Joy Division

14th March 1979: Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altrincham

Bowdon Vale wasn't a youth club - it was a Social Club and cost 25p to join

Supported by Staff 9. The support band included the Hanleys and Craig Scanlon, soon to be members of The Fall

Songs performed:
01. Exercise One *
02. She's Lost Control
03. Shadowplay
04. Leaders Of Men
05. Insight
06. Disorder
07. Glass
08. Digital
09. Ice Age
10. Warsaw
11. Transmission
12. I Remember Nothing
13. No Love Lost. **

Appx. duration: 40 mins. Sound quality: 7-8/9

There are two different recordings of this concert: An audience tape which does not have track 01 Exercise One* and a soundboard tape which does. The soundboard tape didn't turn up until 2004 and the last track, No Love Lost is cut short**, presumably because the tape ran out.

It's not clear if Exercise One on the soundboard tape is from this gig as there's a pitch difference between Exercise One and She's Lost Control and it sounds like the end of Exercise One has been recorded over rather than the recorder being paused.

The full concert, from the soundboard tape, was released on the following bootleg CD::

The Youth Club

This gig was released on the following bootleg LPs. These are taken from the audience tape and do not have track 01 Exercise One.:

Lost Control LP

Live! Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altringham 14/3/79 LP

Death LP



Two tracks appears on Another Ideal For Killing LP

Two tracks appears on Live at Bowden Youth Club 7"


All or some of this gig was filmed by Malcolm Whitehead,
songs 02-04 were used in the "Joy Division" 8mm film,
produced by none other than M. Whitehead, and premiered
on 13 September 1979. This is according to Mark Johnson's book
"An Ideal For Living", page 42.



Newspaper advert
 

Copyright Martin O'Neill

Photos (C) Copyright Martin O'Neill
Used here with permission

Copyright Martin O'Neill

"Firstly, it was wild to have a band like Joy Division In a Youth Club !!...but my main memories are of first seeing Ian Curtis start dancing .. he really scared me .. I wondered what was wrong with him !!
Then, after I'd walked around the room shooting various angles of the gig I ended up actually on the low stage with them (Wow to think I've stood on the same stage as Ian Curtis!!) ... I got behind Curtis and Hooky, and Hooky told me to fuck off! I was so proud that I'd been told to Fuck off by one of Joy Division !! ... Years later I photographed Hooky again for my local newspaper, and reminded him of that time ... He interrupted me by saying "I told you to Fuck off!" ... and then two years ago, at one of the events marking the 25th anniversary of Curtis' death, I finally asked Hooky for an autograph.

He wrote ... "I told you to Fuck off!" ... Brilliant!"

- Martin O'Neill




Karen D was there.

I was at this gig. Bowdon Vale wasn't a youth club - it was a Social Club and cost 25p to join -I still have my membership card but unfortunately not the ticket.


Joy Division were amazing. Ian Curtis hypnotic. The DJ was Ian Robinson and did it with his brother.




Peter Cook was there:

It seems unbelievable now, but in March 1979, Joy Division were still playing  gigs to a packed room of kids at Bowdon Vale Youth Club. Joy Division played the show as a thank you to Bob Jefferson of Streets Ahead Records in Altrincham.

It was Bob who used the money generated by his record shop to buy the Joy Division partnership out of their first contract, thus allowing them to sign with Tony Wilson's Factory Records. In the audience was a young Ian Brown of Stone Roses, attending his first gig. He has since described it as one of his favourites of all time.

The late Andy Wake was in attendance with his friend Peter Cooke. Andy was 16 at the time. Fortunately for posterity Andy recorded his remembrances of  his night with Pete Cooke, Ian Curtis, PeteHook, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris. "I'd seen the group play as Warsaw at the Check Inn club in Altrincham the previous November and I already had their first EP which I thought was interesting, but it was the release of the Factory Sample EP which really got me fired up. Something special had happened between the two gigs.”

The gig at Bowdon Vale Youth Club youth club back in 1979  was filmed by Malcolm Whitehead. Andrew again takes up the story. “Interestingly enough, the wonderful Bob Jefferson put on both gigs, and he owned Streets Ahead records in Altrincham where loads of us hung out, complaining we had nothing to do. The dozen or so gigs he put on were a godsend and attracted a crowd from all over South Manchester to see the likes of Manchester bands such as The Fall, V2, The Passage, and a memorable night featuring The Red Crayola and a fledgling Scritti Politti in support.

I actually grew up in Bowdon Vale so the weekly gigs were on my doorstep. I remember taking my Joy Division records down to the club early in the evening and meeting the band, who happily signed everything for me. Ian Curtis was playing pool when we arrived, and I also remember him dodging traffic in Cuban-heeled Chelsea boots and a double-breasted olive-green raincoat as he ran to the local shop for cigarettes.

All four members of the band were approachable down to earth and happy to chat, but I found Peter Hook was the most sociable. I suggested there was a Northern Soul feel to their rhythm section which seemed to please him no end as he admitted he'd been a 'suedehead' and loved the stuff when he was younger. It's worth saying that they all enjoyed having a laugh and were not the 'serious, young men' portrayed in the media.

As for the gig, well, they were phenomenal.  Everything seemed to have fallen into place since  I'd last seen them when they were performing under the name Warsaw. I think everyone in the room  knew they were witnessing something truly magical and there was a power and raw energy to the band live which was never captured in the  studio.

The club's stage was cramped and low. Pete  and I  pushed our way to the front within touching  distance of the band: The gig was hot and loud  and condensation dripped from the ceiling.

Gone were the covers of Sister Ray and Louie Louie to be replaced by an entire set of original songs, most of which were soon to appear on Unknown Pleasures. I got a bootleg tape of the gig which I played to death prior to the album coming out. The show reinforced my opinion that Joy Division were very special and destined for much bigger things. Pete and me spent the rest of 1979 and early 1980 catching them as often as we could. I still have a really soft spot for Joy Division and those great times. Punk rock had a profound effect on me as it did with many others, and that spirit still rushes through my veins. Joy Division refined that feeling and moved it forwards in a new and exciting direction.

Andy’s mate Pete Cooke takes up the story and in the process gives the reader a vivid glimpse of what it meant to be a young Joy Division fan immersed in the Manchester music scene,  “We decided to start a fanzine and conducted some interviews and spent an unexpected afternoon hanging out for a couple of hours  with Hooky, Bernard and Steve in their rehearsal room  while we all waited for Ian to return from walkabout. Sadly, we never got round to actually publishing the fanzine I have to confess that I did have the obligatory charity shop long raincoat. Andy and me tried to mimic what Ian was wearing in the famous Kevin Cummins band portrait photograph. He wore that raincoat often. That iconic Joy Division photograph was taken on one of the bridges over Princess Parkway in Hulme , next door to Moss Side. I lived there for two years in the infamous four 'Crescents'. They were purportedly designed to evoke  those famous Georgian Crescents in Bath can you believe! They were all named after famous architects, though god knows which godforsaken architect designed the place. During my time, I lived in William Kent and Charles Barry crescents. By coincidence I had to move out of my William Kent flat so Ian Brown of the Stone Roses, who I’d last seen at the Joy Division Bowdon Vale Youth Club gig could move in!!

All the Crescents are gone now and the whole area has been regenerated. The City Centre, Hacienda, Russell Club (The Factory) and Rafters were all minutes away. Hulme was a deprived and horrible place, but I had a very good time there. It was cheap for students at the Universities, so lots of interesting people who started bands as some had moved up to Manchester to be nearer the 'music scene'! The  pub I would frequent to meet friends before going to the Hacienda, was just around the corner from the Britons Protection This was The White Horse pub in Hulme, about 50 yards away from the Factory club venue. What a dive it was!”