Pics by Jim Dyson from New Order on Twitter |
That we ever doubted it was worth the effort was even more apparent as we sat in the car park at Heaton Park at just around midnight, tired, and not a little emotional, waiting to go home and seeing how so many friends were also there and similarly blissed.
I think I love what New Order routinely create, not because of their obvious and inherent strengths - and there is no better drummer on the planet than Stephen Morris, by the way - but because they make the absolute very best of what they have, within the confines of their own limitations. And today is not the day to be picky about those.
The choice of the setlist last night was pitch-perfect for the setting, the size of the audience, what everyone needed to feel, to hear and to move to. It had something for everyone, touching everything important they've ever done. It was a reminder of a band that knows its audience, knows that standing a few hundred yards back is as deserving of an immersive experience as those who could see the whites of Bernard's knuckles as he played the melodica on Your Silent Face. The lights, the video. Denise Johnson. And Ian.
A guy who stood near us shared a moment during Temptation. It was the song he fell in love with his wife to, but that she's dead now. "And I've never met anyone quite like you before." Oh my.
That was special, extraordinary even. Thank you New Order, thank you, Rachel, Rachael, Neil, Jim, and thank you Manchester.
Postscript, this from John Robb is great.
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