|
Date |
| |
Friday 2002-02-01 12:00:00 AM |
|
City |
| |
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
|
Venue |
| |
Adelaide RA&HS Showgrounds |
|
Attendance |
| |
N/A, Capacity: N/A |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
NewOrderOnline.com is supported by its members. Donations are always welcomed and appreciated.
|
|
|
| Order | Song | Notes |
| 1 | Crystal | |
| 2 | Transmission | |
| 3 | Regret | |
| 4 | Ceremony | |
| 5 | 60 Miles An Hour | |
| 6 | Atmosphere | |
| 7 | Close Range | |
| 8 | Bizarre Love Triangle | |
| 9 | True Faith | |
| 10 | Temptation | |
| 11 | Love Will Tear Us Apart | |
| 12 | Blue Monday | |
From NewOrderOnline.com (Brad Edwards)
This being the second to last gig on New Order's OZ tour, the road crew
seemed to be in a particularly jovial mood. As silverchair frogstomped
through their set on the adjacent stage, the crew were fooling around,
laughing, kicking each other in the arse, taking photos of each other: these
guys obviously enjoy their work. That guy who looks eerily like Hooky circa
1985 seems to like standing front of stage strumming Barney's guitar (more
on that later) to the point where you wonder what is going on inside his
mind exactly. While the tatooed Hulk Hogan like figure (is his nickname
Sarge?) lurks around stage, hands-in-pocket, doing bugger-all except look
faintly menacing.
But best of all was seeing Gillian, with female friend and 2 kiddies, who
came out from the back to sneak a peak. She waved to us which was very
cool - she looked so young I couldn't believe it. I took some snaps - she
probably thought I was some weird stalker - which I will post when they are
developed (and if they worked out).
With one major exception, the set was pretty much surprise-free. A huge,
enthusiastic crowd went ballistic as the boys graced the stage. Barney said
how happy he was to be back in Australia, and especially Adelaide. When the
crowd laughed, sensing (correctly) that he was taking the piss, he said "No
seriously, you have a beautiful place here". Hmm... maybe...
Crystal did its job, Transmission was stunning. Regret was solid with only
a couple of bum notes from Hooky, who seemed to be battling to control his
instrument (ooh err!) due to the sweat caused by the balmy conditions.
Apart from that he was in fine form, making comical eye contact with the
front rowers and generally hamming it up.
No Love Vigilantes tonight. Instead we got Ceremony (!), which I did not
expect but fully appreciated. Never thought I'd hear that live and they did
a great job, despite Barney warning us that he may have forgotten how to
play it. With 2 lyrics monitors in front of him, he would have no excuses
for messing up the lyrics. Mind you if they broke down, he could always look
at the front row!
60 MPH, a bit flatter than in Sydney, followed and then came Atmosphere,
which reversed the dire version played in Sydney . This time out Hooky was
spot on, Barney kept the whooping to a minimum, leading to a genuinely
moving (as it should be) experience, especially for all the lads around me
with Joy Division shirts on. Is there not a more splendid site than a
balding 18 stone gorilla who looks as if he would rip your head off and shit
in your neck without a moment's notice, openly weeping and blubbing like a
baby? I thought not.
Close Range was ugly, the intro a muddy mess, taking about 2 minutes to
become recognisable. For mine, this is not one of New Order's stongest and I
don't know why they persist. It's not as if I mind them playing stuff off
their new record either - in fact, I'd like to hear a lot more - but when
you consider their catalogue, surely there are better options. Maybe it
sounded shit because Barney was having problems with his guitars. It seemed
like he had either been given the wrong one or it had been set up
incorrectly because it was around about now I saw a side of Barney I didn't
particularly like.
Remember in my Sydney review I wrote that Barney got stuck into the new
fella for messing around with the sequencer? Well, that was nothing compared
to the tongue-lashing the guitar tech got for making some mistake that
Barney obviously didn't appreciate. He told him to come and take this
guitar and put it back (expletives added) in its case. But to make him feel
like an idiot he reminded the tech it was the 12 string guitar and that
hopefully he'd be capable of finding the right case. All of this came
across as mean spirited, especially since Barney made a point of doing it
all on the microphone which was surely unneccesary.
Barney talked about growing older, saying "I've become a bit of a creep
really", before adding, "Still, I guess that's better than being a lot of a
creep!"
On with the show. Next came BLT. The programmed drums still sounded
cod-ordinary but it was still an impressive take. Whereas True Faith seemed
tired and lacklustre in Sydney, tonight it was blistering, even though Hooky
doesn't play much of that distinctive bass run at the end, preferring to
hammer his bass with his fist, which was equally entertaining! The funniest
moment was after the plinkety-plonk house piano bit where, a few lines too
early, Bernard began the next verse. In embarrassment he tried to disguise
it by turning it into a half-arsed improvised rap which was more than a
little amusing to watch. Even so, True Faith was definitely one of tonight's
highlights. And yes, he did the 'taking drugs with me' lyric for those
trainspotters amongst you.
Ok, you know what comes next. Temptation (a cracker!), LWTUA (soaring!) and
Blue Monday (actually half decent for once - even Barney seemed to be
enjoying it). No big surprises, but giving the crowd what they wanted. As
in Sydney, they went way over their allotted 60 minutes, actually playing
closer to 75. And I got the set list at the end which makes a nice little
fridge souvenir!
This being my second NO show, it was great to be able to watch them closely
and appreciate how they work, rather than simply gape in awe. I even made a
point of watching the new guy (yes, I know he has a name!) who was really
getting into it and it has to be said, actually improves their sound.
Possible the only disappointing aspect is that Stephen doesn't play with any
of the vigour or energy of old. I can't explain why that would be.
Certainly he would have other things on his mind, maybe it's age catching
up, maybe it's laziness. He's still 10 times as good as most rock drummers
though IMHO.
So if anyone from the band is reading this, thanks for making a great new
album, thanks for coming to Australia (and especially little old
Adelaide!) - hopefully not for the last time - and may you never become the
flawless, note-perfect, slickly professional commodity that so many
'reunion' bands seem to become.
Write a review for this concert
|