Sunday, 1 May 2005

But ok here is my story!

First Barney hurt his foot dancing in Oakland so he was in ruff shape for this show. No dancing! He even walked off the stage in BLT when he normally dances. Hope fully he will be ok for Chicago, but now I know why he stood still like a robot in Blue Monday at Oakland.

Anyways I get there at 12:30pm and notice there to nobody at the stage, so I go and get front row when Phil plays. After battling the sun all day, New Order take the stage at 7:35. I was happy to see atmosphere first as it was left off of Oakland due to time. After the song was over I screamed Phil, Phil, Phil and got him to wave at me!!! (Hightlight of the show for me) Barney then goes on to say He love Palm Spings and wants to move here, and asks is anybody has been to Manchester, then asks if they like it. When to crowd said no, he says "Right answer" Anyways I was having the time of my life. The crowd was great (No pushing) It was great I was front row and space around me to breathe, unlike Oakland that I was getting squished and bumbed all threw the show. (Thanks you Britts )

It was funny because I could not hear the backing from where I was so in songs like Krafty I herd nothing in the chorus, and it still sounded great.

Barney was kinda in a foul mood because of his leg but sounded great, even if he screwed up Blt (missing the second chourus) And Peter was not very talkative but sounded great. Steve was Steve! And Phil was the only person who seemed happy. Even smiled while he was playing Hey Now. (Maybe because I kept chanting his name)

After Regret and the Photographers had to leave Peter said "Its time for the Photographers to leave so F**k off, Get the F**K out of here"

And Barney ended the show by saying "Sorry we could only play for one hour, and sorry for our bad mood tonight, but thats how it goes"

Overall great show!!! I had the time of my life!

And Big thanks to Al "Monster" Jarvis for telling me to go to the Left side of the stage! And for but Killing me and bumbing me this concert!

Coachella:

Couldn’t get as close as I wanted for this one, but I was considerably closer than I had been for Bauhaus the previous evening (sidenote: Peter Murphy dedicated “Dark Entries,” the last song, to Ian Curtis). (Had also briefly met with Sam, Al Jarvis, and Johnny Giles, and Andy at Coachella the previous day, who all seemed to be in good spirits, including Andy who has been so gracious as to call me a “septic come lately” before online.) Had watched Gang of Four with Allan (Green) and my gf Stephanie before New Order’s set (Tristan was there somewhere also, as we’d met up with him earlier that day), then Steph and I moved in a bit closer until we were maybe 50-70 feet from the stage. They turned the video screens on for this one, so we got a good spectacle even with plenty of people in front of us. I was surprised at how many people showed up for this one, most of whom just wanted to hear “the hits,” but that’s to be expected from a bunch of festival-going septics.

Atmosphere: Nice to hear this one after it was dropped from the Oakland setlist due to time (presumably). The sound was fucked up on this one and some other songs, but at least Barney didn’t whoop around a lot, having apologized for tearing his foot ligament (couldn’t make out his opening comments…something about surfing or his injury?). Still not the best intro song for a festival…too sedate and stately.

WFTSC: Me and my gf were the only ones around singing along to the new songs, but it still sounded great, even if the crowd weren’t too into it. At least I got to yell the lyrics into the frat boy types standing in front of me. Tee hee.

Regret: The crowd finally got really warmed up and all of the idiot girls around me and Steph were singing along to this. At some point between songs Hooky told the photographers to all fuck off, leaving Barney saying, “You can take all the pictures of me you want” or something to that tune.

Transmission: Good opening synth sound again…the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

Hey Now What You Doing/Krafty/Jetstream: Low crowd response. Barney kept saying “Hey, what do you know…another song from our new album.” A block of new stuff wasn’t what the crowd wanted, but at least I enjoyed it. HNWYD had some missed cues.

BLT: Barney did his best to dance around a bit, but he was clearly in pain and couldn’t swivel too much. Of course, your typical audience loved it. Barney missed his cue for the last lyrics and the song ended a line short.

LWTUA: Pretty good reception, with a nice singalong for the chorus. Hooky dedicated it to David (Sultan), then told him to fuck off. I laughed.

Crystal: Not the biggest crowd pleaser, but they wouldn’t have recognized when Barney missed his cues on this one anyway.

Blue Monday: Barney added a bit more keys to the opening of this one, and the Kylie sample made its appearance at the beginning as well (though it seemed to confuse most people). Barney was looking very much in pain from the hurt foot by this time and just stood still cringing for most of the song, then left the stage while Phil and Hooky finished the song. Hooky kept playing the bassline for quite some time after the song was over. Sounded great! And of course the crowd loved it, but fuck those people.

Overall, a fairly toned down show compared to Oakland. No Temptation or True Faith, which no doubt disappointed some people, as did the relative overabundance of new material given the one-hour time set time. Lots of missed cues and sound problems. Barney looking pissy and injured the whole time, as did everyone else. Mentioned at the end that they were sorry for not being in a better mood tonight but that’s how it goes. If I didn’t know any better, judging by all the missed cues, sound problems, foul moods, and unfamiliar songs, this could’ve been a gig from the mid-80’s. Or not. No surprises for this one. It was a great pleasure to watch the whole show with my lovely girlfriend at my side. A nice dessert after the far superior Oakland show.