Brixton Academy 10th November 2005. The Vikings Return.
After a few months of absolutely no neworder activity things suddenly took a turn for the better. News broke two weeks early that the Order had been confirmed for a gig at Manchester Apollo on Monday November 14th. There were two sources for the initial leak, Garymac who is a kind of second cousin removed 8 times to a certain band member of the band was the first to leave a cryptic message on neworderonline, it was along the lines of Shugster and Rocket book yer tickets for the 14th – see you’s for a beer. This led to Rocket Mick phoning me while I was scoffing ma dinner and led to frantic phone calls to at least 30 of my mates on the site, much to the amusement of my missus who was still tucking into her dinner, I had a half eaten Lasagne and Chips but decided there were more important things to be getting on with!
After missing out on the Apollo back in 98 I vowed never to miss the bastards again given the chance, at least this time we had a few days to get things going. Alex had also posted on the site, so I phoned him for confirmation which was duly despatched. What’s all this got to do with Brixton? Well Brixton news didnae get through to us for another 3 or 4 days, by which time I had already joked via email we should get a new badge done, within 3 days Al, Johnny Giles and Colin Torr had already clubbed together some dosh and designed a new Vikings badge for the occasion, imaginatively Colin came up with the Apollo 14 logo and I believe Al and Mark came up with the idea to commemorate Darren Grubb’s brother Phil who passed away earlier this year through cancer by using the Power Corruption & Lies code which was also used on the John Peel pins. The funniest thing I can remember was getting a phone call from Al halfway through a round of golf asking me what colour the G was on the PCL code! Plans were also underway to get a message to the band to dedicate a song at the gig.
As I mentioned, it wasnae till 3 or 4 days later the Brixton Academy news broke, this led to a fucking mental 3 or 4 hours abusing the work’s email address and telephone system, apparently London was announced before the Manchester gig!?! But as usual there was no promotion and no-one had picked up on it till near the last minute, neworderonline went into near meltdown with everyone talking about the gig, but luckily on the day of sale just about everyone got a ticket, we did the usual trick of ordering 4 each so we could help our mates or onliners who weren’t fortunate enough to get a ticket, my email was also jammed with several requests but after we’d sorted our pals out there weren’t any left.
The news of this gig came shortly after New Order were announced as inductee’s to The British Hall Of Fame, this is an event which started last year and was broadcast on Channel 4, last years inductee’s included Madonna, The Beatles & U2. Some would argue that New Order should have been in before U2, but that’s a debate for another time. The two gigs announced were seen as a warm up for The Hall Of Fame, but we weren’t complaining, we have had a great run of gigs this year, and after all the festival adventures in the US, Europe and the UK, we were all looking forward to a proper New Order concert where we weren’t stood in a crowd with hippies, goths, British Sea Power shrub bearers or spotty students, basically a crowd who loved a beer, talking footy, a good mosh pit and chanting for the band without upsetting anyone. Arrangements had been made by a good few of us on the site, the location was to be The Canterbury Arms, the venue in which loads of us had met before for Kraftwerk and Happy Mondays amongst others. The Canterbury is a nice wee friendly pub and a good craic is always had there. I had one day’s holiday left and two gigs to attend, I decided to use my holiday for the Manchester gig and pull a dentist appointment from the hat to get down to London, unfortunately a long standing friend of the family died a week before the gig and his funeral was held the same day as New Order, so no excuse was needed in the end, I have to say it was a very surreal day though!
Liam, Lunatic Fridge & Fiona
?, Mike, Helen & Mickey Way
After a very sombre morning and a quick pint at the wake I headed up to get ready to travel down to London with John & Lorraine, we left late (which is the norm for The Corby Order) I think it was quarter past 4 when we arrived in Kettering, but John did his best impression of Michael Schumacher to get us to Finchley for just after 5, some going that, texts were coming left, right and centre and we made it to the pub about 6, as we were walking towards the pub we could see there were a few people outside and the biggest lad had a baldy head and was speaking on the phone, me and John both said “Jarvo” at the same time, it wasn’t him though. It was just the fact there was a big guy and a baldy heid! We got into the pub which was filling up nicely at the time, needless to say there were no seats, but there was a wee bit of room for us to stand, we did the usual and headed straight for the bar, as usual I was swamped with handshakes and hugs before I got a beer in! Most of the usual faces were already in the pub and a few new ones as well, Al, DoN, Hibster, Nick King, Greg, Ness, Old Blue, True Blue, Alex, Jeanette, The Hac, Mr & Mrs Manic, Geri, Julie, Delilah, Vinnie with his instant request of “Where’s my Electronic DVD” Mickey Way, Mike Garrity, Timbo, Wolfram, Neil, German Danny and his missus, Gary, Mike, Chris Nash, Gordy and a few others. The beers were consumed with ease and it was great catching up with everyone again, afterall it had been a good few weeks since the John Peel gig. We were gutted Rocket Mick couldnae make it, so myself and Mike went outside to phone him and cheer him up. Geri had made the effort to fly over from Holland for the gig, so big respect for that, we talked briefly about Celtic and Hearts (Hearts had just sacked George Burley and just signed Graham Rix as manager) Geri was sat with another two onliners, Julie and Delilah, I remember Julie, cos it was her who did a big dissitation on the band for her degree and several of us filled in a big questionnaire as part of that. I also heard that when Hibster arrived at the pub, Niely was outside smoking a dodgy looking fag and telling the landlord not to let Hibster into the pub, a bit of a joker is our Hac!
Wolfram & Gordie
John & Lorraine
After another beer or two got over to see Al to annoy him for some of these new Viking badges, a work of art they are, he couldnae believe how many people had already asked him for the badges, this could well be the last batch for a while! Afterall Al was handing out Colin and Mark’s share as well, and we still had the Manchester gig (for which the badges were designed) to go to, so Al was a wee bit worried. I did the usual and tried to get a wee chat with all the usual faces, Al was out with Sunil, H & Geordie, Sunil has been to a few gigs with us and is a top lad, though not sure what he was thinking with his Tweed jacket and jumper combination, the poor lad must have been really soaked through at the gig, Geordie is a lawyer fan of Al’s and was clearly worse for wear, Al has since mentioned he had to keep pulling Geordie out of the mosh pit in fear for his mates life. Classic. H is also at most gigs with Al, but I honestly can’t remember saying hello. Late arrivals included (or may have included) Dave Legge, Will, Johnny Giles, DC & Marko and Colin Torr, more beers were consumed and it was only a matter of time before the first NU ORDAH chants went around the place. I also met a couple of new faces, Simon was at the bar when I first got into the pub, he posts on the site under the alias as ever and forever, he explained why but my memory is gash, he was a sound lad and was asking if Rocket Mick is really as mad as he seems on the site, the reply from me was along the lines of he’s even worse, I can also remember yapping away about Electronic as well for a bit cos Simon’s looking forward to a DVD I have lined up. Another new face was Lunatic Fridge, he’s been posting for a while, and is a regular Re:Order groupie, he was stood with Liam and a girl called Fiona who was a fan of the band Battle who were supporting, so I got chatting to them for a while as well.
With Chris Nash
Neil with Mr & Mrs Danny
Then there was Anthony Glampson who’s only just started posting, Ness brought him over to introduce us, Tony was already several sheets to the wind and we had a great craic, he got into the Order back in 84 through one of his uncles so we were talking about loads of early neworder tv appearances, Rock Around The Clock was the thing that got him hooked on the band, Tony was with a pal, but apparently he got ejected for being too young, but not before him and DoN had a bit of a falling out over football. Tony’s pal was a big Chelsea fan and asked DoN who he supported, so a big Man U v Chelsea argument broke out, all harmless enough mind. I decided to get a few pictures for the site, knowing Hibster had a press photo pass, I took almost all of my pictures in the pub. Also met Sam Chapman for the first time as well, she teamed up with Frads and another lad who’s name I’ve forgot to create The Stoke Order, they have a flag with Stoke City On Tour. New Order. Fair play, that flag is Frads’ pride and joy. Nearly forgot to mention Alex’s legendary sweepstake, I got the usual duffer that they’ve not played for years and DoN argued with Alex that even though he paid his two quid he couldn’t see his name on the list, this was most amusing, Alex also roped the landlord of the pub into the sweepstake and the poor bugger drew out Ice Age! Later we would find out that Mickey Way won the 70 odd quid on the sweepstake. I was also yapping to DC and Marko for ages and I remember telling DC he’s got to post some more of his Joy Division recollections (he went to 12 or 13 JD gigs) and I had to apologise to Marko for forgetting his name! I also introduced them to John and Lorraine, they were stood talking to Mr & Mrs Manic.
Mr & Mrs Milky and Mike Garrity
With Dave Legge & Will
?, Ness, DoN, Greg, Vinnie,?,?
Even more beers were scoffed and it was approaching 9 when all the usual suspects still in the pub decided to make a move, we arrived down the front a good five minutes before Alan Wise took to the stage, to be honest, it was a relative stroll getting to the front – although we did hear someone moan about being stood there for 3 hours! Daft cunt. Wisey came on to introduce the band as the Beatles or something similar and got hit by a packet of Rollo’s thrown by the crowd, not to his amusement. I remember Dave Legge turning to me and saying it would be ace to get Ceremony as the starter…..and it was! The place went fookin mental, I looked round to see an ecstatic Al Jarvis, you see this is his favourite song and he even signed his marriage certificate while this song was being played. The crowd was clearly up for it tonight, I was jumping up and down with Dave, DoN and John, directly behind us was Mike Garrity in the daftest looking cap yer ever likely to see, but there was a dual purpose to this as the cap contained microphones co Mike was recording the gig, having listened back and hearing all of us singing Ceremony along with Barney it’s a bit mad. Hibster was doing his using his photo pass for all it was worth, he must have taken a couple of hundred pictures!
Hibster.
Al, Sy Sweeney & Nick King
Marco, Peter & DC
We were all buzzing and squashed to buggery, the good thing about being right down the front is that once one person goes mad – so does the next person, so it was a sea of pogoing maniacs stuck together like sardines in a can! We used to stand in front of Barney but these days Hooky is much more of a showman, so we’re always down next to him, Lorraine and Ness were right on the barrier for a birds eye view so to speak. There was great banter throughout the gig, the band were in really good spirits and we were continually asked if we were enjoying it. The melodica was picked up so we all knew what was coming, Love Vigilantes again got the crowd jumping about and singing along and there were a few faces stunned to see them doing this song, I heard a few remarks about them not ever seeing the song live, obviously they don’t follow the old buggers round like us lot! With Crystal kicking off, all of us regulars guessed we’d be going back to the normal set-list of the summer. To be honest the sound in Brixton isnae the greatest, but it’s the atmosphere and the singing along with yer mates which makes this wee venue special for the fans, myself and John also started shouting the guitar parts during the songs and were joined in by all around us, fuckin mad us lot! Krafty was up next, as several of us had predicted, again to confused faces asking how we knew what was next! But the biggest surprise of the night was coming next, Barney introduced it as a song not played before, so we were all wondering what it was gonna be, no-one had an idea that we would get TURN for the first time, even before the song had started we were already jumping up and down going mental, I remember DoN grabbing us and saying “No fucking way!” As I said the acoustic’s were poor and we couldnae make out every word, but us lot have been saying for ages on the site that Turn is the best song on the album and have been playing it more than any other on the album, poor Baldrick had to listen to it a good 15 times in a row on the way back from Happy Mondays at the same venue in March! So we all knew the words and sang along as loudly (and badly) as we could. Seeing a live debut always adds something special to a show and I’ve seen a good few now! The band weren’t quite ready to slow down just yet and launched into a blistering version of Transmission, it was funny seeing a few of the older faces clearly suffering from exhaustion, and no I am not pointing the finger at Tim, Al, DC, Marko, Johnny Giles, Luntaic Fridge…..honest.
The Stoke Order with Tim and Hac giving the fingers.
Gary, Jeanette, ?
DC being a veteran of many Joy Division and New Order concerts later remarked it was the best version of the song he’d heard since Joy Division played it themselves, so high praise indeed for The Order! Thankfully after this they slowed proceedings down with Your Silent Face, which I particularly enjoyed as this song gave me just enough space to dip into me pocket and draw out a fag, one handed I must add, there wasnae that much space! Fookin heaven, a cracking rendition and my craving for a cigarette taken care of, next up was Waiting For The Sirens Call, after the shock of Turn, we had all started predicting the set-list again to perfection, John remarked that he wasnae that happy with WFTSC as it’s not a great gig song, a great album song but it doesnae quite hit the spot live. The remixed version of True Faith we’ve had since the Apollo in 98 was up next, and I think it was at this time when our good friend Frads had spotted Jarvo in the middle of the mayhem making wanker gestures at Hooky and telling everyone who’d listen the band were sh1t. Al’s not a big fan of the dance part of the set, and to be honest, most of the hardcore would relish classics like Age Of Consent (which I shouted for inbetween songs) Sunrise, Procession being brought back for the (un)holy trinity of TF, BLT & BM. Bizarre Love Triangle was next up – enter Barney stage middle dancing around like an “embarrassing drunk 50 year old uncle at a party” ©British Sea Power fans. And getting down on his knee’s and praying, always an entertaining sight that. To keep things going we were also treated to a very loud and frantic Love Will Tear Us Apart, and again the place erupted, we got murdered to this more than just about any other song. The obligatory Blue Monday was next, time for a fag! This time I only managed half of it before the bouncing bodies around us knocked it out ma hand! Again we had the origins of the original version of this song through Lyon’s programmed synths and we were happy enough, looked round to see Mike Garrity stood dead still with a grimace on his face, I don’t think he’s a fan of this song, this was also the time where DoN & Hibster nipped off for a couple of liquid refreshments at the bar, I managed to get the last mouthful of lager from Hibster’s pint on him re-entering the fray. Off went the band to rapturous applause and loads of Nu Ordah chants from us lot at the front.
Alan Wise came back out and said the band had dedicated the set to Michael Shamberg (long time friend / video associate of the band) who had not been well, then he brought Shamberg to the front of the stage. I should also mention that throughout the gig we saw Gillian standing in the wings with Arthur Baker and Michael, it looked like they were having a great time. The band returned to the stage to give us a Joy Division encore, a few of us lot were quite lucky as we had already seen them play Shadowplay & Warsaw at the Peel Day gig, but this time were were down the front and able to dive about like demented weans. Shadowplay was a bit slower and less power than the Peel gig, but Warsaw kicked the sh!t out of us, Hooky looked particularly bemused at a lot of the old faces suffering around us, Ness also got a hello from the man himself and at the end of the gig he threw a drumstick to Lorraine – which landed in another Onliners hand, but Hooky was adamant it went to Lorraine, which made her night! To finish with we were offered a choice of Atmosphere or She’s Lost Control, SLC won quite convincingly and everyone seemed happy enough. The band were pretty fookin tight and got good write up’s in some of the daily tabloids and them posh papers that Johnny Giles and Col read as well as the NME. Steve’s just a constant, even my missus is impressed with his drumming and she’s not easy to please! As for Phil, he’s clearly one of the lad’s though he wants to stop mimicking Townsend with them daft windmills of his, Barney and Hooky always put on a show.
I have to say the crowd were bang up for it tonight, it was chaos down the front, you could hardly move and everyone around us was jumping around like mad eedjits. The best thing was being surrounded by all of our pals, we travelled a fair bit over the summer to see this daft band of ours, but this gig was all we wanted, no festival fans just a lot of neworder fans clearly game for having a good time. Top marks have to go to Al, Mark & Col for sorting out the badges / money at very short notice, to Hibster for some cracking press pass photies and then to John and Lorraine for driving us down and back so I could make work at 8 in the morning, though fcuk knows how I made it! A massive thanks to all the usual suspects and the new faces I bumped into, it’s always a pleasure meeting up with new Onliners, they soon see we’re not a bad bunch of people. NU ORDAH!
8!?!?! Top work me ole fruitcake! I heard Dylan do a verse of London Calling at Brixton which ma Uncle Ted had downloaded, shit hot, cannae wait to hear the rest of yer stuff.
As Tony Green would say "eeeeeeeeeeen one"