Tim
Hopes were high on Whitworth Street West ahead of the latest homecoming, with the band's popularity at an all-time high on the back of the relative success of Blue Monday. It wasn't that much of a surprise then to hear this one first up, the best way to get the pack Hacienda moving. Blasting the hugely-popular album opener Age of Consent at us straight afterwards was another good move, and though Barney was concerned about the congestion at the front, the pace was unrelenting. Lonesome Tonight never sounded bigger or boomier - it didn't seem so slow down the front :) The highlight was this strange US dance track that had begun to get some radio play. Confusion sounded absolutely massive, and while it began to lose its popularity in my eyes a couple of years later, it blew the roof off on the night. New Order fans have always had a keen ear for new material, so the fifteen-minute version of Thieves Like Us that closed the set was just beautiful - I fell in love with this track on first hearing.
We knew it had been a good night, but nobody was really expecting a two-song encore. Magic :)
