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Watched the "Pumped Full of Drugs" DVD last night and whilst I thoroughly enjoyed it - I was reminded just how surly N.O were on stage (particularly Bernard). Why was this?
Bernard seems quite bright in interviews with a good if dry sense of humour. However, on stage they often seem to be pretty moody. Was this a throwback to the Joy Division days or were they genuinely not enjoying themselves live ?
It was a "punk rock" mentality they started in Joy Division and carried into New Order plus being kind of a "Manc" thing as well.
Well they were always a bit pissed, didt much care for fans in the early days(the 80,s)
youve caught me at a bad time
Two things. Alcohol and fear. It's not hard to see how uncomfortable Barney was on the microphone whilst he was finding his voice all those years ago. Who can blame him!
Hooky Bass Monster wrote: Two things. Alcohol and fear. It's not hard to see how uncomfortable Barney was on the microphone whilst he was finding his voice all those years ago. Who can blame him!
It wasn't just Barney though,Hooky was pretty narky aswell,it can make bootlegs from the '80s more interesting to listen to though.
My favourite line is from Pumped Full Of Drugs, "Turn that light off you cunt".
I remember an article stating in the early days they would not play the songs that people would expect to hear.
Northern sense of humour and sarcasm play a big part in it too, they take the piss out of each other as much as the audience, also Bernard hated being on stage and Hooky just likes playing the hard man.
Jed Stephens wrote: Northern sense of humour and sarcasm play a big part in it too, they take the piss out of each other as much as the audience, also Bernard hated being on stage and Hooky just likes playing the hard man.
Hooky had a reputation for being a rude bastard in the late 80s and early 90s. Saw him tell people to fuck off many a time at gigs that I saw him at, including The Fall at the Roadhouse in the early 90s where he nearly lamped someone for asking for an autograph!
Exeter wrote: I remember an article stating in the early days they would not play the songs that people would expect to hear.
It seems to be true judging by the bootlegs, with Temptation as the overall exception.
There are quite a few where people ask for EGG, and it wasn't played in any of them 
Berlin 84 is one that comes to mind, there's absolute silence after Dreams Never End I think, and then someone shouts'Everything's Gone Green!' also Bernard seemed quite pissed
New Order were infinitely better live when they were being themselves. They played, they left. No plugs or requests and little interaction. When they started to be like a trad rock and roll band, it wasn't the same. I didn't pay £50 or whatever to hear Barney say 'Rock the House' - that isn't New Order, well not to me anyway.
The Finsbury Park gig was the most underwhelming experience in my life! Who were they playing for? Oh, a DVD. They probably were the best and worst live band of all time, but it was almost like the band forgot how good they were, which was a pity.
komakino wrote: The Finsbury Park gig was the most underwhelming experience in my life! Who were they playing for? Oh, a DVD. They probably were the best and worst live band of all time, but it was almost like the band forgot how good they were, which was a pity.
I'll second that.
FDISK wrote:
komakino wrote: The Finsbury Park gig was the most underwhelming experience in my life! Who were they playing for? Oh, a DVD. They probably were the best and worst live band of all time, but it was almost like the band forgot how good they were, which was a pity.
I'll second that.
And I'll claim you are talking utter bollocks, but then again me and the Mrs having had the best pill of our lives probably helped our enjoyment levels.......
jake atkinson wrote:
FDISK wrote:
komakino wrote: The Finsbury Park gig was the most underwhelming experience in my life! Who were they playing for? Oh, a DVD. They probably were the best and worst live band of all time, but it was almost like the band forgot how good they were, which was a pity.
I'll second that.
And I'll claim you are talking utter bollocks, but then again me and the Mrs having had the best pill of our lives probably helped our enjoyment levels.......
I'm with Jake... after the worst gig weather i can remember, i thought they put on a fine show, even if we couldn't move around a lot in our bin-liners.
It certainly topped what followed, and the Brixton shows a couple of years before were marred by crap sound.
They played and fucked off without saying anything in the early days, probably cos they were a little bit intimidated, Hooky often had his back to the audience in the early days of Joy Division.
The best gigs for me is when they started talking to the audience and ripping the piss, this wasn't something that started in the late 90's gigs or the gigs in the 2000's. Barney and Hooky's banter started as early as 82/83 if not before in some cases like Berlin. If they'd kept quiet and refused encores it would have gotten rather boring IMO.
Barney coming on at Reading in 98 and giving it "we're new order you're the fans, let's rock the fucking house" was fookin magic, as was the gig. One of the most memorable I saw. Most of the people on here who were at Finsbury thought it was great.
As for why were they so surly, it's been answered above, drink, drugs and Northern humour.
Fuck, I miss seeing them live!
I blame the teargas!
I honestly liked the 'aloofness'. Can remember a few gigs in the 80's when all you'd get was a "evening everyone" or something from Hooky and that would be it, then they would be absolutely spellbinding or absolutely terrible for between 40 minutes and an hour, plus you had no idea what songs they were going to play. I used to enjoy Mr Sumner's 'attitude' sometimes, like when somebody [at the front] accused him of being "Michael Jackson" and a "Pop Star" that was quite amusing. I can't actually remember seeing Hooky actually 'twat' a member of the audience, but I've seen him get very close a number of times. Mr Hook does seem to have 'mellowed' over the years though?
I actually loved it when they were so aloof, distant and just downright awkward. It certainly made for good copy any rate. Then of course when they did that seminal PLAY AT HOME channel 4 thingy - (ONE QUESTION, WHY THE FUCKING HELL HAS THIS STILL NOT BEEN MADE AVAILABLE COMMERCIALLY ON DISK????? AFTER ALL THIS FUCKING TIME????? WHAT FUCKING GIVES?????), it did the impossible of seemingly debunking and reinforcing the myth that NO and Gretton were a bunch of jesters and pranksters, but with an all too humble side to them too.....they were human beings after all.
I'd rather they were like that than the whooping bells and whistles (sorry A Certain Ratio!) flabby cabaret act that they became post-Gillian Gilbert leaving.....
:p 
