NO: 19 AUG 1984 Leisure Centre - Gloucester, England

 

thehappyone, AUD #3 + s/c

Setlist

We All Stand, Face Up, Denial, Leave Me Alone, Sooner Than You Think, Confusion, Procession, Age Of Consent, The Perfect Kiss, In A Lonely Place, Sunrise

Soundcheck (10 minutes): Sooner Than You Think, Sunrise

Features Hooky playing the intro to "Leave Me Alone" on the *wrong string*...must be heard to be believed.

To quote TJ:

Best Hooky bass moment - has to be Leave Me Alone at Gloucester 1984. He was playing it on the wrong string, realised and then completely lost the plot, and it was at least a minute into the song before anyone realised what the song was, including the rest of the band ! I'll try to stick it up online later today.

Can be heard here....this is from an otherwise uncirculated AUDv2, which sounds a bit overblown.

Review: TO CATCH A THIEF

(NME, Dave Massey)

I feel like a detective if I try to look deeply into the secret world of New Order (and their devotees).

For the cultists, it would be true to say that, for them, listening to New Order should be a private and intimate experience. A Leisure Centre is, therefore, hardly the most suitable venue in which to absorb and accept. For one thing, it's redolent of sweat and socks rather than sustaining an appreciation of the moods in the 'anonymous functionalism' that New Order purvey.

It's been said before but, like it or not, there are disconcerting parallels between New Order's current status and that of '70s era Pink Floyd. A part of them shares the Floyd's live of carefully constructed, quasi-symphonic music, full of thunder crashes and gradeur, but then the rest mixes the ingredients in a matter more attuned to the Beat than the Brain. They're all too familiar. The energetic kit or machine rhythms of Steve Morris, Gillian's blowing hot and cold keyboard stabs and sways, Hookey's bass pulses that twang or treas, and Bernie withy the vocal cries and whispers, the guitar scrabbles and syncopations.

When they fuse together on 'Procession' or 'Denial' (and 'Everything's Gone Green' on record), the effect is totally exhilarating - one of the most glorious sensations imaginable. When the pace is slowed down and the controls shifted towards drama and introspection, 'In A Lonely Place' (and 'Truth' on record) can stop you in your tracks, providing transendence to a spirtual plane. New Order can provide moments that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

They also have their debilitating cliches. I must be one of a small minority that considers 'Power Corruption And Lies' to be 50 per cent excellence and 50 per cent rubbish, and 'Temptation' and 'Confusion' to be New Order's nadir. To compete in the dancefloor stakes, New Order have to box clever and work hard to stand out from the real mix masters, and at times they don't cut it.

A couple of unrecognised numbers here have all the accoutrements of scratch, Claptraps a-go-go, and swatches of echo and reverb, but coupled with the renditions of 'Age Of Consent' and 'The Village', my reaction was little more than a fustratred 'so what?'.

With New Order, you get numerous examples of these contradictions that can confound and confuse. They even attract some adherents who might have been more at home at a football ground, and at one stage their over-eager support moved Bernie to ask them to stop pressing forward onto the peple at the front. "You see, we do care about people," quipped Bernie mischievously.

New Order are now prepared to show some of the outward emotion which has always previously been so closely guarded; precocity may slowly be replacing preciousness. My hope is that we will see and hear in the future points more towards a temptation of the senses, rather than a mere hip appeal to the instincts.

Writeup of AUD #1 audience recording, which is fairly clear, but runs fast.

We All Stand

BS: "...it all...seem excited if we screw this up..."

Some static akin to what you'd get from a VCR obscures the last part of his statement.

During intro, Bernard says something to Eddie.

BS: "Thanks very much. Thank you a lot. I'd like to say once again, thank you."

The very start of Face Up also has the VCR-type static/skipping.

Very interesting intro bit right before Hooky's bass, it's almost as if Gillian triggered the wrong thing.

Another instance of static during the first chorus, and a bit near the end.

Denial

BS: "Eh, could you do us a big favor, move back a little bit please, there's a lot of people getting hurt in the front. See, we do care about people."

Very good version of Little Dead, with the guitarwork being a highlight.

Leave Me Alone

BS: "Will the people in the front please stop spitting, you won't do that at home, and everybody is at home at New Order gigs."

As noted above, Hooky starts riffing, stops, and continues, playing on the wrong string! Wow.

Lots of shouting after this one.

Sooner Than You Think

PH: "Do not fucking shout, it makes you want to talk...[can't make out rest]"

Confusion

A long pause while the band swap instruments around, presumably.

Another bout of static near the end. And then an edit between tracks.

Procession follows.

Static five seconds in.

Age Of Consent

A tape edit cuts off whatever it was that Hooky was trying to say.

About 2:49 in there's another glitch.

Someone near the taper coughs a couple of times.

The Perfect Kiss

Glitches at 3:14 and 3:30.

End of the main set presumably, as there's another break/edit in the tape.

In A Lonely Place

Edit at end.

Sunrise

BS: "This one's called 'I bang my balls at Wounded Knee'. A bit forward, that."

Yet another version with scratch lyrics, mostly about Bernard's willie.

lyric: "It goes in out, it goes in out...it goes up and down..."

lyric: "You told me you didn't care about the fucking words"...

etc.


Versions

AUD v1 - unknown, VCR-type glitches

AUD v2 - TJ.  D6 most likely.  Levels set too high.

AUD #3 - from ST.  Used for "gig" portion on YouTube.

AUD #4 - With soundcheck. Distinctive guy near taper as IALP begins saying "YES!" which is not on others." Also, first track "We All Stand" sounds out of phase, like the taper was still moving forward into position. Tape flip between AoC and TPK. Also includes "Sooner Than You Think" and "Sunrise" during soundcheck, as noted, and appears in original NO gigography (archive.org link)