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Get to Russel about
9-o-clock and was surprised to see it fairly empty. Wait for
Foreign Press to come on. A group comes on. Various comments.
"Who's this?", "Thats not Foreign Press",
"Innit?", "Dunno" etc. "Hello we're
Teardrop Explodes and we're playing here tonight to try out
our new keyboard player", says the bass player. Great.
Lots of people move forward. Very clear, bopping sound. Songs,
the familiar mixed the unfamiliar. I'm drowning, Sleeping gas,
Camera camera and others. Hold your attention. Do Bouncing babies
last then go off. Great. Lots of applause
Upstairs when the
Foreign Press come on, no rush to see them. Never seemed particularly
inspiring when I've seen them before, although brought out great
debt single. Standing, watching, drinking, listening. Hey, better
than ever, powerful stuff. Singer moves for a change. Very tight
clear sound. A few people dancing, crowd enjoying it. Play tracks
off great debut single, go off to great applause
Now for
stars on TV and radio, Joy Division. By now the club is very
full. Ian Curtis comes on with
guitar, Bernard Albrecht
[= Bernard Sumner] on keyboards.
They do this boring long, slow song [= Atmosphere]. No reaction from
crowd. "Boring", I comment, a girl agrees with me.
Then a total transformation and they blast into some classics
from their brilliant album [= Unknown Pleasures]. The crowd began
to move, clapping, cheering loudly. Then it goes downhill. Play
new song. Seems boring, play another new song, then another,
then another. Don't hold my attention like the EP [= An Ideal For Living] songs. Unfamiliarity
something to do with it but not the whole story. At the Stuff
The Superstars [on Saturday 28 July 1979] they stole the
show for me with a truncated half-hour set. The LP [= Unknown Pleasures] songs were then
to me unfamiliar but they set into the brain whereas the new
ones don't seem to. It might just be me though because most
people seemed to be enjoying the new songs. It might be my concentration
that was being distracted. Also the clear PA sound of the other
two bands went wrong for Joy Division
Near the end of the
set they blast She's lost control and I'm excited
again. Brilliant high spot of set. Finish with new song, I think.
Anyway while they were playing little scuffles happened, didn't
seem serious though, although bouncers came in. I went for a
pee when I heard Joy Division come back for an encore Transmission. I come back and
stand on a chair near the side. They mess it up so start the
song again. All of a sudden something happens and Peter Hook jumps into
the crowd and smashes his bass into someones head. Crowd disperse.
"What happened?", "Dunno". Anyway WHAT HAPPENED?
Lights
turned on. Joy Division start playing again minus Hook. Play a strange
song bass-less. Intense stuff, Fall-like. Great. Go off. We
go home
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