New Order played at the Henry J. Kaiser Arena yesterday, and they were awesome! Peter Hook’s incredible, as always. This show was cozier, and probably better than their Republic Tour.
The setlist:
01 – She’s Lost Control
02 – Love Vigilantes
03 – Regret
04 – Hey Now What You Doing
05 – Krafty
06 – Transmission
07 – True Faith
08 – Run Wild
09 – Jetstream
10 – Waiting For The Sirens’ Call
11 – Bizarre Love Triangle
12 – Love Will Tear Us Apart
13 – Temptation
14 – Crystal
Encore: Blue Monday (w/some Kylie Minogue vocals added)
Couple notes: It’s been 25 years, since the passing of Ian Curtis (and therefore, Joy Division), so they put 3 JD songs in the set (1, 6, and 12), and they didn’t play too much new stuff, which I’m very thankful for. Barney said Run Wild, and Jetstream were two of his favorite songs. Run Wild, I can see, but Jetstream seemed fairly uninspired to me. I’ll have to give it a few more listens. They used a lot of pre-recorded synth and voiceovers, which I didn’t like – it’s much better when they play only with their instruments and live synth.
There were two opening bands – One unknown DJ group, which seemed to just like looping a track 5 times, and switching to another one, and Chemical Brothers. Watching CB live is kinda like watching two guys on stage rocking back and forth. You can take it for about 5 minutes, but you need to find some way to entertain yourself for the other 40. I appreciated Block Rockin’ Beats and Out of Control, but crap, I waited in line at 5pm to get front, center, and one person behind New Order. Did I have to wait till 10pm (5 hours!!!) to see them play? The one person in front of me was in line at 10:30AM, so I shouldn’t feel too bad. He didn’t have to deal with the large white guys moshing behind us, though.
On another note, the New Order crowd seemed fairly diverse, with a much smaller asian crowd than I expected. Many more middle aged white guys.
Hookey did a little synth drumming for the Blue Monday encore, and tossed out his drum sticks afterwards. I touched the stick, but wasn’t able to grab hold of it. ARGH!
Finally, Bernard Sumner and Mark Hamill. Separated at birth? You decide.
