
8th April 1980: Derby Hall, Bury
Supported by Minny Pops
The Victorian building, originally commissioned by the Earl of Derby, now (in 2006) houses a theatre and concert
venue known as The Met.
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Scan from www.answers.com. Our attempts to find the copyright holder have been unsuccessful. If
it is you please email us |
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Thanks to Ian for the ticket scans. Note Ian Curtis autograph on the back.
Design (C) Copyright Peter Godkin |
| No tapes of this concert have surfaced. We think the tracklist was probably as follows: |
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| 01. Girls Don't Count |
Without Ian Curtis |
| 02. Love Will Tear Us Apart |
Without Ian Curtis |
| 03. Digital |
Without Ian Curtis |
| 04. The Eternal |
Ian Curtis on vocals |
| 05. Decades (or Passover?) |
Ian Curtis on vocals |
| 06. Sister Ray |
Without Ian Curtis |
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| If you have a tape of this concert or any more info please email us |
Notes: A very chaotic gig! Due to Ian's health he only stayed on stage for a short while, instead Joy Division
and supporting group, Section 25, played
together on stage. Some skinheads lost their patience |
and threw a beer mug on stage. The place exploded in a huge wrestling match...Terry defended the stage and equipment
with a microphone stand, Rob got pretty banged up after diving off the mixing desk into the |
group of skinheads.
Peter was kept in the dressing room and out of battle by a combination of the persuasion of Tony Wilson, and his
wife, and Paul of section 25 holding him down! |
| This is what Alan Hempsall, lead singer with Factory band Crispy Ambulance, had to say about
this gig in a discussion with Robert Elfving in January 2002: |
"My recollections of the Bury gig are still fairly clear and there has been a lot of crap
talked about that night. I'm pretty sure Decades was one of the two slow new ones they played after I came off.
The scrap afterwards was pretty funny too".
"The gig took place in early April 1980. The Minny Pops played a full set then Section 25 went on and played
a short set which finished with "Girls Don't Count". When they started this song Bernard, Peter, Steve
and myself came on to join Section 25 with Larry on vocals and me on backing vocals. When this song finished Section
25 left |
the stage leaving me, Bernard, Peter and Steve to do "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and
"Digital". Then I left the stage, Ian came on and did "Decades" and "The Eternal"
(which was all he said he felt up for)".
(Robert mentions that some sources state that "passover" was one of the
songs Ian sang)
"You're really sewing the seeds of doubt in my mind as regards the two songs
that Ian did toward the end of the Bury gig. I have to be honest and say that whilst I'd always said it was "Decades"
and "The Eternal", I wasn't very familiar with some of |
the new stuff as "Closer" had yet to see the light of day. The only new stuff I'd
heard in advance was from the last Peel session and stuff I'd heard in whilst in the studio shortly before Ian
died".
"Then Ian left the stage and I came back on with Larry and Simon Topping from ACR and we did a version of
"Sister Ray" with Larry on lead vocal and me and Simon on backing. That done we all left, leaving a very
confused audience and that's when the trouble started".
"I have heard that there is a recording of the gig somewhere but I've yet to hear it." |
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Here's how 'Mike from rural Lincolnshire' reviewed the gig for City Fun fanzine:
"... everything got pretty confusing. I'll try and explain. A Certain Ratio's lead voice came on and sang
a song with section 25, then somebody who I didn't recognize came on and did a song with section 25, next came
Joy Division without Ian Curtis. Section 25 stayed on and we got a ten minute song with 2 bassists, 2 drummers,
keyboards and a guitarist along with 4 alternating singers. Then everyone but Stephen Morris, Peter Hook and Bernard
Dicken left the stage and we get 4 Joy Division songs with Dicken singing. The only one I recognized was 'Love
Will Tear Us Apart'. Then Ian Curtis appeared to sing 3 songs, somebody told me that he was ill, but nobody bothered
to tell us.
Finally the ten piece band came on and gave us another long song which was also very good.
Then some stupid bastard threw a glass over the stage as the bands were going off, it shattered a lamp and landed
on a large roadie who went beserk and leapt into the crowd after the offender. Chaos broke out and I fucked off".
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Here's how Mark Burgess (of The Chameleons) remembered the gig in an email to Nick Blakey
in 2002:
"It's funny actually amongst the many other things I'm doing presently, I'm working on a book about my life
and experiences with the band and I've just got through drafting a part that relates to when Dave and I went to
see Joy Division in 1980 and support that night was Sector 25 and A Certain Ratio; When JD came out Curtis was
absent and his place was taken by the singer from Crispy Ambulance, who pretended to be Curtis for most of the
set and seemed to have most of the kids there fooled, until finally he left the stage and Curtis came on to do
two songs, the gig ended and there was absolute pandemonium. |
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Peter Godkin was on the organising committee. He designed the tickets
and poster for the concert. Here's what he said when he contacted us in 2007:
"My name is Peter Godkin, and I was originally on the organising committee with Adrian Mealing, we started
and ran Gigs, the weekly local venue for bands in Central Bury in the early 80's, I was responsible, for Publicity
and Marketing at Gigs, while I was at college. My reason for getting in touch is that a friend of mine from that
time who has been in touch again, sent me the url for your site and send me the jpegs of the ticket, I designed,
after I had mentioned that during a clear out of my parents loft, I found this original poster I also designed
of the JD gig at The Derby Hall back in 1980, and wondered if you would like a copy for your site.
It is interesting to read the accounts from people who attended that night, most of which I recall happened that
way, but in some cases, a few details are missing.
I read Mark Burgess's account [see above] with interest, and I quote
"Here's how Mark Burgess (of The Chameleons) remembered
the gig in an email to Nick Blakey in 2002:
"It's funny actually amongst the many other things I'm doing presently, I'm working on a book about my life
and experiences with the band and I've just got through drafting a part that relates to when Dave and I went to
see Joy Division in 1980 and support that night was Sector 25 and A Certain Ratio; When JD came out Curtis was
absent and his place was taken by the singer from Crispy Ambulance, who pretended to be Curtis for most of the
set and seemed to have most of the kids there fooled, until finally he left the stage and Curtis came on to do
two songs, the gig ended and there was absolute pandemonium."
As I said it is interesting to hear these accounts, I corresponded with both Mark and Dave a lot, when at the time
they were with an earlier band 'The Clichés', and in fact we often chatted, I was designing record covers
and posters for them, as they attended a lot of the Gigs in the early days, before they went off to form 'The Chameleons'
However there was one thing Mark left out, which was we were stood together at the time, just as JD with Ian finished
the second song and left the stage, yes some idiot did throw a pint pot at the stage, and the next thing I knew
a roadie was beating the shit out of some guy near the front of the stage. I thought oh shit!
I immediately went to the side stage curtain and back to the side of the stage mainly to find out what had happened,
to find Tony Wilson hiding under a table there, next thing I know he was shouting at me "To get the F**K out
there and sort things out!' I shouted back "You have got to be kidding!" I vividly remember looking at
the stage to see a hail of bottles, glasses and broken glass from the theatre/hall lights raining down on the stage,
and thought NO F*****G WAY MATIE.
I did hear Peter Hook shouting from the dressing room, and then Tony disappeared. I went back out beyond the curtain
into the hall, to then come upon this surreal scene of Adrian, trying to calmly break up two blokes who were trying
to tear each other apart, with everyone standing around looking on stunned.
For years I have always remembered that JD played just 2 numbers with Ian Curtis, and yes there was something strange
going on with the line up before this. Right up to an hour before the gig, we were not sure if it would go ahead,
as news had filtered through during the day, that Ian had been in hospital again, we thought it might get cancelled,
but kept our fingers crossed. In addition we were only supposed to have 400 people in the hall, yet the final count
put the number at nearly 600, as a lot of people somehow got in by the emergency exit, despite our best efforts.
Also Tony Wilson will never remember this but at the end of the night as we were still clearing up and people giving
statements to the Police, I stopped one of our regulars Andy from decking him, after he came out with "They
certainly don't know how to enjoy themselves up here in Bury" he thought he was being very funny.
As a result we were closed down for a month by the Derby Halls Trustees, and after that ended up with a number
of restrictions, it never really was the same again after that night". |
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Thanks to Peter Godkin for the poster scan. (C) Copyright Peter Godkin
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Johnboy contacted us in 2008 with his recollections: " I now live in Australia
but I am originally from Manchester.
Everyone I knew at that gig knew that Curtis was ill and struggling to come out. Most people knew that the singer
from Crispy Ambulance was singing instead of Curtis, and we were all getting would up because no-one explained
what was happening - but then again, when did anyone talk to the audience at a Warsaw/Joy Dvision/ New Order gig?
Ian Curtis came on and they did The Eternal and Passover. That lasted about 10 minutes and the sound was shite
- that's probably why no-one was sure what they played!
Then Ian went off, they started Sister Ray,someone threw a pint pot at the stage, and one of the bouncers went
beserk.
Then it really kicked off. Like going to the match. It felt like everyone dived in.
The worst thing was all the coppers waiting for everyone at the bottom of the stairs as we all came out. I remember
everyone was running out to get someone or some group of people but I can't remember why.
A crackin' night out but not long enough".
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