2nd October 1979: Mountford Hall, Liverpool University On tour with the Buzzcocks
This was the opening night of the Buzzcocks 24 date British tour - with Joy Division in the support slot. It seems Joy Division were on form, but the Buzzcocks weren't. Songs performed: 01. Wilderness 02. Ice Age 03. Candidate 04. Shadowplay 05. Insight 06. She's Lost Control 07. Twenty Four Hours 08. Disorder 09. Transmission 10. Warsaw Appx. duration: not known. Sound quality: not known. Tracklist info taken from the Form (And Substance) book, page 37. The authors got the song list information from Mark Johnson's original manuscript for the An Ideal For Living book. Mark did not have a copy of this tape, and the information has never been verified. However, gig goer Rick Alan remembers Shadowplay, She's Lost control and Transmission (see below) . It is uncertain if a recording of this gig actually exists, but it has been rumoured since the early / mid 1980s. We have never found a copy of this tape and we doubt if it exists outside Peter Hook's private collection. Penny Kiley's review (unknown UK Music Paper - but reproduced in the A History In Cuttings book) doesn't mention any song titles. But she did notice "experiments with varying speed within one song". This is most likely a reference to 24 Hours.	Thanks to Tim Youens for the poster scan Photos (C) Rick Alan reproduced here with permission
Rick Alan was there:  I went to that gig to see The Buzzcocks. I had heard of Joy Division, but had never heard any of their material. I used to hate standing through support bands in those days, I wanted to hear tunes I recognised. A couple of songs into Joy Division's set I was transfixed. They had an incredible amount of presence which I had to admit supassed that of Shelley & Co's subsequent performance....and I was a Buzzcocks fan. I think that was a Friday night and the following morning I trotted off to buy Unknown Pleasures. Putting the record on, I recognised many of the tracks from the night before, but most notably She's Lost Control and Shadowplay". When I later bought the Transmission single, I also recalled that from the gig.
A review of a Penetration concert earlier that year describes the venue like this: "The Mountford Hall is a hall in the Students' Union where Eric's occasionally put bands whose audience is larger than the capacity of the club. It is distinguished by its overwhelming lack of atmosphere and its overwhelming lack of bar facilities (unless you're an NUS member)". Mountford Hall is now called Liverpool Academy 1 (at June 2004)