The Squat, Manchester, 25 October 1980

 

October 25 - The Squat, Manchester (w/New Order (unadvertised), Renegades, and Messagana)

- This was also the first ever New Order gig as a quartet. Phil Jones (ex-DC manager) said that DC played this gig and not the European date, so it is unknown if New Order played the first few Euro dates or not. Possibly they joined the tour after the 25th?

Notes

The above review from an unknown fanzine says:

NEW ORDER + DURUTTI COLUMN + THE RENEGADES + MESSAGANA

LIVE AT THE SQUAT

A varied nights entertainment – reggae, rockabilly, the Durutti Column and New Order (Joy Division in case you didn't know!) 

Massagana were first on and caused the show to start late, by not turning up until about 10.15. It would have been better if they hadn't bothered. Average reggae sounds and poor visuals. They went down fairly well though and earned an encore.

Next were the Renegades. I don't pretend to be a great fan of rockabilly, but these guys seemed OK. Not much to watch, but it was refreshing to have something different for a change. They too went down well, earning themselves an encore.

The Durutti Column weren't very impressive. They only did five or six numbers, but that was enough to be able to get a reasonable impression of the band. Only a 2 piece and there was vitually no movement at all. Of the songs they did play they seemed to be of a formidable standard, but they were not very exciting.

And so to New Order. They had been billed as "special guests" but everyone knew they were going to play and consequently the place was packed to capacity. I only saw them once before Ian Curtis' death and I think they were a lot better then. In Ian they have lost the main focal point of the band and hence they aren't very exciting to watch. They only played new numbers – no recorded material at all – and these were all very much the same sort of style as the old Joy Division works. I don't know how long they intend to go on in this format but I do feel they need a new vocalist, someone who can add more life to the show, as irreplaceable as Ian was.