Happy Christmas from Shug

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Joy Division / New Order.........TOUCHED / FROM SAFETY TO WHERE?

Just why do people have this connection with Joy Division / New Order, that effects them like no other band? I have visited several websites, some good, some not so good, and some downright diabolical! I have read books, fanzines and all the music papers and magazines, not only that, I have also had the pleasure of meeting up with many fans of the band.....and many people who are not fans (mainly my pals). So where does one start such a story to give my own personal insights? The Beginning of course.....but we'll get to that in a minute, some of the things I have read about these two bands have bordered on the ridiculous, people who have to disect every minute detail or have to have a reason for everything, can these people not just sit back and enjoy the music?.....personally I blame Tony Wilson for all of this.....only kidding Tone. Of course I can understand people trying to analyse Ian's lyrics, I have tried myself many times, but I always remember back to an interview I heard with Ian himself, I think it was on Radio Manchester, and someone kndly put it on the end of a bootleg tape, basically he says that you have to come to your own conclusions and interpretations with the lyrics.....in other words, to make them your own....in the same way thay Dylan always refused to be drawn into his lyrics, I can still hear all the arguments between my dad and his two brothers (Pat & Ted) about what Desolation Row was all about.....no-one but the writer himself knows, so it's open to debate, but you will never hear the answer given (not with Ian anyway) It intrigues people which I suppose is a good thing, it adds to the mystique. And so the story begins.....

Hugh (Shug) Sludden was born on the 19th January 1975, born in England to Scottish parents, he was brought up with two main interests, which remain as close now as they did when I was young.....Football & Music. A lot of people who may bother to read through this epic tale, will of course know that I am the biggest Glasgow Celtic and Scotland supporter in the world! Musically I was brought up with many different kinds of music, but the mainstays of my mam and dad's collection was always, Dylan, Rod & The Faces, Van the Man, T-Rex, Bowie etc...so obviously I was a very different child at school to most around me, mainly because most people's parents were not massive music fans like mines. To move things along a wee bit, we'll head to 1984, this was the first time I heard the name New Order, obviously I had already heard Blue Monday at the previous years school disco, but I did not know until a couple of years later that it was New Order who had created that particular masterpiece. I remember being at my Gran's, when my Uncle John came back with a 12" single, I was taken aback by the cover, and it confounded me that much, I asked John what it was, to which came the reply back Thieves Like Us by New Order, got to admit I never really thought much of it till a couple of years later. Again in one of the many frequent visits to my Gran's, John was sat watching music on his Betamax video, it was New Order on The Old Grey Whistle Test, where they played As It Is and Sunrise, obviously he had played it that many times my Granny knew all the words!! While John was waiting for his dinner, my Gran shouted through from the kitchen....."If he bangs his head off that wall one more time..." to which I found most amusing, John just sat there with his usual deadpan look. Looking back now, I also remember he always played Tavaras Shevachenko, Pumped Full Of Drugs and one of my personal favourites "Rock around the clock" from 84 in which they played a 5 song set including Temptation....which we'll come back to later. 1986 was also the year I started secondary school, my musical tastes were basically the same, but due to my pal Marcus I opened up a bit to U2, Simple Minds and The Pogues (nothing to do with the fact, that all these bands were massive Celtic supporters!) New Order finally took hold of me in 1987, and basically it's all down to True Faith, I really can't remember if it was the music or the video which took my attention first, although I have a sneaky feeling it was the video....but don't tell anyone. It was this song which led me to annoy the fuck out of John and his girlfriend Lorraine. During 1988 I visited my Gran's house all the time, in the spare room John had a pool table, which was the main reason for me going up there after school. John constantly had New Order on the record player, very rarely can I remember him playing anything else (other than Joy Division of course) The records that he had on most of the time were Substance and Low-Life. This is where Temptation comes back into play....that song was forever stuck in my head, and it was this song which made New Order special above everyone else, I really wouldn't know how to describe it without giving it it's full justice! I had obviously heard it before on the Saturday session video, but it didn't hit me till I heard it on Substance. Since then it has and always will be my favourite song of all-time, I don't think anything will ever eclipse it. Also in 88, I somehow managed to persuade / annoy John enough to let me lend Substance and Low-Life, under the strict instructions "Get a mark on them and yer dead!" Little did John know (and he still doesn't unless he reads this) I had already borrowed a few of his 12" singles when he was up at Lorraines house….I apologise in advance of seeing him! In around June or July 88, I had partaken 2 jobs, so I could buy my own music, I had both a paper round and a milk round, this gave me enough money to start my own collection, which is the envy of all of my pals today. With a couple of my first pay-packets I had saved enough to buy an LP, so I ventured to the only music shop Corby had at that time…aptly named "Discovery" and headed straight for the "N" rack, in those far off days, there were no name tags for bands, you had to search your own way through them! I got through a few albums, then noticed something that had confounded me, kinda like the way Thieves Like Us had done 4 years before, I just KNEW it was New Order, so I searched the record sleeve on the back for some kind of info, and as everyone knows, there was fuck all even on the back of the LP, so I took it to the counter and asked the guy behind the counter…..Power, Corruption & Lies, I felt well happy with myself and that was the first proper LP I had bought all on my lonesome, the thing that still sticks in my mind is Peter Saville's unique way of doing the covers….the man is a genius! Got home and played the album over and over and over, other than the obvious choices of Age Of Consent and Your Silent Face (with the piss off line which thrilled the young 13 year old) my favourite track was We All Stand, dunno why, although maybe it was because I always used to play the album before I went to sleep, with the room in darkness and the record player turned right down, so that my mam and dad thought I was fast asleep! If they found out I was up late at night there woulda been trouble. TOUCHED…..you'd better believe it. I was totally mesmerized by their unique sound, and how it was so different to Low-Life and Substance, I must have annoyed the fuck out of John and Lorraine, wanting to know more and more about this amazing band, I think just to silence me, John lent me several fanzines he had (most of which were Paradise, but there were a few others which only ran for a couple of editions) then he lent me the "Ideal for Living" book, which I read a few times and became interested in learning more about Joy Division…..again annoying John & Lorraine! I borrowed Unknown Pleasures, and I think I only played 3 songs before returning it to John, I just didn't like Ian's voice, and the music was far too dark for me…..but failing to give up on Joy Division, I borrowed the same album a few months later (as well as LWTUA 12") and for some reason I became hooked on Joy Division as well. I put this down to learning more and more about Ian's state of mind, and the whole fact that they should have been massive, and just failed to make it, due to Ian's demise. The haunting beauty of Love Will Tear Us Apart still hits true whenever I hear it, this and Transmission I had heard loads of times, but never knew that it was Joy Division, whether I had heard them on TV / Radio or through John, I'm still unsure, but these two tracks probably were the one's that got me listening to the albums closely, and trying to figure out what Ian was trying to say…..pointless task, as I've already mentioned above, was there an intention of giving us a start, middle or an end? Afterall several songs were written long before his meeting with Annik,, although you could say LWTUA was the state he was in at that direct moment in time. As every die-hard JD / NO fan will tell you, there's no point in making your favourite lists in too much of an order, because they are likely to change everyday, which tells you how much that these bands mean to people, a lot of people will obviously think this is shite, but the real fans know and that's all that matters, I'm not trying to be pretentious, just stating the way I feel, and I know several fans I've been fortunate to meet up with feel as well. Unknown Pleasures is a superb debut album, one of the greatest in my opinion, the Hannett production is absolutely superb, with all his special effects thrown in, a lot of people will have the "Warsaw" bootleg LP, and the difference between the sound is eerie! I always found the best way to listen to Joy Division was in a dark room, with nothing to distract me, and before anyone says anything……I AM NOT A FUCKING GOTH! Hope any of our goth friends who are reading this can see the funny side….lighten up peeps! So many great, great songs on UP, no-one before had really written music like this, and maybe not even these days have been able to capture that moment in time, we all know about the dark industrial times and high unemployment, with not many people with much hope around Manchester at that time, Ian's lyrics and the rest of the bands music capture it superbly. From the open lines of Disorder "I've been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand" through to the "We were strangers for way too long" on the ending track I Remember Nothing, the album took total grip on my senses. At this point (remember I'm still only 13) I couldn't decide who I preferred the most between the two bands, and I give the answer even today that I love them both equally…..there's no need to chose is there? Today, I listen to Radiohead quite a lot, and they cheer me up, this mainly thanks to Joy Division I believe, people tell you that you shouldn't be happy while listening to bands such as these…..half-wits if you ask me. Ian's lyrics seem to touch a nerve in people, I could put quote after quote after quote in here, but we'd be here all fucking year, and as everyone who knows me, I'm far too lazy for that. Outstanding songs on UP, would have to be Disorder, Insight, New Dawn Fades and Shadowplay. What happens next in the story I hear you all ask…..BLUE MONDAY 88…..that's what happens next! That song, as most people refer to it now! I remember telling everyone at school that this was MY band, and wasn't it sufuckingperb….funnily enough this was the time I started wearing New Order / Joy Division badges (which John gave me) on my school uniform, I was surprised when a couple of the girls in my class said they loved it and had Substance in their collection……BUT….they preferred The Smiths, a bit like the music papers eh? BM 88 started off that stupid fucking line dance as well didn't it? Always remember the school disco's at that time, all the birds could do it, but the poor blokes couldn't, and were far too afraid to look like twats!! It wasn't till years later, when I was as drunk as Keith Moon I decided to have a go…never again! I was in hospital for 3 weeks….only kidding of course. 1989 started well, I remember being at my Gran's, John and Lorraine were in the kitchen cooking something, I remember hearing Lorraine say something to John about "should we tell him?" Of course moi, as blunt as ever, had to ask what they were on about, in the end, John relented and said they had bought me a ticket to go see New Order at the NEC in Birmingham…..no words could express my delight, I guess the look on my face told them the story! Went home that night as happy as when Celtic won the double in their centenary season (87-88) and that, let me tell you, is fucking happy. If I remember correctly, we had already seen Fine Time on Top Of The Pops, and the Acid dance which Barney had learned from Sir Bez himself, which led to a bit of an outcry from BBC chiefs, they were allegedly banned, but as we all know, they performed Round & Round a couple of months later. I played Fine Time and the Round & Round singles over and over on the record player in the build up to the gig, I also remember asking John who was supporting the band, most of you will know, but to those of you who don't, it was of course The Happy Mondays! I asked John if he had any of their stuff on video (at this time I had never heard of them) and fuck me, did I get a surprise! They looked like a right bunch of nutters, I think it was the video or maybe a live performance of Do It Better, the band are on stage, and you had Bez dancing around like a madman, while next to him you had Shaun William Ryder with a can of lager in one hand, and a joint in the other…….the crowd looked absolutely mental, people getting squashed to fuck at the front…..I nearly shit myself! It wasn't till after the concert that I started to appreciate the Mondays, and to be truthful, the only thing I remember from that first concert was WFL. The concert we went to at the NEC was the 26th March 1989, and coincidentally it was Easter Sunday, I remember having to leave all my cousins at my Gran's scoffing all the lovely Easter eggs! It was particularly cold, and I'm sure I remember it was snowing before we set off from Corby, we left around 3 o' clock I think (as Birmingham's only 60 mile away) there were two 52 seater buses that left from Corby that day, just goes to show they must've been pretty big at the time! We got to the NEC and I remember being amazed at how big the place was, there were loadsa people walking around in JD / NO T-shirts, the only one's I had were the one's that John gave me (Substance and Finsbury 87) I desperately wanted as much stuff as I could afford, I think I had 20 quid to get stuff, I wanted to get stuff before we went in, I think I was worried that all the stuff would have been sold out by the time the concert had finished….nieve of me! The concert itself was everything I had hoped for, it was fucking brilliant seeing them live (even if we were in the seats at the side) they played loads of songs from Technique which was absolutely brilliant, and I remember shouting 1963 out at the top of my voice…and what came next? Oh yes baby! That brought me tremendous self importance, that I was able to guess what they were gonna play next……unfortunately, that was the only one I got right. I always remember towards the end of the set, Hooky sat on top of a speaker for what seemed to me a couple of songs at least, but I may be wrong. They never even played Blue Monday that night, which probably upset me a bit, but they did close with The Perfect Kiss, so that cushioned the blow nicely. Coming out of the concert, I bought the tour poster, with the 4 members lying on the floor together, a 6ft Technique poster (which was a fucking nightmare to put up on the bedroom wall….dunno how many bloody times it would fall down during the night!) Also got the CONCERT T-shirt which was massive on me, various badges and more posters. I think I spent every penny, but it was all worth it, one of the happiest days in my life….so cheers John & Lorraine. 89 was a fantastic year for me, the record collection was getting bigger and bigger all the time, and by the end of the year, I had almost everything Joy Division and New Order had done on Vinyl, also quickly growing in the collection was all the MADCHESTER music that was starting to go massive, Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatans and James…..all again due to my Uncle John's superb taste in music. I would go on to see a few of these bands, and today I have almost all of their stuff in the collection….along with Northside, 808 et al! the summer was actually a "summer" here, we had sunshine for at least a month! This is where I drove most of the neighbours absolutely mental, by playing Technique over and over out of the bedroom window (to try and impress passers by) on one particular day, you could hear Technique from 2 or 3 streets away…..so I was told by an unimpressed father! But fair play, he didn't moan too much, and even taped Substance from my collection. 1989 was also the year when the supergroup got together and released Getting Away With It, we were not to see much more of New Order for a good 2 or 3 years, which pissed me off immensely! A fleeting appearance on the O-Zone, with the band talking about the side projects and THAT fucking song (World In Motion to those of you who have no idea) Obviously being brought up in a Scottish family (and basically a Scottish town in England) this did not go down too well with me or John! Then we had one of the funniest things I have ever had the privelidge to watch….Barney on Juke Box Jury, I'll never forget it, because it was aired the same night as the first Nigel Benn / Chris Eubank fight, and I was babysitting for my wee cousin Edward. The other guests on the show that night were Pat Cash, the Australian tennis player (who won Wimbledon in 87 I think) an Aussie actress who played Joe Mangle's missus in Neighbours (can't remember her name) and Bootsie Collins (who acted like a bit of a dick) ……..anyway the idea of the show was that Jools Holland woulsd play several video's and the panel had to decide if it was going to be a hit or not, Barney just took the piss from start to finish, funnily enough there were several rap records on the show, to which Barney thought most amusing, and without knowing he sent me and Malky a catchphrase for school…."It's just another Rap Record" no-one knew what we were on about, but we found ourselves most funny! Anyway, I think Jools then showed a Placido Domingo video, and this was Barney's reply (or something like) "Well….the video reminds me of an aftershave commercial (Audience laughs) and the guy sounds a bit like Glen Madeiros (more laughs) therefore……I like it" absolutely brilliant it was! If anyone's interested Chris Eubank won the fight! Which annoyed me, I was always a Nigel Benn fan. We're now upto the 1990 World Cup in Italy, and New Order have just released that song, which went straight to Number 1, and I have to hold my hands up….it's good…..except for the "Playing For England" bit! I constantly got harassed from one of my pals who was a big Pet Shop Boys fan….."It's yer only number 1, and the only reason it is, is because it's the England song" the fact that there would have been no PSB's if it wasn't for New Order was completely lost on him! We'll not mention Scotland results….too heartbreaking, as usual! Anyway as soon as Scotland get knocked out I always switch to the Republic Of Ireland (as we have Irish blood in the family as well) The song was still at Number 1 when England sneaked into the Semi-Final, after having loads of luck against Belgium and Cameroon. But the plucky Germans were there to stop them on a penalty shoot out. Arrivaderci. Sorry….I had to! 1991 and a bit more action this year, Electronic released their stunning debut LP, and myself, John and Lorraine were off to see Cities In The Park (the tribute concert for Martin Hannet) absolutely cracking day out, again we were blessed with gorgeous sunshine (which is a rare event in England) got to admit, I was never a fan of Revenge, so I never really took much notice (although looking back now, I wish I had) Electronic were on before Happy Mondays, and if my memory serves me correctly, they played for just over an hour, I hate to say it, but my memory recalls that they were bloody terrible! Except of course for the majestic Feel Every Beat (which appears on the video) The Mondays on the other hand were simply outstanding, I think everyone I know, was expecting the worst, but to everyone's amazement, they were magic, belting out songs from Bummed and Pills like ELVIS! (as Ryder would say) Great day out none the less, but the best gig of that year by far, was the concert at Elland Road, with Northside, The High, The La's, The Farm and Happy Mondays. Can't be arsed going into too much detail, as this story is supposed to be about JD / NO, but lets just say it was an eventful day, and the bus left without us, leaving us to sleep in Leeds train station where some bastard nicked my programme! 1992 and fuck all from our heroes….were they ever gonna play again? It seemed to me that they definitely would, it was just a matter of time, but fuck, did they drag it out! The music papers always had them splitting up, or giving you false hope there was gonna be a few live dates, but, as we all know, we wouldn't have the pleasure until 1993. I was at college when reading either the Melody Maker or NME that New Order were back in the studio…..BOLLOCKS I thought, we'd heard that many stories about the band, it got to the point where you just turn into a cynical bastard…..as a lot of you will know! Somehow the rumours were true, and before you knew it, they had started giving the odd interview, I'm sure I'm not alone here, but when you see NEW ORDER on front of anything….you just have to buy it. A few weeks before the album came out, Radio 1 had exclusive interviews and previewed several tracks, I lent this off John and all of a sudden the dream was becoming a reality…to say I was happy would be a serious understatement. The morning I first heard Regret, I was traveling to see Celtic v Rangers at Glasgow Zoo….sorry, Ibrox Park. Myself and my pal Malky went up to my Gran's to see John (we were getting picked up in a mini-bus) he said he had the new single on tape, it was simply fantastic, even Malky was singing the chorus all the way up the road! He even changed the lyrics to turn it into a Celtic song…..a few people may be offended with the lyrics, but when has that stopped me… Instead of "I would Like a place I could call my own, have a conversation on the telephone" Marcus came up with the lyrics…"I would like a place I could call my own, slag the Orange Bastards on the telephone" apologies to any Rangers fans out there. Republic, where do we start? This was the first album where they seemed to release single after single, which obviously upset a few people….blame it on London records! Regret, as has been said before, many times, and inparticular by Hooky, turned New Order full circle, with hints of Ceremony in there, an absolutely fantastic, classic New Order sound! And still, one of the best singles they have released. At the time, I, like many of you reading this, played they album all the time, at the time I thought it was brilliant, nowadays, probably due to overkill I hardly play this album, but when I do, I can still see some beauty inside it. The TOTP appearance from the Baywatch set is still a joy to behold……David Hasselhoff? What's going on? Brilliant! Other standout tracks would have to be World, Liar and Special. With some of the stuff on this album, Barney's lyrics were fantastic, I suppose I'm mainly leaning towards Special, I adored that song, and during constant fall-out's with my first love, this song was always sung very loudly….usually while being slightly intoxicated! Shortly afterwards we had the chance to go and see them again…..this time, I could pay my own way! Reading 93. It seems strange, but again, I remember a sunny day, we didn't travel down till the Sunday, why go see bands you don't like? We got there, and I remember wearing the Celtic top, we had just got inside the gates, when a massive, old, horrible looking guy came over and said something like "What the fuck are you doing with that on?" Uncle John was ready to stiffen him, I remember John telling him to "fuck Off" and the guy disappeared……Rangers had been beaten 2-1 by Kilmarnock the day before!!! Most of the day was sat outside one of the beer tents, none of the bands on held much appeal for us, I think we left to get down the front halfway through the Dinasour JR set….big fucking mistake! A bunch of baldy neo nazi skinheads trampled all fucking over us, I remember my pair of brand new Adidas Samba were basically destroyed! Wankers! Anyway, anyway, New Order took to the stage with Barney saying "Don't believ evyerything you read in the papers…….even if we say it" which was obviously directed at the NME, if you can remember such titles as "End of the road for New Order" etc… The gig was brilliant, although like most New Order gigs I have had the pleasure of being at, too much beer was consumed, and memory is slightly fading! This is where the bootleg is the saving grace of a lot of fans. From what I can recall, they played quite a few songs from Republic (maybe 6 or 7) and the usual tracks like BLT, TF and Temptation. Went home slightly confused, if you were at the gig and stayed till the end, you will remember Que Sara Sara being played over the PA, which seemed to contradict the very words Barney came out with at the start! The NME was correct. For the next 5 years we heard fuck all from New Order, always living in hope, loads of rumours, the infamous Recycle Box Set etc… This was a particularly bad time in my life, not only were there no New Order releases, but I also had the personal pain of having to watch Rangers winning 9 Scottish titles in a row, equaling the Celtic record from 1966 - 1974, my life was in ruins, but I stll hold onto the fact that Rangers will never win the European Cup (or Champions League as it is now called) I had to make do with the Britpop explosion, mainly Oasis and Blur, but more importantly James and the Charlatans who never failed to deliver! Everyone knows what happened to the Roses and the Mondays! Hardly went to any gigs before New Order triumphantly returned in 1998. We also had Electronic I suppose, but they never toured, and I was rather disappointed with Raise The Pressure, except for 3 or 4 of the songs (Forbidden City and Second Nature being standouts) So 1998 comes to being, I am now 2 years into the job I currently have now, I have been split up from my girlfriend of nearly 6 years, for a good 8 months, maybe a year, and things are looking boring! The good news is that Celtic have just stopped Rangers from doing 10 in a row, and we have a new hero to worship in the form of one Henrik Larsson! Rumours are strife that New Order are gonna play a secret show, things are suddenly looking very bright indeed, the only thing is that I never made the reunion gig at the Apollo, hands up, I'm sure I've mentioned to people that I WAS there…..but I wasn't. The day of the gig, I was 2-10, John came round to give me a lift to work when he mentioned the gig…….I was on a Final warning at work (mainly due to absences caused by celebrating Celtic victories) so I never made it. John and Lorraine had been in touch several times with David Smith (who runs the Paradise fanzine) so we got our hands through various contacts of the Apollo gig…..the first time I heard it, I was blown away…..and for several reasons. They came on and played Touched, the sound was immense, obviously they had spent ages pumping up the sound (maybe Roger Lyons had something to do with this) the music was immense! Very, very powerful…..but the best was yet to come…

NEW ORDER playing JOY DIVISION songs……you fucking beauty! For years I have collected the bootlegs, and have always hoped to find them doing JD songs, of the one's I do have in my collection, the quality is shite, or Barney has forgotten the lyrics. So to hear these songs again, it really was bringing tears to the eyes! Heart & Soul, Isolation, LWTUA, oh how I was looking forward to the Reading Festival….and for those of you who can remember it was supposed to be the Phoenix Festival, until poor sales meant that was doomed from the start. In the end we had to put up with New Order being the support act to Garbage…..Ironic? You's had better believe it! Although in Shirley's defence here….she is a Celtic supporter. Again, I traveled down with John & Lorraine, for the Sunday only. This day was even more memorable, we camped outside a beer tent all day again, and after a while the birds behind the bar were coming out with trays of "free" lager, if you had on the pink wristband they would mark it with a black marker pen, so they would know who had free beers, obviously if they came round again and your band was marked, you wouldn't get another beer…..tee hee….Uncly John discovered if you wet yer hand and rubbed the mark it would disappear……lovely fucking jubbly! God knows how many free beers we had, but lets just say we were slightly drunk. The Bluetones were on before New Order (and yes, you's have guessed it….they are also Celtic supporters) so we went down to the front very early by our usual standards, and enjoyed a great set from them….standout tracks….If and Sleazy Bedtime. New Order came on to the now famous Barney lines of "Hello, we're New Order, you're the audience, this is Reading……Let's rock the fucking house" nice way to kick off proceedings…..the only thing that pissed me off about the set, was that it was almost identical to the Apollo (take out Run) and we had been listening to that gig over and over! But to actually be there and hear them play Heart & Soul and Isolation was worth the 35 quid alone! All in all a superb concert….except for that fucking song being played for the first time…..Yes WIFM! I remember getting murdered at the front towards the end of the set, and having to move back, when World In Motion came on, I was stood next to an American couple, they asked me why I wasn't singing or dancing, to which came the reply….."It's a fucking England song" some things never change eh? During the day, while we were wandering about, we had seen the flyers for "Temptation" according to the flyer New Order were going to be playing 2 concerts over the Christmas period…..one on the 28th of December in Manchester, and one on New Years Eve (Hogmany to our Scottish readers) at the Alexandra Palace in London. You dancer! As soon as the tickets were on sale, John had ordered them for me, him and Lorraine….definitely a New Year to remember! It was a case of counting down the months, and inbetween we had a performance on Chris Evans" TFI Friday and the appearance in Manchester for the Commonwealth Games, where they played the "98" version of Temptation. The days could not come quick enough, I remember we set out for the MENA gig and hearing on the radio that there were several gangland shootings in and around Manchester….again, some things never change.We got into the impressive arena after spending some time across the road for a few beers, no change there then! Barney came springing onto stage in a blue shirt (that much I can remember) and the I remember myself and Lorraine saying to John that Barney looked like my Uncle Ted! In no way is this derisory, Ted's a bit of a dude. The set again was a pain in the arse, being the same as the Apollo and Reading….BUT….they played Gulity Partner for the first time! We actually had seats for this gig, just left of the stage, but myself and John thought "fuck this" and dived past the security guard after the first song! Back to the story, the band were 30 seconds or so through Guilty Partner, when there was a momentous fuck up…..to which Barney says something like "It's why you love us……it adds to the charm" too fucking true! Again we left happy, although disappointed with the set-list…….as New Order fans we automatically feel we deserve more….dunno why, we just do! Onto the Ally Pally, New Years Eve 98, got down there pretty earl, for a wander about, and to wonder why the fuck they had a fairground at the back of the hall! This was the first time I had met famous people at a gig, John & Lorraine had buggered off to the toilets (and took the camera with them!) when Bobby Gillespie and Noel Gallagher walk out from the part of the hall that leads upstairs, they were walking straight towards me, and knowing that Bobby and Noel were both Celtic fans (have you realized just how many famous people support Celtic?) I introduced myself and said it was great to see 2 Celtic and New Order fans in my company, to which Bobby replied something like "Aye, it's gonna be a fuckin good one the night" If only I had a picture….that would have impressed my 2 wee brothers (Daniel and James) whom I had turned into massive Oasis fans! We were right at the front of the barrier, and the bastards made us wait what seemed like was a fucking eternity, until they finally took the stage! Again, we were treated to naked bids on the trampeze (just like the MENA)……which was nice! Again the set-list was the same as the previous couple of concerts, and Barney telling the crowd that they were gonna play Guilty Partner for the first time….tut tut! We were absolutely deafened being right at the front, and when we got back to Corby 3 hours later for the last few hors of hogmany at my Uncle Pat's we still had ringing in our ears! Again they were great, and there's no better way (blur sic) than seeing in the New Year with the greatest song of all-time TEMPTATION! Bez came on late in the day for Fine Time and Blue Monday to totally ruin the songs with his shouts of "99 in the house" etc…. But I've got to admit, with Barney and Bez dancing around the stage, Gillian was in extremely good spirits…..Yes peeps….she was laughing (no offence Gillian) The main thing I remember, other than Hooky being right in our faces and growling (Lorraine has the pictures) was that 2 or 3 of the roadcrew were filming all the gig on a hand held video recorder, and we just HAVE to be on it, as it was pointed in front of our faces several times……(if the band are reading, I'm the one with the Green Gio Goi jacket) I'd love to see that footage! We got back to Corby about 2.30 in the morning, and I was telling my cousins (Steven and Paddy, and their pal Sy) just how good New Order were, and how I was casually speaking to Bobby G and Noel G. One of the best New Year's EVER. 1999 didn't bring us anything from the Order, which was disappointing, but at least we did get the superb Electronic album "Twisted Tenderness" · The magazine Uncut has a free CD on the cover every month, and I spotted Electronic were on it, the track was "Haze" I played it all the time on repeat, and it's still my favourite song from the album, although Vivid runs it very, very close! In 99 we were treated to seeing Electronic on TOTP, TFI and Jo Whiley. While we didn't have the Order, it was great to hear Electronic back to their best! I must mention Monaco and The Other Two now…….Shine and What Do You Want From Me are good enough for a New Order album, while Tasty Fish is just magic! Sorry I haven't mentioned them before, but I was never a massive fan of the other side projects like I was with Electronic. 2000 passed by with not much to shout about really, 2001 on the other hand was much, much better! Our heroes returned to us at the Liverpool Olympia on the 18th of July, I'd even go as far as saying it was the best concert I have seen, maybe the euphoria of getting our tickets well in advance, and kind of knowing they'd definitely be debuting songs from the forthcoming album. It was just before this concert that I had split up with my fiancé, and found myself back at my mam and dad's, probably one of the best things that happened in the end, if it wasn't for that, I would never have found the time to visit the World Wide Web, and inparticularly Neworderonline.com or Worldinmotion.net, there were several other sites (and still are) but none with the information and background that these two had, for some reason I have never been able to get messages onto the Ceremony site, but have visited often to see what's going on over there. I remember visiting some of these sites and reading God knows how much shite (which was stated at the start of this tale) I think it was actually through NOOL that we received the news about the Liverpool gig, unfortunately for myself, John & Lorraine we phoned Ticketmaster and the Olympia itself several times, but all to no avail……in the end we got very lucky, Lorraine had been in touch with David Smith (from Paradise fanzine) and managed to get 3 tickets, if anyone happens to see David, please thank him from me! · We got to Liverpool in the early afternoon to a beautiful sunny day, and proceeded to head to the nearest bar to the Olympia, which fortunately for us, was right across the road, can't remember the name of it though, I'm terrible with my memory when it comes to things like that! There were already quite a few fans already in the pub, because there were no seats left in the place, which wasn't a problem as it was a warm day, had a few beers (Lorraine was on juice as she was a few months pregnant…..which comes in handy for the Brixton gig we went to) next thing you know, Bez and Rowetta from Happy Mondays appeared, no-one noticed really, except for us, so Myself and John got Lorraine to take a picture of us and Bez, absolute cracker of a picture as well! And it has been posted on various New Order websites, when I got home and told my wee brothers who we met, they were very impressed, even more so, when I told them Bez offered us a line of coke, which never actually happened, but as our good friend Tony Wilson would say…..tell the legend and not the truth. · Unfortunately for us, our seats were up in the balcony, and the security guys were having none of the begging to let us go down to the front of the stage……bastards! · The gig itself was a thing of beauty, the sound, the atmosphere and the band in great spirits, although I have to say, it was weird not seeing Gillian on stage. As most of you reading this will know already, the band were joined on stage by Phil Cunningham and Billy Corgan, and they didn't let anyone down, the music sounded so fresh again, they played very tightly, and all of them had a smile on their faces….which was nice. · Atmosphere kicked things off that night, what a way to start! I remember Hooky saying on an interview shown on MTV later that year that grown men down the front were crying….it WAS that kind of gig. Then the band played a couple of songs that had not been heard (well, maybe a few would have heard Crystal snippets on the net) the songs to me just sounded like classic New Order, and maybe that's why I probably still have a strong love of Slow Jam, Crystal was always going to be a massive favourite with the hardcore fans! Regret was great as always, then it was time for the first real shock of the night, Love Vigilanties was brought back into the set, absolutely magnificent stuff! I always remember Barney bringing out the Melodica, and when he does that, you know it's only gonna be a choice between a couple of songs, most people knew what was coming, and it was well worth waiting for. Then it was back Isolation, the crowd were loving every minute, and I couldn't help thinking that there were probably a lot of fans who weren't fortunate enough to see the short revival gigs in 98, because the songs came as somewhat of a shock to quite a few! It was aat that point I wished we were down the front getting murdered. Shock 2 came straight after that, just before the end of Isolation, I had to get to the bar to get the beers in, I heard a massive cheer, then the opening strains of Your Silent Face……fuck the beers, I was going back to savour the song being played again, I think one of the last times they played it was Reading 89, which was one of those gigs I never made, but definitely had wished I had been at, pity the bootleg video doesn't do it justice, but the cassette certainly does! I got to the back of the balcony right at the top of the hall and started dancing with a few other fans, dunno who they were, but they were all as ecstatic as I was, the next song was another new one, so I decided to get straight to the bar to get the beers, when I got back to my seat, John said something like "You just missed YSF" to a quick return of no I never I was up there dancing! Turn My Way was playing at the time, I remember it being slow and Billy Corgan was singing as well, we just sat there and tried to take everything in, it was a case of pinching yourself and realizing New Order were back, and better than ever! After Close Range, it was back to the old favourites, Touched, BLT, TF and a rousing Temptation. They finished with LWTUA, Ruined, 60mph (which the crowd took to right from the start) and of course Blue Monday, I think this was the gig where Barney said he fookin hates it……it does that to all of us at times. All in all an absolutely storming gig, and it's one I'll look back to and say "I was there"

· Before the gig, in the foyer of the Olympia, the staff were handing out loads of tickets for the Grafton nightclub next door, kind of an open invitation from the band…..NIEVE? you'd better believe it, the sneaky bastards fucked off to Cream that night with several celebs in tow. I think we gave up around one am, but the place was full, and I met my best pal Bez again, though he never told me he was going to disappear to Cream as well. Brilliant night out. · That gig was the start of the Get Ready tour which would lead us to Manchester and London next, I was so happy with the first gig, I got my mate Darren totally intrigued, in fact, I bored the fuck out of him that much, he decided to come and see what all the fuss was about for himself, he got tickets for Manchester and London as well. Having got one of my best mates hooked, I should have known what was gonna come next…."Shug, can you lend me Technique……Shug can you lend me Substance….and on, and on and on, very much in the same way that I used to get on John & Lorraines nerves. We had a couple of months to wait before the gigs, and I was spending more and more time on the New Order websites, although for a few months I was to weary to introduce myself on the forum pages……that would soon change! I visited NOOL and WIM every day for news on the band, and often read the forums, it was great for old news, there were loads of articles from various music papers from the early 80's all the way upto the present, I must have printed every one of them out, and read them while I was bored at work, some of the stuff was brilliant, as my own collection of cuttings didn't start till 89. The next gig was Manchester on the Friday night, Darren's first New Order gig, we got there quite early, and as usual, headed for the nearest bar, which was just around the corner, again, the name escapes me, a few of you will know it from its description, it was the size of a matchbox, with a very low ceiling, you probably couldn't fit more than a hundred people in it! Very old looking place with loads and loads of flyers from gigs over the years, we were lucky enough to get seats in the corner, and ended up chatting to 3 or 4 people from Birmingham. Good craic in there, and Darren was enjoying himself, after a few, we spotted Mani (of Stone Roses, Primal fame) couldn't believe it! Fuckin brilliant lad, he was out with a few of his mates for the gig, I wenyt over and asked if it was ok to get a photie, to which he said "Of course, no problem" as always, Lorraine had a camera with her, so Myself, John and Darren got a photo with another celeb, before the picture was taken, John shouted out "For Ireland, Celtic and Man U" which brought a smile to Mani's face, obviously, being in the same band as Bobby Gillespie, he couldn't help but be a Tim! (Celtic supporter to our friends outwith the UK) The gig itself was great again, even more so for John, Darren and myself, as we were down the front getting murdered again! Poor ole Lorraine was 8 months pregnant, so she had to stand at the back! They played basically the same set list as Liverpool, but for the first time, I got to hear Rock The Shack (it had been played the previous two nights as well) brilliant stuff, although we were slightly disappointed that Bobby G never came on stage for this one, although I think he had the night before….or am I getting mixed up with Brixton!? · My memory is very hazy with the gig itself, hence the lack of description….I blame it on the beer consumed, it was a great night from what I can recall though, and Darren certainly was taken aback with the proceedings……especially getting crushed at the front, when Blue Monday kicked in, myself and John decided it was time to get out before the end, as to get to the car and get a quick get-away…..No chance…Darren had never heard it before, and wanted to take it all in, from this point on, he was well and truly hooked. Again after getting the pictures developed we impressed all our pals with another picture of a star at a gig! · I think it was just after this concert, I decided the time had come to join in with the conversations on the websites, I wanted to share my thoughts with other fans who understood just what New Order does to people. It didn't take too long to get to know the regular posters, each of them offering their own wee insights into the band, and sharing their concert experiences, and views on the music, everyone was looking forward to the gigs the week after at Brixton Academy, there were also loads of reviews on the sites about the Manchester gigs, and even the original set-lists posted (most of the time by Allen Jarvis) work went very slowly that week, all I was waiting for was the concert on the Friday night, eventually Friday did come round, carry-out was sorted for the near 2 hour journey and we were on our way, this time a friend of John's came with us (John Olive) he wanted to see for himself what the band we talked about all the time was like, and even more he wanted to see Hooky in the flesh (as he had just taken up the Bass guitar) we travelled down, and got to London around 3 I think, as usual it was head to the nearest bar for a liquid refreshment, and try and relax and take it all in, this time we never had the pleasure of drinking with any rock stars, which disappointed Mr Olive, as he had seen the previous pictures with Bez & Mani! Got into the Academy well before the band took the stage, and again proceeded straight to the bar! Lorraine was almost 9 months pregnant, so she waited at the front of the barriers for us, when we got back, we got chatting to one of the security guards, and he agreed to let Lorraine sit in front of the barrier, right at the bottom of the stage (we have some fantastic pictures from this gig thanks to her!) The band made us wait for what seemed like an eternity, Arthur Baker done his best to keep the fans entertained with his different tastes in music, and one great version of Your Silent Face. The band took the stage about 45 minutes late (again, no change there) but, as usual, they were worth the wait! Everyone in good spirits again, we were in our usual position from previous gigs, of being right at the front, just slightly left of Barney. The crowd were extremely mental that night, so much so, I had to dive over the barrier near the end of the set, and take the walk of shame all the way round the outside of the hall (straight to the bar I may add, then watched Temptation from the side with a nice cold pint of lager…..before diving back into the continuing melee, and to be murdered again for the last few songs) the set again, hardly changed from the previous couple, but later we were to learn that this was because the band decided to become more professional…….insert yer own jokes here. · Hooky was his usual nonchelent self, replacing the Barney of old, by strutting around the stage and lapping it up as he played, brilliant to see. Barney and his dance routines were right at the top of their games, just think back to the Jools Holland appearance, plenty of "whoops" sprinkled throughout, Steve as usual just kept focused and thrashed away at the drums, raising a smile every now and then, and Phil was Phil, I think he was just trying to take all of it in still, constant smile on the face, and a genuine look of bewilderment when looking at the jumping joyous scenes in front of him. Everyone who was at the gig, that I've spoke to thought it was great, but as usual, everyone adds that they would love to have heard some old classics, so when the band left the stage before the encore, and Hooky stayed on stage playing the intro to Age Of Consent, the crowd went fucking banana's, singing and clapping along, an experience to remember indeed, not long ago, I was lucky enough to get my hands on the bootleg video of the gig, and it brought back great memories. After the band finished, the lights came up, and the few who were left at the front were trying to get a souvenir, we only just missed out on a set-list, but we were lucky enough to get 2 of the drumsticks instead, on leaving, Lorraine noticed Steve McFadden with a few pals (for those of you abroad, he's a famous soap actor…Phil Mitchell in Eastenders) so I went over to see if he'd have his photie taken with Lorraine, what a right miserable twat….."Don't do photo's" in the end, we had to stop John going back over and punching him! Music stars are great, but this guy thought he was too important to be caught at a gig having a beer? Twat.

· It would be quite a while before we would have the pleasure of seeing them again, although several friends I've met through the website, had the pleasure (and the money) of going to see them in France, Germany, America and Australia…..lucky bastards! Now, in between gigs, I had something to keep me interested on the band, on the Neworderline website I visited all the time for the craic with the regulars, and also on Worldinmotion, although most of the regulars on that site were from America (at that time anyway) any news I found in the papers were sent to these 2 websites, and I had the pleasure of interacting with the webmasters as well (Nicolas Le Blanc, Sebastien Boisvert and David Sultan) Bored, because we weren't fortunate enough to go abroad and see the gigs, I decided to see who was up for the craic and arrange a weekend out for my birthday, obviously Allen Jarvis and his missus Paula, Mark Rutter and Paul Carbury couldn't make it, as they were in Australia seeing New Order, but I got together with Tim Jauncey and Liv Tattum from the NOOL site and headed to London for my 27th birthday with a few pals. Agreat night was had by all of us, we ended up harassing the fuck out of the club DJ to play New Order, and he happily (if somewhat forcibly) obliged! Once the stories of the weekend were posted on the website, more and more people became interested in meeting up for a weekend away, so it was thanks to New Order (and the fans websites) that many of the fans have mad loads of great pals, and shared more than the odd drink. The next night out was arranged for Manchester, afterall, that's where the story starts! Allen and Mark were back from their excursions following the Order all around the world, with some great stories to share, we also met up with a certain Mr Muffster, who had travelled down from Scotland, Ian Shimmin from Liverpool, Stevie Turner or should I say Major? From Sheffield and Kez and Marty Gray who lived in Manchester, we all met up in the DRY bar, where everyone had a good craic, and trying to work out who was who., we were in there all day, then decided to head into town, Jarvo knew a few faces from the gigs would be in town, so we hooked up with a few of them, including the (now) famous Alex Stazsko or ATR to those on the website, and again we ended up in a club, this time one of us was armed with the "Here To Stay" CD Maxi bootleg, our friend from Scotland had managed to give everyone in attendance a copy! So the DJ had no excuse this time, I think it's fair to say that none of us can dance…..but everyone gave it a good go anyway. · It was brilliant meeting up with all the people from the site, no-one was any different from what a lot of you see on the site, they are a genuinely great crowd to drink and have a craic with. The next time everyone would meet up would be for the Finsbury Park festival earlier this year, the crowd of us grew even larger, mainly down to the NOOL regulars, we had people flying all the way from America and Brazil for this gig, as well as those from Holland, France and Germany. New faces for the day in the pub included Jonathon Scott and Grahame Ferguson (along with Muffy) from Scotland, Dave Hibster from sunny Bristol! Niel Johnstone aka The Hac must be rebuilt, Martin Fradley, Jaap or Dutch Jim who obviously comes from Spain….sorry….Holland, Luis Sobrinho and all the rest of the crazy gang from Brazil, Angie From Boston, Jeff White (or Jeff The Chef…circa Reading 89) and last, but certainly not least Mick "The Rocket" Gregson from even sunnier Chorley! · Funnily enough most of us had spent the previous day in a pub, arranged by Mark Rutter (Johnny Giles) he had an arrangement with the manager of the pub called "The Chandos" that the New Order fans would have upstairs reserved for us…..some fuckin hospitality that!! All the British fans I've mentioned above were there, give or take one or two, again it was time for some of the new faces to get to know the rest of us, Muffster (aka Santa) brought out a signed Celtic top, for which I will be eternally grateful! Rocket Mick had a few prezzies for some of us as well, and equally treasured are my Blue Monday / Thieves and LWTUA / SLC Polish 7" singles. Earlier that day we also hooked up with a mad bugger from America….Jeff White, he flew all the way from Texas, now that's dedication to cause! Had a great craic, unfortunately he never lasted till the nightclub, he was not prone to the extra strong lager we were drinking all day, and subsequently fell down the stairs at the pub, and in the end he managed to lose his back pack complete with Wallet and Passport!!! Everyone else was still in good spirits, and we headed onto a nightclub, needless to say, the DJ was harassed all night (from about 15 of us) I remember BLT being played, and all of us were up dancing going crazy. We all arranged to meet in "The World's End" pub, I think this was due to Jarvo, as was mentioned above there were loads of us, and we were also joined by John & Lorraine who had travelled down that morning, there were also other groups of fans, pals of Jarvo's and Alex The Red's, I was introduced to many, but as you will gather, my memory is bloody terrible, so I'm not even going to try and tell you all the names (in fear I miss some people out) it pissed it down all day, so almost all of us stayed in the pub until the last minute, getting to the Park just before the Order came on. The place was absolutely manky, due to the rain all day the place was in a right mess, as you will see with the "Mud" people on the Finsbury DVD, managed to hook up with Jeff The Chef as we entered the park! He was in relatively good spirits after all that had happened the day before, so I agreed to take him to the usual gig spot right at the front, you can safely say he was "Shocked to the core" we were crucified as usual down the front, and decided it was safer all round if we went to the side after the first 7 or 8 songs, I know, jessies! The funniest reaction of the day was when Tony Wilson took to the stage, roundly booed and jeered by all…..a proper pantomime bad guy, although it's always in good jest with Tone. Alan Wise done his usual intro and the band took the stage to (near) glorius sunshine, and even more banter inbetween songs, Barney declaring that if it was bad for us in the mud, it was even worse for them backstage, and that it didn't rain for the fucking queen! The gig was fucking superb, the usual start with Crystal, then a new one for most of us (except for the usual faces who went to France….or who had looked at the Peel anniversary footage) Transmission was played, the place turned into a happy jumping crowd, with several faces with tears in the eyes! It was the first time most of us seen it played live, a real show stealer, then onto Regret, and a great performance of Ceremony which kept a lot of die-hards very happy indeed. Even 60mph sounded great, hardly a bum note! Atmosphere slowed things down……which was great for all of the knackered people at the front, then another new one, but a lot of the fans from the websites knew was gonna be played, Brutal was magic, a song which could definitely had been a single. Close Range was clear, although Barney must have looked at the auto-cue every second line for the lyrics, then the second last "New" song…..She's Lost Control, the gig was turning out to be better than I had certainly expected, an extra long intro for this one, and the fans were just ecstatic, I think it was at this time myself, Lorraine, Darren and Jeff headed to the beer tent and to observe from the side of the joyous crowd. Onto the favourites, BLT, TF, Temptation & LWTUA, all of which were now performed more "Proffesionally" than ever! · Then the song that many, many of us had wished for on the website….DIGITAL, heavenly, the ecstatic Barney bringing John Simm on for an unlikely duet….but everyone was just happy to hear the song. Then it was the inevitable Blue Monday which also sounded good (even if we have all heard it 4000 bloody times) and just for good measure they brought back the song all Scottish fans love to hate WIFM! It was at this point in time that our American friend decided to start laughing and pointing, knowing how this song gets on my tits! But fair play, we changed the England part to Scotland and happily danced along in the mud (and yes, I have Lorraine's pictures to prove it!) most of us thought that was the end of that, but the band decided to play one more and to our delight they played Your Silent Face, a great way of chilling out and finishing the gig off in style! Everyone headed off very happy indeed. Most of the website regulars met up after the gig, to arrange a pub to go to., can't remember the name of it, but we had another couple of beers, and ATR arranged a whip-round for Jeff as he was totally skinty pooh's! we all headed home muddy and slightly drunk, and we all arranged to meet up again in Manchester for the Move festival. All the talk when we got back on the website was very positive, everyone in great spirits and looking forward to Manchester, as usual, several of us decided to go down the day before the festival, basically to go out on the piss, I left with Darren early in the morning, so that we could go and see Rocket Mick, his record collection was always getting a lot of good press on the site, so I decided to go and have a look. We got to Chorley about 1 in the afternoon, where we were greeted with cans of lager, and an array of snacks! On arrival in the living room we were met with an amazing sight of Joy Division / New Order records scattered all over the place, a real treasure trove! Mick had amassed nearly 300 separate items, ranging from a box of matches from the Hacienda all the way up to a blow up Barney doll…..only kidding. Seriously though, the collection is one to die for, so much stuff, many of it very rare, Mick would pull out the rare double single of the Argentinian Perfect Kiss, which, when joined together made like a poster "Everyone's got this" the man is clearly deluded! Then it would be a bootleg album from 79 and say the same fucking thing. Just about any record you could possibly think of, Mick had it……in German, Swedish, Polish….unbelievable stuff! He had 3 different versions of the rest of, why? Cos the colours or sleeve were slightly different! We were joined that afternoon by Ian Shimmin (Hanky) who had travelled over from Liverpool (on his bike!) just because he was as curious as myself. Mick took us to his local "The Blob Shop" …..I kid you not! Picture a scene from the 60's, a rough looking establishment with sawdust at the bar, mixed in with well dodgy looking northern types…..and Hey Presto, yer in the pub! We walked through the saloon doors, and as we passed these two girls, Mick said "See them two, they're both lesbians…..and they fancy me" the man is a fucking legend! One of the best mates I've had the pleasure of meeting up with…..if only he'd learn to shut up for 5 minutes though. We stayed there for a few beers, then Hanky peddled off into the distance, while I kidnapped Mick, and took him to Liv's house (he was not supposed to be joining us in Manchester till the next day. When we got to Liv's, Stevie (major) and his pal Paul were already there, I can't remember the exact details of the night, I know we hooked up with Kezzie as well, and ended up in Canal Street (one of the main Gay area's in Europe) I think Muffy was also with us, my memory is fucking terrible. Also remember Alex Stazsko and a couple of his pals met up with us later on, and we all ended up in a club, then on the way back to Liv's, someone came up with the bright idea of getting the night bus, personally I blame Mick, but no doubt he would blame the Majorboy and so on. Anyway we all headed upstairs on the bus (rather pissed) when an argument broke out with two sets of birds, one lot at the front of the bus, and the younger lot at the back. I remember Mick telling one of the fat birds at the front she looked like one of the horrible birds from the reality TV show Big Brother, but he said it was one of the girls at the back of the bus….next thing you know, the birds go absolutely banana's, trying to get to each other, while all of our group was stuck in the middle, honestly it was one of the funniest nights in my life. Birds diving all over us to try and start a fight, and poor old Paul had some birds knickers in his face, not funny for him, but for the rest of us, it was hilarious, there were shouts of "I've got a knife in my knickers and I'm gonna stab ya" after 15 minutes of this, most of the young one's got off at their stop, which kinda killed the atmosphere, but Mick and Major kept us laughing all the way home with their reporting of what actually happened. Back to Liv's about 3, and most of us stayed up till about 5 drinking and ripping the piss out of each other. I also have some great photo's of this weekend. · The day of the festival was upon us, everyone feeling pretty fucking awful! We had pre-arranged on Neworderonline to meet up at Dukes 92 bar, we got there about 12 I think and phoned Jarvo and Johnny Giles to let them know that we had secured the upstairs and there were plenty of seats. This day was also the day we had the pleasure of meeting another mad fan Humberto (or Budvar as some of you will know him) he comes from Spain, but speaks near perfect English, so we shared a few beers, as the rest of the regulars joined us, ATR was out with all his pals, and Jonathon Scott and Miles were there filming for the day (some of the stuff ended up on the Finsbury DVD) again, it was another beautiful sunny day, and I was also introduced to Shades (by Jarvo) from the WIM site. John and Lorraine also travelled up that day. · After a few more beers and introductions we set off for the festival, just in time for The Doves, which are Major's favourite band other than NO, Darren & Lorraine have got some great photo's from the gig, the Doves were brilliant, and we think Major was spotted by the singer when Jimmi announced "This is for the one at the front with the big tits" no offence Stevie boy! Jarvo, Liv, Johnny Giles, Donovan and most of the others went over to Hooky's side for the gig I think, I was with John, Lorraine, Mick, Darren and Major on Barney's side…..kind of a tribal thing…..only kidding. · The band came on and surprised everyone by playing Love Vigilanties first, the place erupted! After that it was basically the same set as Finsbury, although one of the lasting memories is when the band played World In Motion, we were right at the front of the barrier, and as the song started John put up the rude fingers at Barney (indicating 2-1 for those of you who are slow on the take) Signalling not only his disgust of them playing the "England" song, but coincidentally that Barzil had beat England 2-1….touch of genius, and at the same time, funny as fuck! Again I apologise to all the England supporters out there……or do I? · A few of us (well about 10) stayed at Livs again that night, Mick was supposed to get picked up from his missus, but in the end he came back with us. We left the gig in a state of euphoria…..until we seen the cues for the tube! In the end, myself and Budvar led the Barney dance down the middle of the road to the take-away bar, and when we turned round all the others were mimicking it as well, brilliant night. The next day. Most people had travelled back home, but myself and Darren decided to stay on for the New Order tribute night, that ATR, Marty Gray and a few others had arranged. Myself, Liv, Annie (Liv's mad pal) Darren and Mick headed for the "Piccadilly Tavern" at about 3 in the afternoon, where we met up with another NOOL, Jim Reilly, Jim should have been mentioned above, but you's know what my memory is like by now. Jim was to play Bass on a couple of the tracks that night, and he immediately hit it off with Mick, when I say hit it off, basically he just sat in the pub listening to Mick talk! In the end, the Rocket decided enough was enough and headed back to Chorley. We went to the Roadhouse to meet Alex and Marty, where they were supposed to practise a few songs, I can safely say Liv and Major were shitting bricks, as they both had to go on stage for The Perfect Kiss (alongside Jim Reilly, Tim Jauncey and Marty) me and Annie were there for the ride, and we decided that we were gonna do a Eurovision Song Contest style judging panel, the idea was to use the flyers and give everyone marks out of 10. I'm not gonna publish the results, even though I still have them as a souvenir of that night. In the end the night went quite well, even though there were a few no shows. Marty Gray, Tim Jauncey and Jim Reilly teamed up to play a great version of Truth. Still high after his performance, Tim decided to cover for some of the no shows and burst into a 2 or 3 songs……which was nice (if not loud!) there were several other bands on after that, some good, some bad, and some not worth mentioning! The "Ice Cream Bandits" (ICB) were next up, take the three from above and throw Liv and Major to the center stage and we had a wonderful version of The Perfect Kiss, after a bit of a shaky start the nerves went, and they were very good, not sure about Liv and Jim's Barney dancing though. A great night was had by all (I think, we were rather pissed from 3 days of hard drinking) another superb weekend had gone. That's us almost upto date now I'm afraid! · The intention of all this was to state just why we all love New Order, somehow I've managed to throw in a kind of edited life story. I do apologise for this, I had intended writing 3 or 4 pages, and have ended up near the 20 mark….that kinda says it all, it's strange what these wonderful bands do to you.

Now for the Thank-You's. Number 1 is surprisingly not New Order, but to My Uncle John and his missus Lorraine, for all the kindness they have shown me, all the music lent, and all the concerts they have taken me to in the car! But most of all, for getting me into Joy Division / New Order in the first place! Number 2 is for JD / NO for being so fucking brilliant, the music, the humour, the history. The only thing outside my family and friends that keeps me motivated, and in a way keeps me reasonably sane are Joy Division / New Order and Glasgow Celtic…..I will travel anywhere to see both! I love them both as much as each other. Number 3 is all the fans I've had the pleasure of drinking with at all the various meet ups and concerts, you's are indeed fucking great people, in this I also want to mention all the people I have chatted to on the websites, swapped e-mails and bootlegs, and put up with all the shit I groan on about. I speak to people all around the world, of many, many different nationalities, and it's always a pleasure to share thoughts about the band. I hope to meet most of our British regulars in Manchester on Saturday the 18th of January (the day before my 28th Birthday….please bring loads of gifts) and hopefully I will meet up with quite a few of the American / Canadian fans in July when myself and Donovan are coming over. Wouldn't it be great if New Order do a tour over there at the same time!!! Number 4 is to the webmasters of the two best New Order sites on the net. Of course I'm talking about Nicolas Le Blanc and Sebastien Boisvert at Neworderonline.com and David Sultan at Worlinmotion.net…..if it wasn't for these wonderful people I would never have met the people I can genuinely call acquaintances……..sorry, friends! I have spent far too much time at both, and caused mainly Nicos and Sebsy more grief than they could ever have imagined! Most of you will remember how well behaved the forums were till I came along. Thanks guys. And lastly but not leastly, would be my closest mates, I have to mention Darren, Malky, Mark and Melv, and recently my two flatmates who are also my wee cousins Steve & Paddy, for putting up with a drunken bastard always taking over the parties and making people listen to New Order whether they like it or not, and also listening to me tell everyone that New Odrer are the best fucking band in the world…..which of course they are! God bless ye's all, and lets hope there's gonna be a tour and a new album on the way very soon……….Shug.

Cheers peeps, I did do a speah at the start, but it's disappeared!

Nicos is gonna add it to the story part of the site when he's added some photo's, album covers etc....

It goes on for fucking ages.....I printed it out at work this morning......20 fucking pages Hopefully I haven't missed anyone out, if I have, I do apologise. I had to cut it short believe it or not.....I done a character assassination of a lot of the people we have hooked up with, but I deleted it, cos that alone went on for 4 pages

right I'm aff fer a ciggy and caffeine break

Fcuking wonderful.

Best thing I've read on this site in donkey's years..

Brought a tear to me eye some of that. . .

Thanks again, I'm not gonna keep replying to everyone, that would look a bit daft! Please feel free to leave comments, they are all appreciated And special cheers to Big Al

If there are any Book publishers about......a couple of grand, and the publishing rights are yours:D

Merry Chrimbo one and all