. Maybe it was because I had such high hopes - they just couldn't be as good as I wanted and expected them to be.
The second time was at the Shoreline Amphitheater, just south of San Francisco, where they supported Moby. There, they somehow got lost in the huge space that is the Shoreline.
Last night was the turn of the Fox Theater in Oakland.
Not that I've ever visited one, but the inside of the Fox looks how I imagine a Turkish bordello, all stained glass and huge gold statues. Very regal, so not much like a bordello at all.
Anyhow, after a wimpy start - poor sound, and indistinct vocals - caused us to move closer to the stage, things picked up, and the band rattled through a ninety minute set consisting almost entirely of "hits".
Although they got started in 1980 from the Ian Curtis-less remains of Joy Division, and they're now without their founding bass player, and core sound-maker Peter Hook, I believe New Order's music to be timeless. Of course, that view is entirely personal and therefore worthless. I'm sure my dad believes the music of Gerry and the Pacemakers to be similarly "timeless".
1 comment:
saw them twice at Reading Festival.
they were amazing. if pavey is the same pavey who went to Oxford Rd Primary, tell her Debbie Megnauth says hi and good to hear she is doing well.
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