The Sydney Show: a very detailed review through the eyes of a New Order newbie. By Chris Z.
I rocked up at the Horden just before 7 and everyone was waiting to get into the Horden, I got my green band around my wrist which could let me purchase alcohol if I chose, but didn't need it as I didn't drink.
The line moved, I reliquished my ticket (Door 2) to which I was told souveneir tickets would be given out at the end of the night, and I entered the Horden and lined up at the bar to get a water.
So I eventually joined the que for Door 2 and got another water, which to my disdain you had to bring your own lids, that's right, no lids allowed, probably for two reasons:
a) Tightning it and throwing it as a hard projectile. b) Sneaking in liquor and what not.
Door 2 opened at 7:30, Door 1 was a minute behind. I filed in amongst the people and saw some go up to the stage and stand in front of where Hooky was to be standing.
I however, having never been to a concert, took up a seat at the back, front row.
The Support DJ came out, a fat man and a thin girl with blonde hair, I don't know if this was Artur Baker or not (thanks to See-Ye Tan I now know this duo was called 'Severed Heads'), but their music was just tolerable, even prompting somebody from Aisle 2 in the seating area to scream out "You Suck!!!" later on.
After 2 songs from this duo I left my seat and went down to the 10th row or so to test the waters to see if the loud music would give me a migraine, to which I suffer from, and naturally I didn't want the night to be ruined, as some of my Migraines have put in hospital before with the pain.
At the 10th row, I felt confident I could be there for the concert, so I went outside, had a cigarette, called a friend to eat up some time, and got a water, entered door 2, popped 4 Codeine pills to ensure I wouldn't have a migraine and feel a little relaxed.
The last song this duo played was 'The Dead Eyes Open' to which the crowd appreciated. Then a long-dreadlocked DJ came out (Arthur Baker I presume) and spun a few records for about and hour and 20 minutes, this was boring, with me checking my watch every 2 minutes anticipating New Order, but I had to stand there to secure my good vantage point, the only song I liked was a Confusion remix, to which I sang along with.
At around 9:25 or so, the DJ introduced the greatest band in the world (his words, I agree) ... New Order!!!
The crowd went wild and I could feel my amount of personal space diminishing.
The first song they played was Crystal and it rocked hard as did I, singing all the words, and even got a glimpse from Barney (as the poeple around me were cold fish pretty much), as I was kicking hard like I was on something, but it was my own adreneline.
At one point in the early set I threw up my hand and pointed to Hooky in a 'you the man' expression, to which he looked at me, smiled and made eye contact ... I was in fucking heaven.
The next song was Transmission, which was good, and after that was Regret to which everyone enjoyed and my hand motions in the air and singing every lyric continued, at at this stage I was even inspiring a cold fish next to me, to occasionly raise his hand as I noticed he watched for when I raised mine and then did a half-arsed one of his own ... good for him.
It was my motto that I was going to do everything I would do at home while listening to NO at the concert, but let me clarify.
There are three types of crowd members roughly:
a) Cold Fish ... they stand, occasionally nod and clap after a song, sometimes even sing back under there breath, nothing wrong with this at all.
b) Anything Goes Fish ... these people will react to anything, from a DJ spinning an AC/DC song to New Order, they don't care what's on, they are just enjoying it, nothing wrong with this either.
c) New Order Fish ... these guys will only get pumped for New Order, and often will sing back aloud and do hand motions to the band ... I was this type of fish, unfortunately not for the whole show though.
After Regret they played Ceremony to which I was suprised and happy, unfortunately, my space was getting very tight, and the air very dense through the Hordern Pavillion not pumping up the air conditioning enough, to which Barney even said around the 7th-8th song "It's a bit hot in here can we turn the air conditioning down, I mean put it on" something to that effect.
Two girls pushed there way near to me, but I made them get back through many hand movements in the air and dancing wildly ... back you heathen women! Back I say!
Towards the end of Ceremony, I could feel very hot and could only get a good cold breath of air every 30 seconds or so, the air was very dense in there, through a few people smoking cigarettes, and somebody smoking Marijuana, as I could smell the rich blend of Ganja burning from around the 6th row in front of Hooky.
And so I said to myself "Ceremony only runs for 4:11 minutes approx" and at that point, I had to face the sad realization that I couldn't remain at this spot throughout the whole show with no water. :(
I only lasted in the 10th row centre until the end of 60mph (5th) song, to when I said to myself "Without water, and cold air, I am going to collapse and nobody will care because NO is so good ... and I'll die down there" so I made my way to the back of the hall, to which many people parted to let me through as I said "excuse me, thankyou" and so forth, but a couple must have been very stupid assuming I was trying to steal their spot (hello? people push in to get closer to NO, not further away you dimwits!).
So I stepped outside and missed the 6th song, don't know what it was (thanks to Adam Read's setlist info it was 'Your Silent Face') and got more water.
I then entered through Door 1 and stood at the centre back to hear Barney say "I don't think we've ever played this one in Australia before, this is a Joy Division song, Atmosphere" to which the crowd went wild, and I sung along all the words, but was totally drained of fucking energy.
After Atmosphere, I went outside again to get more water and smoke a cigarette and while lining up for the water saw a couple of people who had been at the front for the whole time outside.
I thought, 'wow, they must have been hot too, to give up his fantastic position in front of Hooky, I wonder if he can try to get it back later ... it's doubtful though'.
I came back through Door 1 to hear the last half of Touched By The Hand of God and took up seating on the near back left side, aisle 12 if I recall correctly.
From up there I was able to see NO from yet another perspective, but also see the mass of people, which was huge from the angle I was at ... It was literally a 'sea of heads' all looking bald, and reminded my of those Nazi propaganda reels of film you sometimes see on the news with thousands of Nazi's linedup together standing ... It was a good perspective as I could still see NO clearly and observe Barney's dancing, the whole crowd and the lights shine over them, and even saw Hooky shake someone's hand, give them a pick (lucky so and so's) and see someone throw a toilet roll onto the set to which a crew member promptly picked up.
I sat in this spot for the next 6 songs, 2 of them encores.
Bizarre Love Triangle was good, but I lamented slightly having not been in the 10th row centre for it, but I still sung all the words.
True Faith was great, and this is when lament really hit me, damn the heat and these people using my precious oxygen (you know what I mean), I still enjoyed it and sung all the words, and hoped Barney would change the lyrics to "Now they're taking drugs with me" ... he did and I screamed out in joy ... thankyou Barney, I really wanted to hear that version.
It would have been nice if True Faith had of been just a tad slower, as that is when the song has it's best effect, but still it was performed great, and I really appreciated the 'proper' lyrics to it. ;)
Temptation was a crowd pleaser, the highlight of which was when Barney started to sing "Ooh you've got ..." and there was one light from each side of the stage upon his face, and then the lights at the back of the stage changed to Green, Blue, and then Grey upon the lyrics ... very pleasing to see.
Love Will Tear Us Apart was good, unfortunately it was the first time I had heard it, thus I didn't know the words, and sat back and enjoyed it.
Then Barney said "Thankyou everybody" and they left the stage.
I knew this was a trick, that they always do a 3 song Encore, yet the thought did cross my mind that if the crowd had of stayed silent perhaps with the heat, NO may have said "forget it, no encore".
From my seated perspective the seats rumbled as people stamped on the floor and cheers and claps could be heard, I joined in, banging so hard I thought the people in the seat in front of me may have gotten up to smack me, lucky they didn't ... for them I mean. (just kidding) ;)
The boys came back out and Barney said "Ah your a fuckin' great crowd, better than us" and then said "We'll give you a choice between Isolation and Rock the Shack" everybody shouted what they wanted, some just cheered knowing they were going to do both (like me), and Barney said "alright we'll do both, Rock the Shack first, no Isolation first" as it appeared the person on Keyboards prefered that.
Isolation was very good and a crowd pleaser, and Rock the Shack, went down well also.
Next was Blue Monday and I though Barney would intro it like he has done at some concerts by saying "this is the song that made us famous" or so forth, he didn't and they played it, to which everyone loved, and I moved down to the back of the standing crowd to enjoy it.
Then it was over, and Barney said "Thanks everyone, see you Saturday Night" (Big Day Out) and everyone left the stage except Hooky who banged on that drum machine with his drumstick.
To my amazement some people left, and I thought "Hooky is still on stage, don't leave!" and after Hooky was finished, some lucky person got that drumstick, and Hooky left, as did everyone else then.
Overall the highlights of the night for me were:
- Getting to see NO.
- Getting eye contact from Barney.
- Being in a good spot for the 1st 5 songs.
- Seeing the concert from 3 different perspectives.
- Not getting a Migraine, just fearing Heat exaustion.
- Hearing the true version of True Faith.
The BEST highlight was getting a smile and ackonwledgment from Hooky, I will always remember this as it was tailored specific to my 'You the man!" point and facial expression ... I never forget this.
The Lowlights of the concert were:
- Having to leave my spot due to overcrowding, and the heat in the Pavillion
- Missing out on 2 & 1/2 songs
- Not being familiar with 3 so I couldn't sing along properly.
- Merchandising only offered 2 shoddy T-Shirts, one a USA one (what's the point?) the other a Get Ready one that didn't even say 'tour' on it ... but I bought this to have 'something' from the concert.
And I left the Pavillion, got a souveneir ticket (door 1, it would have been nice to have a Door 2 one like my original ticket but oh well), waved at some guy when I was in his camcorder vision (if there are bootlegs, I may be on it!!!), and lined up for a cab.
I came home, cut my wristband off to keep as a small Memento with my ticket and T-shirt and went to sleep, feeling still very good about the 'Hooky' acknoledgement.
The End
Well I hope you've enjoyed reading this, as I enjoyed typing it. Feel free to use this description for New order Online if you want, thanks. ;)
so I must have his address someway, hahah.
I did recall having a beer with Ahmad Daizli after the HUM record signing.
Amongst the signed stuffs I've mustered, the most treasured one is a GET READY tour poster signed by Hooky :D
