Late yesterday night, the Belgian anorak community was pleasantly surprised when national radio (VRT) broadcast a recording which they made 23 years ago of the Joy Division gig at the King Kong Club in Antwerp, Belgium, on January 14th, 1980. This latest addition to the small group of JD soundboard recordings is doubly important because until now, not even an audience tape had been available of the show.
During their 11-day trek across Europe, the band played the longest sets in their history. Antwerp was no exception, and on the evidence of the recording, the band's performance on the night was nothing short of brilliant. They started with new song 'Passover', followed by 'From Safety To Where...?' The remainder of the main set was devoted to the standard repertoire of 1979, climaxing with the inevitable 'Atrocity Exhibition". The encore, on the other hand, was truly exceptional. First, the band blasted through all four songs of 'An Ideal For Living', swiftly followed by a unique performance of 'Something Must Break'. Then they tore into 'At A Later Date' which segued into 'Louie Louie'. A truly memorable show was then concluded with Ian's deadpan, "You should hear our version of Sister Ray, well..."
The guy who broadcast the tape is a long-time fan of the band; at the start of the programme, he explained how he had made his fortunate discovery. He also specified that apparently, the original broadcast was nixed by the then directing board of VRT because they objected to one of the band members (it is hard to tell whether it's Ian or Bernard) exclaiming, right before 'At A Later Date': "You all look like Rudolph Valentino!"
I managed to tape the broadcast, so if anyone's interested, feel free to drop me a mail!
