NO: 06 JUN 1982 Provinssirock Festival - Seinäjoki, Finland

 

(from dirtypearl YouTube)

Setlist

Ultraviolence, The Him, Senses, Temptation, We All Stand, Dreams Never End, Procession, Ceremony, 586

(Playlist from Fractured / Image)

 

Juha submitted the following:

New Order
Provinssirock, Seinajoki, Finland
6th of June 1982

Setlist:
1. Ultraviolence
2. The Him
3. Senses
4. Temptation
5. We All Stand
6. Dreams Never End
7. Procession
8. Ceremony
8. 586

No encores. No 'The Passenger' played, despite what Mark Johnson claimed.

Another possibility is that this was played just during the soundcheck, as they've played the guitar riff at least at other soundchecks.

He notes:

"My friend recorded the set with his portable radio cassette recorder from the soundboard tower in the field. Throughout the set there was some static noise - possibly caused by a bad cable of the PA system - which got progressively worse as the gig went on, up to the point of 'We All Stand', where from there it cleared up somewhat."

His first impression of the performance:

A mild let down. They were kinda lost, awkwardly looking at their shoes. One highlight was Hooky's over the top stage presence."

Then he writes:

"Now that I listened the tape few times New Order actually was playing quite tightly and sounded great according to the laws of NO physics. No major fuck-ups at all. Guitars mostly in tune, just a little bit of annoying in-the-middle-of-the-song tuning. The most distinctive element of their music - Hooky's bass playing - was in its place and brilliant.

The tunes are stripped-down compared to the originals, yet contain the essence of the recorded versions. Hooky was singing 'Dreams Never End', with Barney doing the rest. No "hello-we-are-a-band-you-must-be-the-audience" babble. Not even a single song title. Not a word. I don't remember they said an extra word during the whole gig to communicate with the audience. Super cool!"

Juha reckons that the tape rates as A-/B+, if it weren't for the static hiss that can be heard throughout. I say it's definitely A-. He also notes that the version of Ultraviolence on this was quite short, nothing like the 20+ minute opus heard elsewhere around this time. While the weather conditions, equipment problems, and band mindset perhaps resulted in a sub-par show, what we hear of New Order on tape belies Juha's initial impressions.

He then adds:

"I'm pretty sure there was some long tuning breaks. According to the tape it sounds like recording was paused during the band was tuning and struggling with their equipment. Not any significant loss, really. Annoying, but not too bad though."

"Ultraviolence" is app. 3 min. long. Is it really that short? I feel like there's a bit more than few seconds missing. I don't know. Hmm... makes me wonder. There's nice version of 'We All Stand' - kinda reggae sound system echo used in it. Overall the tunes eventually released in their 2nd album are in their early stage or just rawer, down stripped live versions." 586 in particular is a highlight, in it's "Taboo #7" form.

Some additional comments from Juha, regarding the rarity of the recording and more information regarding the atmosphere of the gig:

"You are possibly quite right. This tape of mine has never been out in any circulation whatsoever. It's quite possibly there are only two copies in existence - I made one extra safety copy of it to myself. If I ever made one for my friend - the recording engineer - it's most likely lost or destroyed. I don't remember if I'd made a copy for the third friend who participated at Provinssi. So there's max. 3 copies in existence nowadays, but not very likely - most likely only these two I have. Until now...

The Finnish personnel involved seemed to be somewhat indifferent. Who knows? There might be some (most likely a cassette, as DAT wasn't available back then) SBD existing - capturing all that static interference crystal clear! But this is most definitely the best audience recording made from this show - if any other exist - not because of the hi-tech gear used all the way through the process but the location it was recorded from. You simply cannot beat a soundboard/control tower that easily! And those days it wasn't that common people had recordable gear of any kind with them. Who can tell?

I doubt even NO/personnel involved have any recollection of that catastrophic experience/bad memory. According to my friend there was NO interview in some news/musicpaper. They were asked what they remembered from that gig in Provinssi. They said something about dismal/dreadful experience, possibly referring to a chilly and rainy day which may have had something to do with causing the sound problems (synths/sequencers being very sensitive to humidity) - not long before before NO started, the sun started to shine - and muddy, out of their head drunken kids, crazy ordinary Finnish citizens all over the place. Which is, by the way, a beautiful park; full of trees and green grass with a small lake and all."

Another question was the exact date. Juha had questioned whether the performance occured on Saturday, June 5th as opposed to Sunday, June 6th (which is what the various official sources had given), but it turns out that his recollection was a bit hazy and that the gig had indeed happened on Sunday, as the weather that day had been clear for a part of the day rather than completely rainy as it was for the previous day, which matches up what had been reported for their performance.

Also, according to SOUNDI 7/82 Pauli Kosonen's festival report and Thomas Harald in the VASABLADET newspaper, 'Everything's Gone Green' was played. Considering the recording was paused twice, it's not inconceivable that this song was not taped. But according to the taper, no such thing happened, and the journalist simply misidentified one of the tracks, in my estimation, most likely 586, since it was a very new song and to the casual observer (or lazy journalist), may have resembled Everything's Gone Green, and that one source passed it onto the other.

A transcription of the crowd banter. New Order do not speak at all thoughout.

Due to my inability to render non-ASCII characters, "x" is used for "a" with an umlaut, and "z" is used for "o" with the same.

Ultraviolence

1:17: "Vai pitiks jxtkix nxhdx?"
TRNS: "So this group (New Order) is a must-see?"

(addressing Juha's friend.)

1:19: "Txh?"
TRNS: "Wha'?"

(Juha's friend's initial response.)

The initial person repeats his question, with no audible immediate response. A little bit later, there's the following.

2:01: "Hei Sviikki!"
TRNS: "Hey, Sviikki!"

2:02: "No?"
TRNS: "Yeah?"

2:03: "Kuka ne o?"
TRNS: "Who are they?

2:04: "New Order?"

2:05: "New Order? Jaha."
TRNS: "New Order? Yup."

2:31: "Ootteko te kaverit ton txnne pxxstxnyt?" TRNS: "Did you guys let him in here?"

(Probably referring to the taper who had mounted the control tower for the taping.)

Senses

4:30: "Yks kundi toi noi."
TRNS: "Some guy brought those.

(Pointing out the recording gear of the friend of Juha's.)

4:32: "Txh?"
TRNS: "Wha'?"

4.33: "Yks kundi toi noi. Mx annoin xxnittxx sen." TRNS: "Some guy brought those. I let him record."

4:37: "Et kovin suurta lzytxnyt?"
TRNS: "Couldn't find anything bigger?"

(A sarcastic/amused comment about the recording gear being not so big addressed to Juha's friend.)

4:38: "Kyllx"
TRNS: "Yes."

(This is somebody else besides the taper replying.)

Temptation

7:03: "Hirvee jyrinx!"
TRNS: "Terrible rumble!

A few seconds later, the same person asks:

7:06: "Mistxhxn se johtuu?"
TRNS: "What might be causing it?"

(about the buzzing)

7:08: "Voi olla et niillx o joku piuha poikki. Ei se pxivxllx ottanut yhtxxn."

TRNS: "It may be they have some cable cut. It didn't cause any (interference) earlier today."

We All Stand

0:12: "Ota valot kokonaan pois."
TRNS: "Turn the lights completely off."

2:51: "Siellx ei oo valoja mihin mx pyrin." TRNS: "There're no lights that I can get connected. That's what I'm doing here."

2:54: "Txx tulee pois."
TRNS: "This one is an output".

2.56: "Hei!"
TRNS: "Hey!"

2:57: "Kokeile Tuomas valomiehix."
TRNS: "Tuomas, try out the lighting crew."

2:58: "Txh?"
TRNS: "Wha'?"

2:59: "Valomiehix!"
TRNS: "The lighting crew!"

3:00: "Koko ajan."
TRNS: "All the time."

(Tuomas sounds annoyed because he *has* been working on contacting the lighting crew)

3:02: "Hei valot! Onks valomiehix?"
TRNS: "Hey lights! Any lighting crew?

(this is 'Tuomas' talking over a command line between the control tower and lighting crew)

3:10: "Otit sx kaikki jo pois?"
TRNS: "Did you turn 'em off yet?"

3:12: "Onks nxx valoja?"
TRNS: "Are these the lights?"

(probably referring to the switches)

3:13: "Joo-o."
TRNS: "Yep."

3:18: "Koko ajan ollu pois."
TRNS: "Been off all the time."

3:28: "Ai kokonaan?"
TRNS: "All of them off?"

4:28: "Jep. Niil on lxhtz kunnossa."
TRNS: "Yep. They've got the output in order.

4:30: "Oikee otto pxxllx?"
TRNS: "Correct input on?"

4:33: "Ei aavistustakaan."
TRNS: "Not the slightest clue."

4:34: "Siis mitx?"
TRNS: "Say what?"

4:42: "Ei ollu pxxllx vai?"
TRNS: "So it wasn't on, right?"

6:31: "Lopettais nyt jo saatana! Txx on huono avaus." TRNS: "Can't they just fucking stop? This is a bad start."

(Juha notes that this person's probably more worried about the rest of the weekend than about New Order's particular performance. This pro isn't a particularly happy camper right about now)

6:48: "Varos vxhx sitx."
TRNS: "Watch out for that one."

7:03: "Pitiks sun tarttua?"
TRNS: "Did you have to grab that?"

(Juha doesn't have the slightest idea what this was about.)

Procession

0:02: "Aika hyvx."
TRNS: "Pretty good."

(probably about the quality of the sound. No indication that he's being sarcastic here)

0:04: "Ei se vaan sekxxn. Ei se valoon voinu saada ainoastaan." TRNS: "It wasn't even that one. It couldn't have leaked into just the lights."

0:08: "Aika hoopoja ne ottaa."
TRNS: "Pretty goofy ones they let on."

(Possibly about the dubious, in this person's opinion, choice of letting New Order play in this festival.)

0:09: "Ei txtx jumalatkaan kestxis."
TRNS: "Not even the Gods could endure this."

(His counterpart is less harsh towards the band.)

0:12: "Toiki on hyvx ehkx jossain mielessx." TRNS: "Maybe even that (New Order) is good in some sense."

0:16: "Se kikkaili noilla pelleillx, nii se ei ollu hyvx." TRNS: "He was messing around with the cymbals so that they would sound bad."

(probably directed at to whoever soundchecked the drums, since in this person's view, they didn't do a very good job)

0:19: "Tosi xhellys."
TRNS: "Real toiling."

0:20: "Se oli hirveetx."
TRNS: "It was terrible."

0:21: "Joo mx kuulin sen nii kauhea xhellys." TRNS: "Yeah, I heard it so it was like terrible toiling."

0:24: "Sit siellx oli enemmxnki niitx." TRNS: "Then there're some more of them."

3:39: "Lopeta nyt jo."
TRNS: "Stop now already."

3:55: "Se kundi lxhti pois?"
TRNS: "That guy went away?"

3:56: "Joo. Aikoja sitten."
TRNS: "Yeah. A long time ago."

3:57: "Se xijx hxvis."
TRNS: "That geezer disappeared."

4:03: "Ja lisxx vaan txllxstx."
TRNS: "An' some more of this."

(being totally sarcastic)

4:04: "Kyllx."
TRNS: "Yes."