Hyde Park. The Whole Truth.....VERY LONG!

neworder Hyde Park, London 24th June 2005.

Right, yous’ll have to bear with me on this wee tale, cos my memory is fookin terrible at the best of times, and seeing as wee drank the equivalent of a small scandinavian army (possibly of Vikings) you will understand things are not quite as clear as they should be. We had been building up for this weekend ever since we got back from the Primavera Festival in Barcelona last month, expectancy was high, because Barcelona was not only a great gig for the band, but the Catalans and fans from all over Europe who travelled to see neworder for the show made it into a British type atmosphere with the mosh pit and constant shouts for the band inbetween songs. There was a group of about 30 of us Vikings over for the gig, several of whom had already taken in the first four gigs of the “Festival Tour” in the USA. So we roll on 3 weeks from Barcelona, and I find masel on the way down to London for the next leg of my mini-tour, I am in a car with John, Lorraine and my missus (who after several weeks of harassment) who finally caved in to go and see the Order and we are listening to a collection of B-Sides and Obscurer neworder tracks that John had put together. Ahead of us by an hour was the second part of the Corby Order, driven down by one of my best mates Darren aka Baldrick, also in the car were two more Sludden’s in the form of Steve and Eddie (who both post on NOOL) and another friend Cam.

l to r Baldrick, Me, John, Steve, Cam, Eddie, Lorraine and Tamzin

The weather was pretty miserable the whole day, overcast and warm, with several showers. We arrived at Hyde Park corner just before 4’o’clock, and after getting directions from Mark we were soon at the pub, the place was absolutely mobbed, with upwards of 100 people congregating outside, lager in hands, and several different types of neworder and joy division t-shirts and one guy stood at the pub entrance with a Viking helmet, I should have introduced masel but we were more concerned about getting straight to the bar for a liquid refreshment. Before having a chance to have a look about to see who was in, this Baldy guy with a strange northern accent, Manchester City hat and neworderonline t-shirt grabbed me, aye, twas Rocket Mick! Eyes wide open clearly he had already partaken in a lager or two and was clearly having loads of fun with fans he’d not met before. Before we had ordered our first pint another lad came over to myself and Mick, pointed at us and said “You’ll be amazed by this (pointing at Mick) You’re Rocket Mick and you’re ShugZV…..I bet you haven’t got a clue who I am!” He was right, we never had a clue, even though this guy had sent us several neworder rarities over the years, it was Clive aka Old Blue. Absolutely top bloke is our Clive, I can remember receiving a double CD he compiled back in 2001 with loads of stuff not released on CD before, 7” versions of singles and rare remixes etc… The pub was absolutely packed to the rafters, we had a quick look and noticed several of the “hardcore” Jarvo, DoN, Ness, Greg, Gary, Gordy, Mike and Frads (all of whom I’d had the pleasure of being in Barcelona with) and said a brief hello to a few others, I also had the pleasure of bumping into Brian aka 5 hates 6 who’d travelled down from sunny Scotland, it’s always good to put faces to names. As I mentioned before, The Audley was mobbed, so me, Tamzin, John and Lorraine decided to get some air and stand outside the pub, it was then we bumped into even more familiar faces, JT and Lucy whom we’ve had the pleasure of drinking with a couple of times (Rob Gretton’s memorial night and The Pogues last December) and both masel and JT have sent various pieces of neworder stuff each way. Also bumped into a great lad who never posts on the site called Ian, who was with his wife and a couple of friends, before DVD Recorders were readily available on the market, Ian used to send me several parcels of goodies, and not only that, but they were professionally done with covers and labels (he’s a graphic designer) so it was great meeting him again. The funniest thing was while us four were outside talking away with all the fans we totally forgot about the rest of the Corby Order who had been in the pub bevvying away, Steve said he’d been yapping away with Rocket Mick and Barney Army (who’s name has escaped me again!) Another couple of beers had been sunk when the German Order appeared outside, I met Danny in Barcelona when he was with his missus, so I went over and said hello, and he introduced me to the rest of the lads, obviously I asked them all which football team they supported! If memory serves correctly one of the lads follows a German 4th division team, fair play! I took them over and introduced them all to the Corby Order and several pictures were taken. Tim also came over for a yap with all of us as well, like Rocket he was also sporting a neworderonline shirt.

Corby & German Order with Tim

Rocket Mick buys a round. World Exclusive

The day wasn’t the brightest, but with the free flowing lager coming at us left, right and centre and the banter about football and whether neworder would play E/G/G (which David Sultan had caught at the soundcheck) we were all in great moods, unfortunately I missed the chance to say hello to David, he’d disappeared when I finally got the chance, I also missed out meeting Chris Nash and his missus who had also gone to gig earlier, which was a shame. Anyway, next thing you know Mark aka Johnny Giles has popped outside to see us, he said something like “You’ll never guess who’s in the pub……only John Collins” to which Rocket Mick, quick as a flash, said in that broad Chorley accent of his “Joan Collins? What’s she doin ere?” a Rocket classic I’m sure you’d agree! As you can imagine, all us Sludden’s were delighted to have a Celtic legend in the place, especially Eddie, as JC was his childhood hero. I dived over to the pub entrance and apologised for being a pain in the arse, but said we’d gie him peace if he jumped into one photie with us, to which he obliged, I think Uncly John told him we were all massive fans and would never forget the goal at Ibrox when the forces of darkness banned the Celtic fans. I did mention to JC later that all of us were trying to decide his best goal for Celtic and he said we’d be there all night. Class.

I think it was about 5ish all of the Corby Order (except masel, John and Lorraine) buggered off to the Festival as they wanted to see Graham Coxon, The Bravery and Moby. It didnae matter, cos every 5 minutes we were bumping into more new faces, Ed who posts on World In Motion spent a good half hour with us, I think he went in early as well because he wanted to see few of the bands before the Order. The rain was coming down in stages now, a few minutes here and a few minutes there, only the Northerners remained outside, I think mainly cos no-one else could understand what we were saying. If memory serves it was me, John, Lorraine, Jim and Lucy, Jim (double L) and his mate Andy from Darlington who was sporting another Viking Helmet and Steve and his missus aka The Nuts Family, can I just say that Steve gives Rocket Mick a run for his money, not just on the obsessive nature of their new order collections, but talking absolute bollocks and speaking in a very strange accent, seriously though, they are two of a kind, both as mad as they are funny as foowk. After suffering a bit of a soaking we all decided to head in the pub and meet the rest of the peeps. I think it was Rocket who had introduced me to Darrell aka Fac 51, Juha aka King Of Nothing and Maya aka N.O Babe.

With Maya

I was also introduced to Geri and her husband and also Ed Boland and Lucy and Ian Yeung (who had only posted on the site once before)and a few others, I also remember giving a Vikings badge away, but I cannae remember the lads name, and I also gave Stockholm Monster a free ticket for the gig, which Grahame Ferguson had sent down from Glasgow as he couldnae make it. Again after several beers more, I bumped into more familiar faces Dave Legge, Helen, Neil (who’s aRangers fan) and Si Sweeney (we were all in Barca together) then there was Sanjay and DC, Bansheeman, Chemical and Nick King and the guy who posts as Rathbones who was a cracking laugh, I told him I’d forget his name and I have! Also a bit later on Marko appeared, another lad who I’ve traded stuff with in the past and another of the giants…. The average height for a lot of these buggers is about 6ft 2, which is a pain in the arse when yer a modest 5ft 7! Every five minutes there was someone with a camera, so I can’t wait to see some of the pictures that have not yet surfaced yet. It’s hard to keep up with this wee tale, but I’m trying to remember everyone who was there, I met Phillip Collins for the first time, he plays in Digital with Tim, then there was Will and Warren from Re:Order who are top, top lads, and all of Jarvo’s mates and work colleagues without forgetting the lovely Gina. I also remember Gary asking me to introduce him to my Uncle John, so he knew exactly who was to blame for my neworder obsession….lol. It was now just the hardcore drinkers / Vikings in the pub, everyone was in great spirits, and the atmosphere at times was like that of a football match, with several chants of “New Or-Dah New Or-Dah” much to the bar staff’s amusement.

Viking Hordes and l to r Will, Me, DoN, Ness, Dave Legge

We all decided to leave the pub at the last minute so we timed it just right for neworder coming on stage, I think most of us left The Audley about 10 past 8 for the 10 minute walk to the Park, as soon as we got into Hyde Park I found a tree to do possibly the worlds longest piss. Luckily for masel, John and Lorraine, Cam who came with us for the day was looking for the bogs, so he was available to take us back to meet up with the rest of the Corby Order.. I think you may know where they had situated themselves…..right next to the beer tent. They were all looking a bit worse for wear and a wee bit wet, well that will teach em for going in early for The Bravery, Tammy told me that Eddie, Cam and Steve had spent more time perving on the birds at the festival than watching the bands, fair play, Baldrick was behaving cos he’s got a girlfriend and Tammy knows her, plus the fact he was driving so he couldnae swally any beer! John suggested we get a couple of pints before diving down the front, we timed it to absolute perfection, a couple of bottles (plastic) of Carlsberg each then we got Lorraine and used John as the battering ram to get through the crowd, now when John wants to get to the front you don’t get an “Excuse me” or “Sorry” from him – he just kinda grunts and barges through any wee gaps he sees, quickly followed by myself and Lorraine. Just as we got to the front Alan Wise came on stage, told ye’s we timed it perfectly, the crowd started making some noise and you sensed it was gonna be good, Lorraine saw a gap at the barrier and dived for it, me and John stayed put, about 5 lines from the front, ready for the madness which we knew was about to start. The band came on stage to massive cheers and promptly kicked off with Crystal, which I had said in the pub they’d kick off with. Within seconds the mayhem started, everyone jostling to maintain their position, the surprising thing was that a lot of the people down the front were :ahem: getting on in years. The Blackburn Youth are a myth or legend wrapped in an enigma, everyone’s heard of em, but for some reason or another we keep missing them at gigs, but I could swear I saw a few of em diving and pushing like maniacs, Niel Johnstone aka The Hac Must Be Rebuilt was amongst this mad group behind us. As I had a good look at all those going mental I saw more and more recogniseable faces, Gary, Gordy, Mike, Jarvo, Mark, Alex, Will, Warren, DoN, Greg, Ness, Hibster, DC, Marko, Ed, JT, Lucy, Nuts, Tim, Rocket, Jimll, Andy, Brian D, Frads all going fookin mental, then as I looked at the front there was Jim Reilly Jim Reilly stood next to Lorraine. You have to remember we were all very drunk, and my memory is as bad as anyone’s, plus being in the mosh pit was like going 8 rounds with Tyson as we all received several blows to the head and body, which is basically what it’s all about.

Me and John down the front alongside Will, Jarvo and Warren

Crystal passed by in a daze, quickly followed by a blistering Regret, it was about this time when John noticed that Barney wasnae staring at the autocue half as much as usual, it would be later on we would find out that due to the weather or technical fault, the auto cue was fooked, so Barney was flying solo, which became more apparent throughout the gig. Somehow I had still managed to hold onto my two bottles of lager, though a helluva lot of it was spilling from the bottle as we bounced up and down, the poor bugger in front of me got covered, but we didn’t care and the crowd was singing along with every word of every song, a scintillating atmosphere which was lapped up by all around me. After Regret I was actually hoping for a bit of respite, but as soon as we saw Barney with the melodica we knew what was coming, it was Love Vigilantes alright and it started in the same way they used to play it in the 80’s with a longer intro, absolute class, we were right in front of Hooky, who was clearly enjoying himself, prowling the stage like he owned it and pulling plenty of rock star poses to the adoring masses. It was one of the best versions of Love Vigilantes I’d heard in a long time and the pogoing and pushing was reaching murderous levels during the chorus.

After the song finished the fans started with the now famous “New Or-Dah” chants and Barney made a comment about coming up with a better tune for it, he also asked the crowd if anyone had Hay Fever, cos if they did they were welcome back stage for a “snort of something that will sort you out” Class. Krafty kicked us all off again, my legs were getting heavier and I was aching all over with the madness around me, I was holding on to the lad in front for life with two beers, still in my other hand, this was when I decided to make a move and get even closer to the front, after a few wee shoves I was directly behind Lorraine and Jim Reilly, I found masel stood next to Jeanette who was with Alex and his pals. The first breather of the set came thanks to True Faith, I think all the older people in the crowd had run out of gas with all the mayhem, it’s probably been a wee while since some of them have enjoyed a mosh pit like this, I sparked up a fag for masel and Jeanette, and had a much needed swig of lager, fookin heaven I was in, John had managed to get back over to our new position, and as I turned round I noticed The German Order had found where we were and they had joined the mad Vikings at the front. I distinctly remember Transmission kicking off, cos I heard someone say “They are doing a Joy Division song? Great!” Obviously not a frequent gig goer then! The first strains from Hooky’s and Phil’s guitar and Steve’s speed drumming set the tone for the chaos to begin all over again, so many people were singing along, it was brilliant. Run Wild was up next, and this was the moment in the set when most people knew for certain there was no autocue for Barney, cos we couldnae work out what the fuck he was singing, he basically ad-libbed most of the song, and came out with lyrics including Satan somewhere along the lines, DoN picked that up, I was too busy singing the proper lyrics.

While this was going on Hibster took the chance of the lull in the crowd to get a good few snaps (see band shots above) with his special 12 gauge camera that can zoom for miles! Masel and John were just happy to get an opportunity to scoff some more beer. Jetstream passed by and sounded great with Dawn on backing vocals, they should have used Dawn at Glastonbury instead of Ana! Waiting For The Sirens Call rolled along and if memory serves, there was a total fuck up in lyrics from Barney, with Dawn again helping him out, it was around this time Hooky went for a wander along the outskirts of the stage and standing underneath the BIG screens lapping up the crowd and giving it laldy. The crowd picked up in ferocity for the old favourite that is Bizarre Love Triangle, Lorraine was singing very loudly along with this, as she turned and said at the start of the song “This is MY song” Barney once again doing his now customary kneeling and singing during the chorus and his daft one legged dancing during the rest of the song. I actually remember that BLT got the best reception of the night, especially around us, and as I say the “Mosh” pit again kicked off big time and this is the song where people probably took most of a battering.

Next was another bonus for the people who don’t attend many gigs, Love Will Tear Us Apart, with people around us knowing there was no autocue, I feared the worse, I was expecting a song with total lyric fuck ups and verses round the wrong way, funnily enough this is what happened I think. Still the crowd were too busy going mental and singing along that we didnae notice too much, I can remember Will from ReOrder taking several pictures of the Viking crowd at the front as well, plus he had me and John telling him ReOrder have to play Corby so we can hear aa decent setlist! Temptation (my all-time fave) was up next, and although I always love it, I thought it was missing a bit of something, couldnae put ma finger on it, but it sounded a wee bit flat for the first couple of minutes, as the song went on it picked up, and again we got the famous “1, 2, 3, 4” bit from Barney before the song takes off onto another level. My favourite memories from this part of the gig was me and John starting off the “der, der der der der der” part sing along wit the crowd around us, magical stuff. The band disappeared after this, but we all knew they’d be back, and most of us were praying for Everything’s Gone Green, which as I mentioned way back in this wee story, was played in the soundcheck.

Unfortunatley we didnae get it, or Age Of Consent which I’ve been waiting to hear for so long now. Someone needs to give the band a slap for not playing this and should tell them to get rid of that daft Jazzed up True Faith. Whinge over, the band came back and gave us another couple of Joy Division songs, crisp and clear versions of Atmosphere and She’s Lost Control, with very little “whooping” from Barney, which I’m sure kept a few of the JD purists a bit happier. Blue Monday (what else) closed the show, I think Barney said it was “that fookin song again” Yep, heard that before. Still, with Roger Lyons’ updated programming we have been hearing something close to the 83 original, which is refreshing. I have to say Phil looks an integral part of the band, and he frees Barney up a lot on guitar, Hooky looks like he’s having the time of his life, we all know he’s at his happiest when the band are on stage, Steve looks like he’s constantly asleep, my missus couldnae believe how good a drummer he was, and yet he looks so bored. Barney’s Barney. As most of the crowd filtered away, we stayed right at the front meeting up with all the usual suspects. John was hoping for a setlist, little realising Al had already accosted Diane and received 2 of them. John saw one on the floor near us, picked it up and realised it was for Moby’s set, not happy he screwed it up and threw it away. As everyone else headed off to The Audley for another few beers, we had to dive to the tube station to get the tube back to Finchley and drive back to Corby, which was a right bastard cos I was dying for another few beers with the lads n lassies we’d been out with all day. C’est La vie.

I’d just like to say cheers to everyone who made it to The Audley it was a fookin pleasure and a magic day, we are easily the best fans in the world! If I have missed anyone out please let me know so I can amend the story, my missus loved the experience as did Steve, Eddie and Cam who were all neworder virgins. They can’t wait for more gigs, luckily me and the missus and John and Lorraine are all going to T in the Park along with a good few of the usual suspects. Cannae wait peeps.

“New Or-dah, New Or-Dah, New Or-Dah”

oldmonkey wrote: And you said you were drunk Shug - you've remembered nearly all of it! Top recollections of a top night out. Buy that man a beer. Belgium?

I cheated slightly, I read up most of the Hyde Park thread on the Ceremony forum, after that I tried to remember everything that had been said that might have been of interest, plus I downloaded the MP3's of the show last week, that's how I jogged me memory.

Due to lack of funds the only concert I can attend for definite is T in the park, once I sort out the tickets with Col, there are possibilities for the last date of the tour in France, but if I'm honest, that's a longshot. Still, Barca, Hyde Park and Scotland will not be too bad. Lottery is on in half an hour, ma fingers are crossed!

Jimll wrote: Shug, how the hell did you remember all that!? I can barely remember the set list let alone so many peoples names! But it was a top top day/night out, and one of the better NO gigs in recent years! Can't wait for the next one...Absolutely top quality write up, you deserve to win The Booker Prize for that one!!

Cheers, and cheers to everyone else for their comments, glad people enjoyed it. I do it as much for myself as anything, cos if it's not written down now, I'd never remember anything in a few years time. I cheat by reading up on the old threads for certain things.

I have now started the Primavera Story from Barcelona, I have been on the phone to Jarvo, DoN and Grahame today, cos there's loads I had forgotten, espescially the names of the pubs we were in and what we got upto. Hopefully people will enjoy that when it's finished as well, cos I hate the thought of coming across like a self indulgent twat