New Order Primavera Barcelona. “Brits (Vikings) Abroad”
Yes, yet another tale of beer, beer, beer and then more beer. This time my travels took me to see New Order abroad for the first time, so you can imagine the excitement leading up to this wee holiday of ours. The last time I was in Barcelona brings up mixed emotions, the anger at being denied into the stadium for the first ten minutes of the game after paying £500 for a ticket and flights, due to us being drunk and ripping up a ticket by mistake, then the thrill of getting in, standing at the top of the main Barcelona stand with 30,000 Catalans watching Celtic knock Barca out of the UEFA Cup, with David Marshall making himself an instant hero with the Celtic faithful after keeping Ronaldinhio, Eto and Deco et al at bay.
For several months before the gig, myself and John, who regularly visit the pub after 8 a side football on a Friday, would talk about finally going abroad to see the Order. John had planned to go to New York with Lorraine, but that fell through at the last minute due to sky high prices for flights, so he was gutted but happy that I was going to see them with the rest of the mad Vikings. A lot of the lads had already planned accommodation, so I was lucky when Grahame Ferguson got in touch and said he was gonna book an apartment and there were four spaces available, so that was me, DoN, Hibster and Hibster’s pal Sean sorted! As usual, being both lazy and useless I had to rely on Jarvo sorting my flights out, which meant I was on the same flight as him, Hibster and Sean, then I had to ask my good pal Darren aka Baldrick to sort me out with a lift to and from Luton airport, Darren’s a diamond and said it wouldnae be a problem. I am well lucky having mates that sort me out!!!
Me and Al met up with Hibster and Paul in the airport for a quick pint (and I smoked several fags!) before jetting out, me and Al made the most of the hospitality on board by sinking a few beers, we arrived about 9, dying to know the AC Liverpool European Cup Final score, this wee Spanish guy wandered past laughing 3-0. It didnae take a genius to work out the Scousers were getting gubbed. I wanted AC to win anyway, cos me mate Mark is one of those Scousers who enjoys going on an on about how great Liverpool are. Our wee group waited for the next group of New Order fans to arrive, 10 minutes later we had teamed up with Don, Gary, Gordy and Helen, next thing I receive a text from Grahame saying “3-3 yer missing one of the greatest finals in years!” Foowk! We got two taxis to Las Ramblas, but unfortunately for me, Don, Hibster and Paul we got lost, Hibster’s Spanish was simply not up to scratch! So we spent a long 30 very long minutes trawling the streets for Bar Lisa, in the end we gave up and settled for the nearest place that sold beer to watch the penalties, me and Don were cheering for AC, so when the Scousers won we were gutted, but you couldnae take it away from them, they deserved their night, what really struck me was the amount of Spanish people who appeared in the street with Liverpool tops and scarves! We eventually found Bar Lisa about half an hour later, I can’t remember the last time I felt so relieved, Al’s group found it almost as soon as they got dropped off in the taxi….Bastards! Greg and Ness were also there with Mandy who is a friend of Dave’s, plus Grahame and Alan who we were staying with.. We soon settled down after all the hassle and scoffed a good few bevies, introducing Hibster to Alan was funny, cos Alan had clearly had a few and spoke with a broad Scottish accent to Hibster’s West Country droan. When Hibster said he was a Rugby fan, Alan unleashed a Billy Connolly type verbal of “Aint they all posh gets with names like Tarquin and Henry” which was funny as fuck, obviously Hibster has had this aimed at him several times before (mainly by me, Al and Don during our work emails) so he gave it the same old story of “footballers being poofs, falling over when they are brushed past” Also got a chance to yap away to Gary, Gordy, Greg and Ness who I’d not met up with for a while. If memory serves, we all headed round to The Temple Bar (Irish of course!) for another beer or two and to meet up with Alex,, obviously we are all beer monsters! Stayed there talking away about our travels and the scousers and decided to get home, so our lot got a carryout from one of those dodgy street traders, we sat up for a good few hours watching a mixture of crap German porn which was on the TV, and a neworder dvd I had compiled for the trip, with all the recent stuff on TV. (Jonathon Ross, Later, Popworld etc…)
With Al and Ness in the Temple Bar
Thursday, the plan was to go to the Nou Camp and Cathedral etc… but after walking fer miles around Las Ramblas, we finally decided to get some breakfast, and settled in a Pizza place. Everyone decided to go to the venue of the festival and pick up their tickets, I couldn’t cos Al had sorted my tickets out. So we headed out to the site after taking a couple of tubes, and got the tickets sorted, unfortunately we couldnae get in to the site, but from what little we saw, it looked a big place, as we were leaving we bumped into Paul Carbury aka Mickey Way and his missus, they had not long arrived in the city, we decided to hit the closest bar to the venue, which fortunately was just across the road, we bumped into a lad called Adam who hails from Cambridge, he was a sound lad, he actually lived in Spain for a couple of years as an English teacher, and he was waiting for his mate from Cambride to arrive, his mate posted on the site before we headed out, I think the post was “3 Big strong Cambridge lads are coming over to Barcelona” Oo-er! By the time we got back to the apartment I just thought “fuck it” I couldnae be bothered doing a tour, neither could Don, so we agreed to do it on the Friday. Grahame and Alan had just chilled at the beach all day, and, as had been promised for weeks before we went to Barca, they were going to take us to a gay bar, Dave and Sean had already made plans with Mandy, we got dolled up and headed over to “La Fianna” which is situated in El Borne, you have to see the place to believe it, the bar area is yer standard pub, except with benches and long tables and dim lighting, as you go round the corner to the eating area it’s totally different, it’s all pink and orange and red with big comfy sofa type sitting areas, with big candelabra’s reaching down from the ceiling and it’s even darker in this area than the bar, of course there are normal tables to eat at as well. The barman came over to ask us what we wanted, he was Irish! “4 lagers pal!” he then asked us where we were from and said that there was gonna be filming in the restaurant in the next hour, so would we mind “not turning round and looking like startled deers into the camera” apparently the filming was for !”A place in the sun” which neither myself or Don had heard of, but G and Alan said it was some kind of upmarket property programme on Channel 4. In the end they decided against filming directly behind us, cannae think why! This next bit is class, we were ordering our dinners and all decided to go for Steak, I was first up “I’ll have it well done” as did Alan, DoN went for “Medium” but when it came to G, he had to ask for “Rare” but the Spanish waitress did not have a clue what he meant, so G getting ever so slightly flustered, said in English (very slowly and pointing at the rest of us and using his hands in a one, two, three motion) “Well done” “Medium” “RARE” this dragged on for several minutes, much to mine, DoN’s and Alan’s amusement, in the end Grahame’s steak was just as burnt as the rest of ours but was pink in the middle!
As it was a gay bar and I’d never been before I was keiching it about going to the bog, in the end I had to ask G where they were, after telling me, he says “Watch out for a tap on the shoulder, cos they then batter you over the head and drag you to the cubicle” No sooner had I started to do a pish there was a tap on the shoulder! It was Alan….. the bastard! Half a heart attack but I still found it amusing at the same time. We retreated to the bar area for another couple of beers, then wrongly decided to go elsewhere, mainly to meet up with the rest of the Vikings, I say wrongly, cos the bar was great and the beer wasnae too expensive, so with the executive decision being made we head of to the Temple Bar again where we arranged to meet Al, Gary, Gordy, Greg, Ness, Helen and Mike.
l to r Alan, G, Al, Mark, Mike, Me, Gary, Gordy, Greg & DoN
As we waiting for a beer, me and Don got chatting to a Scouse lad and his Spanish mate Jordi, the Liverpool highlights were on a big screen in the pub, Don was obviously still rankled about Liverpool winning the European Cup and arguing every point with the Scouse lad, I ended up yapping away to Jordi for about an hour, he was as gay as a ten bob note, but to be fair he was a football fan and followed Barcelona, so I took great delight in telling him all about mine and Uncly John’s visit when Celtic knocked them out, funnily enough he could remember the thousands of Celtic supporters, cos we took over Las Ramblas that day and drank them dry. I think his words were “You fans drink empty pubs” which is usually the case when we travel abroad! After getting back to the group (Al’s lot had appeared just after us) I was ribbed fer a good hour for chatting up a gay bloke, which I took in good spirits, as usual with us lot the talk was mainly about football, none of us could believe the Scouse lads were European Champions! The pub was slowly emptying after another few beers and for one reason or another we decided to hit a nightclub, we walked round to the Place Reil to have a look round this massive square, even at 1 in the morning there were still hundreds of people sat outside bars and café’s drinking, the weather was great, nice and warm, anyway, Grahame suggested one particular nightclub, but the bastard was shut, so we walked a wee bit further and ended up in a nightclub called “Jamboree” the whole group was still together, but somehow only myself, Grahame, Alan, Don and Mike ended up inside, the first level was like a nightclub in Corby, pretty dark with a cack wee dance floor, we got the beers in and just stood round the outside of the dancefloor (like blokes do) Mike was in good form, he didnae get up on the dance floor, but I can vividly remember him dancing around where we were stood, we decided to go downstairs for another beer and to see what that was like, it was quite a bit bigger and the place was packed, the heat was unfuckingbelieveable! But as long as we had a beer, we could just about survive, Mike ended up on the dance floor with two American birds, he was clearly enjoying himself! We decided enough was enough not long after and headed back to the solitude of the flat for another couple of beers and some snacks. Ended up in bed about 6 in the morning.
Friday I was fucked, Hibster, Mandy and Sean were at the festival the night before cos they like weird sheet for music! They headed out to do a tour of the City about 1, bollocks to that, I just couldnae face it, after going out for brekky with Don and G, I just lazed about the flat reading the Scottish papers I picked up from a local newspaper vendor for most of the afternoon, the rest of them went to the beach and met up with the others at the Marina. We all started to get ready about 6, I can remember everyone trying to “digsy” the shower for the next go! We had all arranged to meet up at a café not too far from our apartment, on the way, there appeared to be some kind of wedding going on in one of the local chapels, next thing you know this Ferrari comes round the corner, absolute cracker, cannae remember the name of it, cos I’m gash with cars, but it was a 2 seater and had the engine in view (where the back seat should be) absolute cracker so it was. The Café we were supposed to meet in was closed. Luckily Al, Gary, Gordy, Helen and Al’s new bird Jo (who had flown out to be with him after only 3 dates!) found another place just up the road. The place was run by the Italian equivalent of Jack and Vera Duckworth. Mark aka Johnny Giles and Paul Carbury aka Mickey Way and his new missus also joined us in the café and they were equally amused by the Duckworth’s.
Duckworth's Diner
G and Alan suggested we headed back to La Fianna “The Gay Bar” for a few swallies before we went to see New Order, so off we toddled round there, I had been phoned several times from Humberto (Budvar) to meet up, but I ran out of credit and unfortunately we didnae meet up until the gig started. La Fianna was quite busy, but we still managed to “secure” the bar area and grab one of the long tables / benches. The best surprise of the night was also seeing the film crew (from the previous night) again, this time there were three birds instead of the family we saw the night before, it was quite clear to us that they were some kind of wannabe porn stars and were filming scenes from a porno, one of the crew asked us lot if we’d mind being filmed, what a daft question! They filmed the girls having a conversation on the phone and taking a huff, then wandering to where we were sat, one of them sat on Mark’s knee and asked us a few questions, I think Jarvo mentioned London and before you know it, he’d scared the birds off! I think there were about 10 of us in the “round” and we were getting the drinks on tab – funnily enough I’d noticed something that looked like a Euro note on the table, I picked it up and it was 50 Euro’s that was a nice bonus and given to G towards the eventual tab. We headed off to the gig after another couple of drinks, this was the most sober I’d ever been going to a New Order gig, we only had 5 or 6 drinks beforehand. We all caught the tube to Primavera in good spirits, we arrived about half an hour before New Order were due to come on, we bumped into Alex, Jon and Christine as soon as we got through the gates, the site looked massive and the evening air was nice and warm, there were thousands at the stage we were going to to, but first things first, a piss in a secluded part of the site then a pint. Alex managed to get me to enter the sweepstake twice and I ended up with songs such as 586, Decades and Leave Me Alone which hadnae been played for 20 years! There was a lack of New Order t-shirts for a souvenir, so we headed over to the stage, I received a text message from my Uncle John (who was on holiday in Benidorm) the text read something like “Thinking of you jammy bastards getting ready to see the best band in the world have a great night” that’s my Unc! Back to the mayhem, somehow myself and Don had managed to lose the others and we had to plough our way through the crowd of Catalans, funnily enough they didn’t take too kindly to me and Don barging our way past them, we spotted Mark, situated near front stage right so me and Don shouted out “There’s only one Johnny Giles” to bemused looks on the faces of the locals around us. After a few minutes barging our way through we managed to get to the rest of the Vikings, just before the gig started we were stood with Al & Jo, Mark, Alex, Gary, Gordy and Ness, John and Christine were not too far away and G and Alan were on the sidelines determined to take the concert in properly!
Anticipation was high and several chants of “New Or-Dah” started (from us lot) the band came on and there was a massive sway from the crowd even before the concert started, all of a sudden we knew it was gonna be good. Barney says hello, pulls out his melodica and we’re into Love Vigilantes with the long running intro, the place goes fookin mental, to start with I was clinging onto Jarvo but still getting bounced backwards and forwards by a crowd who were clearly up for it, this wasn’t what I was expecting, I’ve heard all the stories about festivals and concerts abroad, so I was expecting quite a mellow crowd, thankfully it wasn’t, it was a typical British gig, hundreds of people down the front singing every word and bouncing up and down like teenagers who had drunk too much Tennant’s Super and were exerting their energy to the music in front of them before collapsing in a heap dazed and confused after the gig! I have to say the music was clear and crisp and the band sounded on fine form, this is the kind of gig you want when you have spent the last month or two sorting out airfares, accommodation and saving for the all important beer sessions on holiday. Crystal was up next and it was business as usual, if memory serves me here, it was this song where myself and Don started to drift through the mellee going on all around us, we had started the gig stage right in front of Hooky, but due to the constant charges a few rows back with people trying to get closer to the stage we ended up centre stage in front of Barney, I was hanging onto Don for dear life, it’s a strange emotion down the front for new order gigs, yer getting battered left, right and centre and yet the emotion of seeing the band and being with like minded souls carries you through, it’s what we’ve always done at gigs, I think the only new order gig where I haven’t been in the ruck at the front was my first concert back at the N.E.C Birmingham in 1989 and the reason for that was we had seating tickets, in 1998 at the M.E.N.A myself, John & Lorraine had seating tickets, but we were close enough to the crowd to jump in and avoid the security guards!
There was no let up in the speed of the set as Regret kicked off, all around us were delirious faces, all suffering the same battering we were taking, I did notice a few people behind us falling to the floor due to the swaying all around (and possibly too much alcohol consumed) but they were quickly pulled to their feet by others before getting trampled on. We were then treated to Road To Ruin, which is one of my favourites on the latest album, just as it started myself and Don had spotted an old friend stood right next to us belting out the words, a good few of us had first met Budvar at the Move festival back in 2002, where after the gig I led a few of the others down the road doing the “Barney” jig. Happy memories. It was equally good to see him after all the carry on trying to get in touch with him before the gig. Krafty and Transmission kept the energy levels up, and to be honest, my calf muscles were killing me as we had jumped up and down like loonies for 25 minutes without a break, so when they announced they were doing Run Wild next I was a happy lad as I knew the crowd would stop for a wee break and I could smoke a fag! Having said that we were still crushed at the front and trying to pull a cigarette from ma pocket was no easy thing, by the time it was out it looked like a banana! Anyway, having had the American bootlegs from the month before I was really looking forward to hearing the band’s new interpretation of Run Wild, it’s basically a light acoustic version and to me it sounded great and again we had several of the locals singing every word like their life depended on it, next we were onto the latest single Jetstream, I thought the band played it well, but after the ferocious start to the gig, the crowd were quite happy to calm down for another few minutes although the chorus was met with the standard jumping up and down. In between songs we had a few words from Barney and Hooky who seemed in great spirits but to be honest I can’t remember the banter too much. Waiting For The Sirens Call was up next and the crowd around us woke up again, I think most new order fans will agree this song is an absolute gem and is regarded by many as the best song from the same titled album, myself and Don had managed to push and shove our way within two rows from the front and when we turned to our right amongst the mayhem we could still see Al, Mark and the rest of the lads (they are not hard to miss down the front!) I think Ness and Helen had managed to get right to the front of the barrier on Hooky’s side.
We were then treated to a few old favourites, Bizarre Love Triangle saw Barney down on his knee’s while singing the chorus I remember this vividly cos Don had his phone camera out to try and capture it, we all knew True Faith would be up next and still there was no let up in the crowd, things were to get even worse when they started Love Will Tear Us Apart, for a lot of the people at the gig I would imagine they have only caught the Order maybe once or twice before and Joy Division are a band still close to a lot of hearts (especially within Italy and Spain) it was absolute mayhem at the front we were nearly on the floor several times during this song, according to G and Alan after the gig – the crowd was going “extremely mad” when they played this. Then mine and Don’s favourite was up, Temptation kept the same intense levels within the crowd and the singing along was great with all the “oo-oo’s” from the Spanish crowd, a joy to behold as always. Exit band stage left, but we knew they’d be back for Blue Monday, they always come back for Blue Monday! To be fair though it was one of the best versions of it I’d heard, with Roger Lyons bringing back some of the 83 programmed part and robotic vox, myself and Don headed over to where the lest of the hardcore were, and I got told off by Gary for my singing too loud, to which everyone else found amusing, when I say loud his actual words were “ Will you shut the fuck up” it may have been more in reference to my not singing in tune.
Gary telling Mike how bad my singing was
After the concert all the mad Vikings met up at the closest bar to the stage, which should come as no surprise to anyone! Us lot were in a great mood, cos we had just witnessed a classic gig, the atmosphere created by the locals just added to everything that is good about a new order gig, meeting up with yer pals, drinking loads of lager and getting murdered down the front while listening to the best band in the world while they are on form! I was also introduced to Dave Legge, Si Sweeney and Neil and Jeanette who was with her man Alan and Wolfram who were also at the gig – unfortunately we missed out meeting up with Frads, dunno where he ended up. I can remember walking round with Don, Dave, Mandy and Paul to get a burger, they were pink inside so I just tossed mine and settled for another beer, we could hear the Human League starting, the next thing I knew everyone had burgered off to see them, except me and Neil who chatted away about Celtic and Rangers, you see Neil, as well as being an Arsenal fan, he has a soft spot for the huns, so we had a heated conversation on Scottish football whilst listening to “Don’t You Want Me” being belted out from the stage across from us, very surreal. The Human League actually sounded alright and after their set the whole lot of us met up again, it was already about 3 in the morning and we were still getting served lager, which lead to a falling out between Don and Hibster, twas all very comical, Dave allegedly fell into Don and spilt his pint of lager, so for the next couple of hours Don kept telling Dave to get him another beer in, this all led to play fighting much to everyone else’s amusement, I also vivdly remember Gordy wandering around in Helen’s Green cardigan which he pinched from the back of Helen’s chair!
Al and Hibster discussing the merits of a Viking Flag Dress
We also met up with Danny from the German Order who was with his missus, this was the first time I’d met Danny, we had a good laugh, mainly talking football and new order….what else!?! There was also a local lad who was the double of Alex, except his belly and side burns weren’t quite as big I think we stayed at the site drinking until 5 then decided we had to get one of the last buses home, which was an event within an event, the bus was mobbed but us lot managed to get a seat, which clearly riled a few of the locals, one of whom was waving a football flag – I think it was Argentinian and had political connections because Big Gary was arguing the toss with the lad in Spanish – which was brilliant cos both of them were winding each other up and I could swear Dave was also speaking the lingo and confusing the poor lad even more.
Our bus driver was quite clearly a practising taxi driver cos the journey was fast and bumpy to say the least! But we got back to Las Ramblas safe and sound and after a couple of days we knew exactly where our apartment was, we got “home” to a scene which will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons. The G-Man was out for the count on the sofa, the Television was on and showing awful 1970’s style porn, on G’s lap there was half a roll of tissue paper and a scud mag opened to the centre pages and the best was saved till last a bottle of washing up liquid in a clear jug on the floor for lubrication, why oh why me, Dave or Don never got a picture still astounds me cos it was an absolute classic, the next day G would claim that his mate Allan had set up him up, but you can decide for yerselves. I had to wake poor G up and say “Would you mind moving G – yer kipping on my bed!”
After the gig with Greg & Ness
Got to bed about 7 and we were up again at 12! Celtic were playing in the Scottish Cup Final, and we all knew it was Martin O’Neil’s last game in charge, after 5 long years it was cheerio to our saviour and we had another nutcase taking over in Gordon Strachan. I along with G and Alan headed off to the Michael Collins pub which was conveniently situated next to the Sagrida Familia Cathedral which I missed out on the last time I was in Barca, unfortunately there was a massive line of people waiting to get in – so we headed straight to the pub to get a couple of beers and prepare ourselves for an emotional afternoon. I think Don, Hibster and Paul headed down to the beach to meet up with the others. The pub had a big screen and nice cold pints of Stella, by kick off time all the seats were taken and there was a wee atmosphere building, talking to G and Alan we decided we didnae care what the score was as long as we won! Which of course we did winning by a single goal scored through a free-kick from Alan Thompson which Bobo did well to get out the way of! After another beer or two and watching Martin O’Neil, John Robertson and Stevie Walford collect the Cup we headed back to the appartment in very good moods. Don was getting ready to go out – everyone had arranged to meet at the Marina for a last night meal. Having planned nothing else we all headed down and after 20 minutes of arguing which way it was we found the restaurant where everyone else was, they all had a table situated outside which took in a cracking view of all the boats in the marina, everyone was at the meal except Dave, Paul and Mandy who were at the festival……and new order weren’t playing!?! I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the prices, so I opted on a beer and no food, afterall, food is for jessies. Mind you, seeing Don tucking into a steak I was getting a wee bit watery round the mouth, I spent most of the evening panicking about sleeping in for my flight the next morning, you see, I was supposed to be on the same flight as Al and Mark, but they bastards booked themselves to go to Lisbon instead to catch another new order gig! So I had to fly back all on my tod, and my travelling record on my tod is not good, the first time I travelled home alone was after one of the new order online piss ups in Manchester, I was that pissed getting the train the next morning I got on the wrong train and ended up in Milton Keynes rather than Kettering! After being assured I’d be alright (mainly from Ness, Don and Gary) I relaxed a wee bit and it was a good craic being with this mad bunch and getting the piss ripped cos of my singing at the festival during new order the night before! Most of the group decided to go back to the festival for shite such as They Might Be Giants, so I headed back to the Gay Bar with Alan and G, we had a good craic talking about this mad mini holiday we had and the porn stars and steak problems and sleepwalking and New Order and Celtic, the usual! G and Alan tried to get me to stay out, but being too sensible for my own good I headed back to the appartment about half 12. That was it. Holiday over as I woke up at 7.30 to get a taxi to the airport.
As always when meeting up with all the new order lads and lassies a great time was had by everyone, usually aided and abetted with far too much alcohol being consumed, Barca was a fantastic setting for the gig, the weather was magic and the people and scenery magic. We were also very lucky with a crowd who were clearly up for it and I made another few pals on the trip, Alan and Sean were a great craic, and like me and G, Alan is a massive Celtic fan! Also Wolfram who I’d meet up again with at T in the Park (even if I did forget him again!) And we met up with Si and Neil and German Danny at Hyde Park. A massive thank you to the usual suspects, G, Don, Jarvo, Hibster, Mark, Greg, Ness, Gary, Gordy, Mike, Helen, Alex, John & Christine for making the trip worthwhile. Oh, and the band for being on great form. For now Amigo's it's Adios.
, pity you weren't in Brittany, would have been nice to meet you. Instead i met some of the other vikings and had a great time, during the gig and afterwards!
What's with the picture of you and the girls in a gaybar? Are they real, transvestites or Totally Spies look-a-likes?;)
Official Gobshite if you listen to the rest of them ;)
