Funniest gig?

What in the opinion of the great and the good of NOOL (or failing that, you lot), was the single most piss yourself and fall over concert NO have ever given. One of my fave things about them is that very often they turn into a bizzarre unscripted unforced unintentional cabaret. that's were I was going with the Double act thread, that NO are unique in having two gobshites upfront who play off each other, but the thread went off somewhere else, and I as the great rambler wasn't about to start getting all precious about it :)

So for my money, the top 5, in no particular order....

Barrowlands 86 hammerstein 05 (possibly THE funniest thing ever) Edinburgh playhouse 86 (85?) Woolwich coronet 87 damnit the other one I was thinking of has left my brain so I'll lie and say Kilkenny 83

ummm... I dont remember Woolwich Coronet being that funny; twas my second NO gig, and they played some odd choices was what I remember. The venue was odd too; its now a Carribean 'born-again' church thingy, as in brotherly love.

The funniest gig for me is the one on TV from Live Aid in the BBC Manchester studio in 1985. Barney getting so wound up is still comical to watch.

Coronet had a few blinders...... "some improvisational singing now, fuck fuck fuck fuck basically" "yes thanks very much, I always thought I was witty instead of being a pissed up twat" and maybe (tho this may be central london poly) "we've not played this part of london before, and errr I think i understand why now really"

is the one you mean the one featuring..... "and I still find it so hard to stay in tune with you, but I'm quite sure that you'll tell me, what the fook we should do"

Thats the one... and Barney giving a massive sideways glance at Gillian when Temptation starts totally out of tune.. He also has a massive problem with his mike foamy bit and rips it off during 'In a Lonely place', shouting 'Faster' a lot at Steve, making him drum faster than he normally does. He introduced one song (I think Temptation again) as an 'atmospheric song in a very unatmospheric place'

As for Woolwich Coronet.. I really enjoyed it.. never got the tape.. I think they played a JD track, mebbe Atmosphere or SLC. not sure. One of the few things i remember is going out and buying 'Still' the next day.

Burt Reynolds wrote: Thats the one... and Barney giving a massive sideways glance at Gillian when Temptation starts totally out of tune.. He also has a massive problem with his mike foamy bit and rips it off during 'In a Lonely place', shouting 'Faster' a lot at Steve, making him drum faster than he normally does. He introduced one song (I think Temptation again) as an 'atmospheric song in a very unatmospheric place'

As for Woolwich Coronet.. I really enjoyed it.. never got the tape.. I think they played a JD track, mebbe Atmosphere or SLC. not sure. One of the few things i remember is going out and buying 'Still' the next day.

Atmosphere, a crime against music. But it was nice to hear it, that boot was the first time i'd hear them do it.

Was the sound good BTW, the boot is really hollow.

They also did "Do the Ostrich " a classic

Let me see.....

Cologne 01 (the Robbie Williams support slot) has to be the funniest ever. Naked saunas, marching music, you name it!

Kilkenny 83 was a classic, as it was so out of character with what we usually got on stage those days. Gawd knows what he was on that night!

Barrowlands 85, if only for the Ethiopian prostitute joke.

Birmingham 84, when they offered the DJ outside for being a twat throughout.

Birmingham 85, for the intro and subsequent improvisation to Sub-culture.

close contenders:

Birmingham 86 - general tomfoolery

Wolverhampton 86 - "I've always liked Wolverhampton....."

I wasn't at either one, but Cleveland and Reading on the TECHNIQUE tour were quite funny. I think the former's "Vanishing Point" is one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

Brixton 83 - Slim the roadie singing "Love Reaction"

Al Jarvis wrote: Only thing I remember funny about the Woolwich Coronet was my then girlfriend getting a strop on cos the Wonder Stuff got bottled. She thought it was a terrible thing to do to a support band!

But they were support at a New Order gig, that's practically a blood sacrifice, didn't she realise?

There's a coupla gigs up there I aint heard which are now on my cabaret list. I was actually looking for something on soulseek yesterday that sam chapman mentioned (and was very right about I might add :) ), and lucked into someone with the motherlode on thei HD. All the times I searched for New Order and came up blank, but searching for Propaganda, I find tons. It's almost certainly one of you loons as they have shug's apollo aftershow pic on their machine. I grabbed edinburgh playhouse off 'em, and barrowlands (I just CAN'T keep that fuckin gig, I've bought a dozen copies, and Mick or OldMonkey sent me a cd a coulpa years ago, and I STILL can't keep it in grabbing distance).

And AFTER downloading 2 whole gigs, I discover that either all his files are corrupt, or the linux version of soulseek doesn't know how to save flac files properly (at least it doesn't know how to stream them onto a windows network share, this being more likely since windows and linux handle streams and pipes very differently.) Looks like I'll have to start over :( (when he pops up again)

Anyway, keep your funniest gig suggestions coming. I wonder if the sheer shock of hearing how mental they can be live was actually amplified by the press's constant portrayal of them as dour wankers.

there was one festival as well where Barney had total "salford tourette's" (or maybe I hybridized a couple of gigs in my in my head i dunno)...."sorry about that, but you have to admit it, it was shit, but the next one's gonna be good tho, cos it's all done all by computers" and "this is the first festival I ever been to where the band's more out their heads than the audience"....possibly also the gig where (to my ear) the deliberate assassination of Blue Monday started to become their favourite game (house pianos and shireking choral hits).

Sometimes I dunno why Mr Digital Mike gets so upset with the thing, when NO clearly hate it was well and do everything in their power to mangle it night after night.

EDIT: Hull: "seems like i've been here before"x3"I've been to hull before" :)

The 'more out of our heads than the audience' gig was Reading in 1989, i think.. although it could have been G-Mex in late '88. At Reading, Barney started playing loads of funky Italian house piano over the end of Blue Monday.

I've never seen mention of them fucking up BM at Hyde Park in these pages; Barney entered the vocals far too early. Was it just me?

And I just watched the Live Aid studio gig in 1985 again. It's hilarious.

Burt Reynolds wrote:

And I just watched the Live Aid studio gig in 1985 again. It's hilarious.

That one was actually NOT live aid and was 1984 , not 1985.It was part of an all day music thing the BBC did, 'Rock Around The Clock'.It was at Radio 1 's Maida Vale studio (the New Order part) the rest of the days music was all over the country.

The " atmospheric song in an unatmospheric place" comment was referring to the previous song 'In A Lonely Place' and not an intro to the next song 'Temptation'

Funny how a lot of there funniest gigs have been Birmingham ones.Probably they had to make them more fun because of the place they were in

Burt Reynolds wrote: The funniest gig for me is the one on TV from Live Aid in the BBC Manchester studio in 1985. Barney getting so wound up is still comical to watch.

Ooh, where can I find that?

Johnny, I bow to your superior knowledge.

The interjections of Feargal Sharkey appealing for money made me think it was Live Aid. The set list on the back of the bootleg did say 1984, but no source, and the producer was Mark Radcliffe which made me assume BBC Manchester.

Having said all that, it's still a classic in Barney Angst.

new girl wrote:

Burt Reynolds wrote: The funniest gig for me is the one on TV from Live Aid in the BBC Manchester studio in 1985. Barney getting so wound up is still comical to watch.

Ooh, where can I find that?

Should be able to find it on p2p networks, it was never officially released. Finding the video will be a lot harded than finding the audio. I'd ofer to email it to you, but i can't put my hand on it just now.

I'm possibly posting the beat up video recording I bought in Camden Market in 1987/8 to Digital Mike, so it will soon be available, as he has the technology.

Shame I got the gig wrong, but thats life.. My apologies for inventing a new gig, but its deffo worth watching, together with 'Cramp' for a Spanish TV special, not cos it's funny, but it's really good.

Watch this space..

This year Dublin - Barney in that Adidas baseball cap!!! Amusing, but sweet also!

Burt Reynolds wrote: The 'more out of our heads than the audience' gig was Reading in 1989, i think.. although it could have been G-Mex in late '88. At Reading, Barney started playing loads of funky Italian house piano over the end of Blue Monday.

I've never seen mention of them fucking up BM at Hyde Park in these pages; Barney entered the vocals far too early. Was it just me?

And I just watched the Live Aid studio gig in 1985 again. It's hilarious.

That was definitely Reading 89, right before TPK starts. And that was not the only show on the tour with house piano on Blue Monday - anyone know the first gig where they did that?

The Red Parrot in Perth on Feb. 21, 1987 has the funniest BM ever: "If it wasn't for my big boner, I'd be a heavenly twat today / And I thought I was a bastard, and I thought I was a cunt / Tell me how does it feel when your dick is small?"

Barney's set dedication at Fins 87 is absolutely one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

(see below)

Church of the KLF wrote: Barney's set dedication at Fins 87 is absolutely one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

(see below)

It wasn't meant to be funny. It was Bernard stalling his words over something he felt a bit uneasy about saying. Caroline was dead, and would have been there were she not.

Yup, Cologne 01 was both hilarious and cringeworthy.

Also the California 87 gig that old monkey sent me, when someone in the crown shouts for 'plantation' and barney goes "it's temptation, knobcheese!"

Johnny wrote:

Burt Reynolds wrote:

And I just watched the Live Aid studio gig in 1985 again. It's hilarious.

Funny how a lot of there funniest gigs have been Birmingham ones.Probably they had to make them more fun because of the place they were in

:D

Johnny wrote:

Burt Reynolds wrote:

And I just watched the Live Aid studio gig in 1985 again. It's hilarious.

That one was actually NOT live aid and was 1984 , not 1985.It was part of an all day music thing the BBC did, 'Rock Around The Clock'.It was at Radio 1 's Maida Vale studio (the New Order part) the rest of the days music was all over the country.

The " atmospheric song in an unatmospheric place" comment was referring to the previous song 'In A Lonely Place' and not an intro to the next song 'Temptation'

Funny how a lot of there funniest gigs have been Birmingham ones.Probably they had to make them more fun because of the place they were in

i have that rock around clock on video somewhere barney also grabbed the top off the microphone and threw it across the studio, he wasnt enjoying it much

I think the coughing competition in Stockholm '01 was quite funny.

Cologne...I'm trying to place that gig. Is that the one that EVERYTHING breaks down in, and hooky (or was it barney) falls flat on his arse while gooning about? Seem to recall seeing such on one of the shugsters vids.

On that Rock around the clock, I'm sure barney gives Gills the glare cos she's far too loud rather than out of tune on temptaion. I guess for a band that were still a little camera shy at the time, being stuck in a BBC storeroom with 3 cameras probably didn't appeal. And since they seem pissed oss from the get go, you can bet there was TV-twat stress going around before they played.

Funny how i'm the only one who thinks woolwich was funny.

Hooky also made the dedication for LWTUA at Barrlowlands (87?) "this is for a very dear friend of ours who couldn't be here cos e's dead"...think he meant Ian?

I'd always put the Caroline thing down to being a nasty comment regarding a certain nasty breakup. Just goes to show, you shouldn't assume cos it makes an ass of u and me

Steve Campbell wrote:

On that Rock around the clock, I'm sure barney gives Gills the glare cos she's far too loud rather than out of tune on temptaion. I guess for a band that were still a little camera shy at the time, being stuck in a BBC storeroom with 3 cameras probably didn't appeal. And since they seem pissed oss from the get go, you can bet there was TV-twat stress going around before they played.

Bernard was speeding off his tits - bet you can't even see his pupils on the video!

Now that you mention it he does sing a bit like he has lockjaw on that one :) Pupils? I can barely see his gob, the tape's a bit furry and my video is a wanker about anything it didn;t record personally.

Must admit Rock around the Clock was very funny..

Very hot temps...bad traffic jams..and bad drugs by the look of it.

Burt Reynolds wrote: Johnny, I bow to your superior knowledge.

The interjections of Feargal Sharkey appealing for money made me think it was Live Aid. The set list on the back of the bootleg did say 1984, but no source, and the producer was Mark Radcliffe which made me assume BBC Manchester.

Having said all that, it's still a classic in Barney Angst.

Sorry if i came across as a bit "superior knowledge".Wasnt my intention at all.Just thought i'd enlighten you on that particular gig.It does seem to get confused a lot as being a Live Aid thing.

I'm surprised no one else went for the Hammerstein show. I think it's hilarious. Maybe it's my twisted (and more than a little New Order guided) musician's sense of humour, that makes the deliberate murder of so many innocent songs, interspersed with such blatant attempts to offend the audience (this is obviously a relative term, blatant OUTSIDE germany i mean), all beautifully crafted to render the show utterly unreleasable. It reuly is a masterpiece of uncooperative bastardness. I love New Order.

BTW, which one of them sings SLC like "Anne Elk" (high pitched monty python voice). I was sure it was Hooky, but someone else said it was barney, I wouldn't think the Barnster could pull such a voice off as it only works if you totally fail to hide the fact yer a big gruff man. I can't check just now cos one of my HD's went baps up a month or so ago, and I've no room for a local New Order gig library just now.

Paul Trowell wrote: Must admit Rock around the Clock was very funny..

Very hot temps...bad traffic jams..and bad drugs by the look of it.

Yeah I watched that in 84.I've recently got In A Lonely Place from that performance on download.."Speed it up a bit,Steve...it's a bit faster than this". Oh and the kiss-off to BBC,on BM for probably being told not to swear on live TV before the watershed."Though I'm quiet sure that you'll tell me...what the fcuk I should do"

It was " What the fuck WE should do", just thought I would clear that up !

I think most the shows from 2001 onwards are funny, I mean needing an auto cue for songs like Temptation, Ceremony etc.:D

Prefer the improvised versions myself.

I dunno, every time I see that tardoprompt I think of that Victor Lewis Smith sketch about frank sinatra going senile...."that's why that's why the gerbil is a lamp"

And weep that maybe Barney fears that, and that somehow, he doesn't know he's been doing it since 1980.

digital mike binoche wrote: It was " What the fuck WE should do", just thought I would clear that up !

OOH You wouldn't let it lie!! Another fine avatar again mate!

THATS O.K. JOHN THE POSTMAN,BUT NOT AS FINE AS SEEING ALYSIA MILANO IN MY NEW AVATAR!!!!

monty wrote:

digital mike binoche wrote: It was " What the fuck WE should do", just thought I would clear that up !

OOH You wouldn't let it lie!! Another fine avatar again mate!

Fook where's Juliette???