THE DAWN OF A NEW ORDER WORLD NEW ORDER started their UK tour on home turf last night (October 4) with their first major MANCHESTER show for nearly three years. The band played the first night of a two-night residency at the Manchester Apollo to a suitably packed crowd of local fans and friends. Excepting a minor appearance to launch next year's Commonwealth Games, the last time they played in the city was New Year's Eve 1998.
The performance, at almost two hours in duration, was unusually long for a band notoriously hostile to playing live. The band opened with recent single 'Crystal', and while the show was heavy with material from current album 'Get Ready', all three decades of their career were covered, with hits like 'Bizarre Love Triangle', 'True Faith' and 'Blue Monday'. The set also included three Joy Division songs - 'Transmission', 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' and 'Atmosphere'.
The hometown crowd were typically wild, with vocalist Bernard Sumner forced to ask people to move back after 'True Faith' because of fears of crushing at the front.
He joked, "Free drinks at the bar on me. That's only if you go now." Bassist Peter Hook responded "Fucking hell, that's a once-in-a-lifetime offer!"
Billy Corgan, who had accompanied the band on their US tour and at their comeback show at Liverpool Olympia in July, did not appear. However, Hooky acknowledged absent keyboard player Gillian Gilbert, calling into the crowd, "Are you alright G? Are they looking after you in there?"
New Order return to the Apollo tonight (October 5), then play Glasgow Barrowlands (7-8), before playing three nights at London's Brixton Academy next week (October 10-12).
The next single from 'Get Ready' has been confirmed as '60 Miles An Hour', released on October 22.
