Soundchecks

Plenty of unasked/unanswered questions left Shug!

"Is Peter Saville a racist, hence all the white sleeves?"

"Were Bernard's whoops written on the autocue?"

"Why does Hooky keep cutting his hair only to grow it back?"

"Did Phil cause the break up in some evil plan to get Hooky to join his other band?"

"Will the two new bands go head to head on a new saturday night show where we have cast our vote via a mega fuckin expensive on screen phone number?"

Happy Mondays,at the SECC in 89-90ish, SECC's only along the road from us,so me and my mate went down early to try and skip in as we had no tickets,like Shug,we were looking for a back door,met Shaun Ryder and some big fucker outside,had a joint with him and he put us on the guest list.

Oh,and we never seen the soundcheck :\ohwell:

Loads of us ended up in Reading Uni soundcheck with a load of cans! Me & John & Big Alex the london bootlegger got in Edinburgh playhouse, we told venue security we werer wanted on the mixing desk immediately, where were shown to the stage! We walked through all the gear, in front of the band, went through a side door on the other side of the stage & promptly walked to the mixing desk & sat down in front of it after saying hello to Oz the soundman! Hooky stared at us throughout, & had us thrown out the night after in Glasgow. Different songs were definately played at this one.

Shug wrote:

Gazman wrote: Happy Mondays,at the SECC in 89-90ish, SECC's only along the road from us,so me and my mate went down early to try and skip in as we had no tickets,like Shug,we were looking for a back door,met Shaun Ryder and some big fucker outside,had a joint with him and he put us on the guest list.

Oh,and we never seen the soundcheck :\ohwell:

That was the day before my first gig at the NEC me ole fruitcake, I know cos a pal of mine and Uncly John's travelled up fer it. 25-3-89 ;)

That date sounds about right Shug, they played the Tuesday night (we had tickets) then announced the following Sunday.

I watched the Royal Festival Hall Soundcheck in 84, some great banter from Gretton :)

Shug wrote:

El Jarvo wrote:

Gazman wrote:

Shug wrote:

Gazman wrote: Happy Mondays,at the SECC in 89-90ish, SECC's only along the road from us,so me and my mate went down early to try and skip in as we had no tickets,like Shug,we were looking for a back door,met Shaun Ryder and some big fucker outside,had a joint with him and he put us on the guest list.

Oh,and we never seen the soundcheck :\ohwell:

That was the day before my first gig at the NEC me ole fruitcake, I know cos a pal of mine and Uncly John's travelled up fer it. 25-3-89 ;)

That date sounds about right Shug, they played the Tuesday night (we had tickets) then announced the following Sunday.

Nah, 1990, shirley. Mondays were no way big enough to play SECC in 1989. They ended with a proper mutli-date tour of the country in 1989 after Madchester Rave On was released but still played nowhere bigger than the Free Trade Hall or the Town & Country Club. Somehow they then exploded in early 1990 (when 'baggy' went global) and played multiple nights at the likes of Wembley Arena and G-Mex - exactly the same time as Step On was released, which of course was a huge hit for them.

I was gonna say my bad, but that's well gay.

I just saw the SECC bit, the Mondays supported New Order at the NEC, I thought they supported New Order the night before in Glasgow, hence that date.

If it was just the Mondays, it would definitely have been 1990, there's a cracking gigography on that Mondays website - in one of the forums. Will post a link later.

I knew the date was familiar Shug (25 3 89),that was NO, if i remember rightly,my guest pass for HM said 2/12,that was the sunday night,so the Tuesday wouldve been end of Nov, as for the year... Hurry up with that link amigo..

aye, a guy called gerald as support at the secc, my first new order gig. and one of only two that i have been at sober.

I got in the soundcheck of Rio's gig (2006). See almost all the musics, then Hooky saw me and ask the security do kik me off..

got all around the st george's at bradford before being kicked out, never heard the check.

new topic or already covered??

oh, how many of your children, illigitimate or otherwise now are fans of new order joy division? if so, how when fav worst song etc........

sonofneworder.com

"Why does Hooky keep cutting his hair only to grow it back?"

Done loads of soundchecks over the years, last one was Wembley when Andy Robinson invited me and Spotnick down to Wembley for what was basically a private gig, complete with Hooky in armchair! Back in the mid 80s we would arrive at the venue really early and get in before security were on the doors, keep out of everyone's way and just watch/tape. Never any hassles from Rob Gretton or anyone else.

Most of the time they would do a couple of all guitar tracks, some sequencer stuff and stuff that used everything, just to get the levels etc. The songs played at the soundcheek wouldn't always then be played at the gig, but it was often a pretty good indication of what was going to follow later. Sometimes though they would do totally different stuff, there was always snippets of JD basslines. Got about 50 on tape/CD I suppose, most of them edited down so you only get the full tracks, but some last 90 minutes or more.

I wonder what songs they soundchecked at Wembley in 06?

Wasn't there a rumour that they soundchecked Age of Consent a few times in 05/06 but never played it for some reason?

And what about Everythings Gone Green? Why did they only play it twice in 05?

Just things I am curious about. :)

El Jarvo wrote:

Shug wrote: I just saw the SECC bit, the Mondays supported New Order at the NEC, I thought they supported New Order the night before in Glasgow, hence that date.

Nick's mate Gerald in Glasgee, the Mondays minus Bez in Brum!

Discography would be interesting to see!

Yes indeed! :)

25th March 1989

Zachery Starkey wrote: I wonder what songs they soundchecked at Wembley in 06?

Wasn't there a rumour that they soundchecked Age of Consent a few times in 05/06 but never played it for some reason?

And what about Everythings Gone Green? Why did they only play it twice in 05?

Just things I am curious about. :)

They played an unreleased song at the Wembley soundcheck, one that would have been on the next album that will now never see the light of day. Besides that it was pretty much what they played at the gig. No JD stuff in the soundcheck though.

Age of Consnet was rehearsed, but not played, because they couldn't get it to sound right in a different key to suit Barney's voice. EGG was only played a couple of times because they hadn't really rehearsed it, as you'll tell from the renditions!

Probably quite a bit of stuff Shug - I'll let you know more when everything is unpacked and I am sorted again.

I sneaked into Wakefield unity Hall in 1980 for a Skids gig :D During the soundcheck the tape deck failed and as I had gone straight from a workshop day at college and had my tools in the car I offered to take a look. It was a dry joint and was fixed in 5 minutes, as a result I watched the gig from the side stage and spent the night getting pissed on roadies beer I got a load of freebies from Adamson RIP and Jobson including merchandise and drumsticks etc......

Not a NO soundcheck but its the best I could do

El Jarvo wrote:

Gazman wrote:

Shug wrote:

Gazman wrote: Happy Mondays,at the SECC in 89-90ish, SECC's only along the road from us,so me and my mate went down early to try and skip in as we had no tickets,like Shug,we were looking for a back door,met Shaun Ryder and some big fucker outside,had a joint with him and he put us on the guest list.

Oh,and we never seen the soundcheck :\ohwell:

That was the day before my first gig at the NEC me ole fruitcake, I know cos a pal of mine and Uncly John's travelled up fer it. 25-3-89 ;)

That date sounds about right Shug, they played the Tuesday night (we had tickets) then announced the following Sunday.

Nah, 1990, shirley. Mondays were no way big enough to play SECC in 1989. They ended with a proper mutli-date tour of the country in 1989 after Madchester Rave On was released but still played nowhere bigger than the Free Trade Hall or the Town & Country Club. Somehow they then exploded in early 1990 (when 'baggy' went global) and played multiple nights at the likes of Wembley Arena and G-Mex - exactly the same time as Step On was released, which of course was a huge hit for them.

The Mondays played the Barrowland in November '89 at a gig that was originally supposed to be at Strathclyde Uni. The tickets for the gig were actually printed on Strathclyde Uni stock. Support was MC Buzz B. Was a pretty crap gig to be honest. No idea when they played the SECC. I wasn't there.

Tim wrote:

Zachery Starkey wrote: I wonder what songs they soundchecked at Wembley in 06?

Wasn't there a rumour that they soundchecked Age of Consent a few times in 05/06 but never played it for some reason?

And what about Everythings Gone Green? Why did they only play it twice in 05?

Just things I am curious about. :)

They played an unreleased song at the Wembley soundcheck, one that would have been on the next album that will now never see the light of day. Besides that it was pretty much what they played at the gig. No JD stuff in the soundcheck though.

Age of Consnet was rehearsed, but not played, because they couldn't get it to sound right in a different key to suit Barney's voice. EGG was only played a couple of times because they hadn't really rehearsed it, as you'll tell from the renditions!

Probably quite a bit of stuff Shug - I'll let you know more when everything is unpacked and I am sorted again.

Thats interesting about Age of Consent. I wonder what the big issue is.....I really dont think its that hard of a song to sing.....even with Barneys current voice.....if he can do Transmission so well (and I think he does) you would think he could do AOC.

So not doing EGG was just a case of laziness???? I did hear the one recording of it on this site and it was a bit sloppy but still sounded good.....would have rather heard them play EGG at Chiacgo 05 rather than Love Vigilantes for the umpteenth time.

Whats this about them doing one of the unreleased songs from the unreleased albums at the Wembley sound check????/really??? What did it sound like? Was it more guitar rock or dancey.....very curious!

GlasVegas wrote:

The Mondays played the Barrowland in November '89 at a gig that was originally supposed to be at Strathclyde Uni. The tickets for the gig were actually printed on Strathclyde Uni stock. Support was MC Buzz B. Was a pretty crap gig to be honest. No idea when they played the SECC. I wasn't there.

Well remebered G I knew id seen them in the Barras earlier than '92

I wandered in to a NO soundcheck in June '89 on a ski hill in the mountains near Salt Lake City. We managed to hang around for nearly an hour.

We watched them play several tunes that weren't played at the gig that night, but after "Shell-Shock" one of my bastard buddies cheered, which alerted Rob Gretton to our presence, and he promptly had us tossed- herded out by a guy on a horse. We did manage to stretch the booting out as long as possible, tying shoes and stuff to prolong our little private New Order concert.

Zachery Starkey wrote:

Thats interesting about Age of Consent. I wonder what the big issue is.....I really dont think its that hard of a song to sing.....even with Barneys current voice.....if he can do Transmission so well (and I think he does) you would think he could do AOC.

So not doing EGG was just a case of laziness???? I did hear the one recording of it on this site and it was a bit sloppy but still sounded good.....would have rather heard them play EGG at Chiacgo 05 rather than Love Vigilantes for the umpteenth time.

Whats this about them doing one of the unreleased songs from the unreleased albums at the Wembley sound check????/really??? What did it sound like? Was it more guitar rock or dancey.....very curious!

The only reason they didn't resurrect Age of Consent, Sunrise, Lonesome Tonight, This Time Of Night, Thieves Like Us was that Bernard couldn't sing them in the old keys anymore, and they couldn't find a suitable key that didn't screw up the sound. That's why we had to wait so long for Perfect Kiss to come back, they couldn't get a suitable pitch for ages. As explained by bassist. All the above were intended and rehearsals begun.

EGG was a treat for the Vikings, it hadn't really been practiced.

The unreleased song was very guitar heavy, some sequenced keys in the middle eight in classic NO style, but predominantly guitars. Not sure if Spotnick managed to capture any of it on video, I guess not else we'd all have seen it now!