New Order. Blackpool 16th October 2006.

Having missed a classic gig the previous Wednesday at Newcastle, it’s safe to say I was well looking forward to this gig. Unlike the previous week I had the whole week off work to get into the party atmosphere of both Blackpool and Glasgow. The Corby Order arrived in Blackpool around 5 I think and arrangements had already been made that the Viking contingent were all meeting in a pub called the Green Room, this was due to Adam Colgan who was once a native. Blackpool is a pretty lively shithole, a typical seaside town with plenty of neds hanging around the place, as well as too many strip clubs. (several of which I had the pleasure of visiting in my youthful days and throwing good money after breasts) The pub itself was a couple of hundred yards from the venue itself, which is always handy for the ease of us staggering in at five to nine.


DoN, Nick King, Ness and Mrs Manic.


Maya & Jem

By the time we had arrived there were already a good few Vikings already onto their umpteenth pint. We basically had one area of the pub as you walk in the door, faces already red with alcohol included Greg & Ness, DoN, Al, Maya & Johnny, PHD, Alex, Bonzette, Missy Jem, Dave Legge, Nick King, German Danny (with his stookie) Royser, Adam, Mad Darren, Jeanette, Colin, Mr & Mrs Frads, Gary and Gordy with several turning up at different times of the progressing evening, Johnny Giles, Mr & Mrs Manic, JT & Lucy, Steve, Ted Baker and the Salford Red, Barney Army, Boatraceface, Rocket Mick and DigiMike, Rathbones and Minx to mention but a few.


JT & Jem

I spent ages catching up with everyone, Danny was the only German over for the gig this time, as Matthias and Norbert were saving their pennies for Glasgow, poor ole Danny was in a cast and has to go for another operation next week on his leg, you’d have thought the Germans would have mastered their goalscoring techniques by now! The Viking badges were again flying out of our hands and everyone seemed suitably impressed by our latest effort, though Al couldn’t believe how quickly they all went. A few of the jessies headed out for something to eat, but it’s very rare you catch me doing that when there’s beers to be drunk and stories to be told.


Danny German Order


Corby Order


Poof Shop Boys. Rocket and DigiMike

Liverpool’s Summer Pops fiasco was mentioned again, that gig will go down in folklore for the amount of people who were either thrown out or warned several times or started trouble with the police, but we all had a good laugh about it. PHD said the coppers there were all a bunch of cunts and JT stressed in equally strong language that he wouldnae ever go back to Liverpool. JT’s better half Lucy was sporting the new fassion accessory, A Vikings vest, as Mike kept the number of these new t-shirts to a limited few, Lucy has the only vest version, so she was very amused when everyone kept asking for a picture of her tits.


Lucy Viking


PHD

Nick King was on his fourth packet of fags already, whilst I was languishing behind on my second packet, then Al started an argument about who smoked the most, apparently one of the Darlo Order is also as mad as Nick when it comes to smoking. Dave Legge has now officially been renamed Son Of Jarvo, thanks to me and Uncly John winding him up about his shiny bonce, boisterous nature and an unhealthy obsession with things that are bad for you. He used to be such a quiet lad you know.


JG, DoN, Dave Legge, DigiMike & Al


Bonz with Salford Red and Barney Army

As the evening wore on the pub was being filled by more and more of us and we were now taking over the rest of the pub, there were a good few new faces who we all introduced ourselves to, and one lad that Jarvo introduced me to was on his 103rd gig! Fucking nuts! Barney Army was in jovial mood as he taunted me about the Mancy lads lucky victory over us at Old Trafford, the third time he was baiting me was in the bogs, whilst another Manc was in there with us (and also joining in) after a couple of minutes of banter, a voice came from the cubicle saying “Yer not too big to have yer head stuck down this bog” It seems Uncle John was listening on intently. Fookin classic moment! Obviously this occurred two days before we gubbed Benfica, so it’ll be interesting to see if we can do the Mancs at home and top the group. I also have to mention that my cockney Bruv DoN also took great delight in winding us up, but DoN is one of the few that would actually like to see us qualify as well, so fair play bruv.


With me Cockney Bruv DoN.


Greg, Ness & Johnny Giles

Another we met for the first time was Michael (who’s from Middlesbro not Sunderland) he posts as Boatraceface and was a bit wary of crowds of us, so I pointed Jarvo in his direction at the bar (where Al was going to claim a pint off him) and Al did the formalities taking him around to meet everyone. There were a good few people taking pictures for posterity as you can see throughout this story, so cheers to all those whose pictures I have stolen. From memory I think Section 25 supported and a good few of the crowd that were with us disappeared for that. From reading my continual shite on here, ye’s will already know that a good few of us just stay at the pub till the last minute for the Order.


Shug & Michael (BRF)

As usual that’s what we did again, just having time to get the beers in as “For a few dollars more” sounded over the PA. We made it down to the front at the side just in time for the band taking the stage. Impeccable timing as always. For a change we held back for Crystal as we me and John still had two full pints in our hands, we quickly scoffed one and headed straight to Lorraine who had already secured her spot on the barrier just in front of Hooky. Regret kicked off and the beer that we were holding had disintegrated quicker than Rocket Mick’s hairline as the place erupted, as usual everywehere you looked or fell into, there was another of yer pals, grown men with the look of delight punching the air and jumping up and down like demented weans.



The band seemed to be in good spirits, but the sound inside the venue wasn’t the greatest, it wasn’t as bad as some people have made out on the site though. Who’s Joe was up next and there were a good few people wondering what the fuck was going on, they were amazed they were being treated to this, the dancing calmed but the air punching increased as people joined in with the chorus. I have to say the crowd were better than Bournemouth the previous week, the crushing at times was mental, but this could also be because the place was bigger and also packed.

Ceremony always gets a mental rush of people down the front, and there was no exception this time, Hooky wandered from left to right on the front of the stage staring down and laughing at the mayhem below, by now the rest of my beer had either been drunk or spilt and already I needed another! These Days that old Joy Division classic was next up and again this was greeted by semi-euphoria, there was also a competition of who could pogo themselves the highest, pure madness again as the band hammered their way through it, clearly one of the highlights of the show as was 24 Hours which was re-introduced much to our delight, the old buggers are clearly playing with us! I can’t remember too much about Krafty. Thankfully the crowd got a breather and I was given artistic license to spark up a cigarette, yep, it was time for WFTSC. The Vikings at the gigs now have me sussed as they know instinctively this is my first fag break. I also handed a couple out to a couple of unknown faces at the front, my words were simple “Keep yer heads down and blow the smoke downwards” otherwise you run the risk of being booted by security. Then it was KW1, so I am guessing I was at the bar and having another fag break. The previous gig at Newcastle had seen the band debut Guilt Is A Useless Emotion, so I was delighted when they decided to play it again at this gig, to me it didnae sound half as clear as the Newcastle version (which we listened to in the car on the way up) but nevertheless it was still good to hear it in person, rather than 30 second snippets down a phone from Al and Tim.



Time for the Holy Trinity, well it would have been during any other tour, but so far on this tour the band have dropped True Faith (which they did again tonight) people clearly have mixed emotions with this being dropped, but it’s good to shake the set-list about from time to time. BLT saw Barney giving his daft dance and praying on his knee’s during the concert, this is particularly enjoyed by the ladies in the audience as several flashes go off in front of us. Temptation is the daddy of them all though and clearly the crowds enjoy this the most, not only for their singing along but for the crush at the front of the stage whenever this song starts, the only other song greeted by as much madness tends to be LWTUA.



From Temptation it was onto the segued The Perfect Kiss and Blue Monday. TPK started and all I saw was a baldy cannonball whittle past me in the guise of Rocket Mick, clearly very emotional to be hearing this classic live again. The same couldnae be said about DigiMike when Blue Monday kicked off. Then they were off. I remember me and John saying that we hoped there would be another surprise, the band come back on stage and the next thing you know, Turn is re-introduced after not being played at the last few gigs. We went fucking mental when that started, just a small thing at times keeps us happy.

Unfortunately there is still no fecking Age Of Consent or Sunrise to keep the old guard happy.


Doesnae matter how loud we shout for Age Of Consent….

We were treated to Shadowplay and LWTUA as the last couple of songs again. Not what we were after but better than a kick up the arse. More lively than the encore was the sight of Alex flying past me at the end of the gig clearly irate, I noticed security rushing over so me and John instinctively grabbed Alex, he was having none of it though as he battled his way past another few people. It appears someone took a pop at him, for reasons which were explained but I was that drunk I have already forgotten. Never a dull moment when yer at a New Order gig. We said our goodbyes after a five minute chat with most of the usual faces outside. As soon as I reached the car, I was asleep and woke up upon entering Corby, I took a fair bit of grief from John over this. As always thanks to all the old guard and all the new faces who made the effort for this gig, great craic in the pub and the gig wasnae too bad either. Massive thanks to John & Lorraine for the driving duties again! That’s yer lot till I can be arsed with the Glagow review.

NU ORDAH.

Everyone met up in the Moon Under The Sun, there were a good few of us, DigiMike, Ren (and I think Frads) standing out like sore thumbs with their daft Hawaiin Garb. Myself, Nick King and Timbo were sporting the new Viking Tour T-shirts which were lovingly supplied by the afore mentioned Dodgy Mike. Top T's Mike! I also had the pleasure of meeting with several new faces who have been a massive help in all the new order TV / Video / DVD projects over the years, Gary Crawford and his missus and Dave B. Me and John also received the new Viking Badges from Jarvo featuring a shield with the borrromean triangles and a circle with two axes featuring New Order, The Vikings and We Are Fac 383, a grand piece of work and we handed out loads of these as soon as people saw them, I had several other fans I've not met before coming over and asking for them. We also had the next generation of Vikings with us as John & Lorraine brought along their eldest daughter Danielle, who was making her New Order debut at the mighty age of 12 (and she also managed to get Barney's set-list at the end of the night!)


John, Lorraine & Danielle


Mr & Mrs Frads


Adam The Bouncer explaining that t-shirts like Digi’s are not allowed at gigs.

As usual the banter was flowing and more drink was being sunk, Gary Pompey Order introduced me to a couple of new faces. All over the pub were the usual suspects from previous tours and get togethers, to many to mention in my hungover state. Both Dave Legge and Nickos Kingos gave me a ticket for Newcastle on Wednesday which I had to hand back to them, ya see I originally told my boss that today and yesterday I was at a funeral - which he saw straight through and knew New Order were playing, so taking Wednesday off is definitely a no-no (I'm off next week for Blackpool & Glasgee) So cheers for putting me in a very awkward position lads, Uncly John took great delight in winding me up saying this could be the last tour and I'm turning dow a free ticket and transport! Unfortunately Mad Darren forgot our leotards, so there was no side-show in the pub, though he is threatening to bring them to Blackpool.


Al, Alex, Bonzette & John


Jem, Ness, Col and Royser


Steve & Gary



Other topics of conversation involved Scotland's magnificent victory over the French last Saturday, Gary couldnae believe we won, neither could me or Mrs Frads. I was also reliably informed by Mrs Milky that Mr Milky is a sad collector of PSB material, very much in the same way the Rocket is with New Order.....loads of duplicates of stuff in limited edition colours from places you've never heard of untouched and unopened. Mr Milky said the stuff was worth a fortune but my attempts to get their address details came up short. I also had a tongue in cheek whinge at Tim for being a lazy cunt and not organizing the 5-a-side for the NOOL day, he tried to explain he was too busy with other stuff, more like the Corby Order would have romped it. The Geordie girls also put up a challenge that they would enter a birds team next year, that will be sound.


Gary & Johnny Giles


German Order


Al and The Irish Order

Time was getting on, some young lad came over to explain the band would be on at 9, which I found most amusing, as I went and ordered another beer, I also bumped into Dufford Charleywood and his mates from Wales, cracking bunch of lads, Carl was another of those who was in Barcelona with us. There was also a photgraph competition going on with who could get the daftest pic, Jarvo doing his usual of strangling people, this time it was Bonz, Greg had his big camera out as did Dave Legge and the German Order and a few others, so there should be some cracking (if somewhat scary) pictures very soon on these pages. We all headed to the venue with about 10 minutes to spare, leaving myself and Al just enough time to shout Nickos Kingos at the bar to get us a pint before heading down the front of the gig. I was accosted on my way to John, Lorraine and Danielle by a Female lurker of the site saying I was daft as a brush but she loved the stories of the tours - so Hello you.


Bonz, Ness & DoN


Mr & Mrs Manic & Nick King


Milky, Shug, True Blue, Frads, Nick King & Uncly John

As soon as I got to the front it was very much the same old faces, and both Alex and Mike had their recording gear with them, I can vaguely remember Alex basically saying "will you behave and keep the noise down" I have a habit of being loud in my sing alongs ya see. I thought I behaved reasonably well last night though.The band came on to shouts of Age Of Consent, mainly from yours truly, Crystal kicked off proceedings, most of my pint disappeared over the lad in front and my fag went flying, a cracking start and you just knew the crowd were up for it from the get-go. I was expecting to hear Regret, but we were treated to a debut of Who's Joe, this was not that much of a surprise as there were several reports in the pub that this was sound-checked. I have to say that the song sounded great, dunno if it was cos I was drunk, but they seemed to nail it, more so than some of the dodgier versions we've had from WFTSC and Turn, this kept the crowd happy and there was great vocal support from all the crowd down the front. Regret was up next and again there was a big surge down the front, Hooky standing right in front of us loving it, and I also remember a very vigilant Sarge standing not too far behind him in case of the unexpected (this usually means Garymac trying to launch himself ONTO the stage, but Gary had other commitments)


Ren and DigiMike


Mr & Mrs Milky


Hooky

Ceremony took the mosh pit up another notch, I did see several faces looking very worried as they battered into the back of me, most of them were enjoying it in that strange way we do, I also had to pick a lad off the floor, who was either too drunk or just couldnae handle the stampede. The sound in the hall was extremely loud and my ears are still ringing this morning, as I turned to look at the mayhem, I realised that this was a pretty small hall, but for me it added to the atmosphere. WFTSC is not one of the best live songs from the band, although the song on the album is a classic it just doesnae hit you in the face when it's played live, though I thought last nights attempt was one of their better versions, bootlegs may prove me wrong but I was just glad to light up another fag. We were then treated to another debut New Order version of a Joy Division song, These Days (and again we'd all heard the rumour of this in the pub) The place erupted and loads of people tried to sing along, but most couldnae remember the words which was most amusing to me, then the band launched into another ferocious effort from the back catalogue, Transmission, the band have pretty much had this one nailed since they started playing it again in 98 I think, then it was time to slow proceedings down with Krafty and KW1 (at which time Gary looked over to say - time for a fag Shug, which I duly obliged)


Barney


Milky & Mad Darren

Barney said something about the band trying to remember why they hadn't played Bornemouth for so long, obviously he was impressed by the enthusiasm of the crowd. Mike garrity sporting his daft head gear which he uses to record the night's events came bouncing over to tell us it was time for the Holy Trinity, what we didnae know was for the first time in fuck knows how many years, True Faith was dropped. That was a massive surprise, loads of us have whinged for ages about the jazz version, but it still came as a big shock. Hopefully it will be re-introduced as the original version that so many are wanting to hear again. Temptation got the loudest cheer of the night and the mosh pit was at it's most hectic, it really is amusing when you see all these faces with a mix of delight and worry across them as they are moved 10 yards here and 10 yards there. It was around this time when the Irish Order ended up right at the front with myself, DoN, DigiMike, Leggy, JG, Col and Royser....and most of the other usual suspects!


Hooky on Patrol


Steve BLT TPK BM

TPK again had the crowd in it's hands, though if there is one complaint it is the fact that they are still doing the edited version, it's a peach of a song live and the crowd were going mental, though not as mental as DigiMike when it was segued into Blue Monday. It was at this time I headed to the bar with DoN and ended up getting a few beers which came to £28 - £4 for a half pint bottle of Carlsberg! Robbing bastards! We headed back in in time for Shadowplay and LWTUA which were the encore. Again, the moan is that we'd rather hear Age Of Consent or Sunrise, but the band have their routine and that's the way it goes. I really hope this is not the last tour, cos the enthusiasm shown by the crowd last night was fookin magic, I can't remember anyone moaning too much and everyone was in good spirits for Wednesday's trip to Newcastle.



Loads of us headed down to the aftershow, we had met Heidi at the arena before the gig, well done for putting the show on, even if we didnae get in (we had Danielle with us) I hope everyone had a good a time as The Corby Order. We'll see you all very soon.

Los Vikingos De Gira. Madrid. July 14th & 15th 2006.

After all the carry on with the Liverpool Summer Pops gig, it’s fair to say that everyone was looking forward to a far more relaxed affair in sunny Spain. Baldrick picked me up to take me to Luton airport shortly after two on the Thursday and to be fair to Darren, he drove like a mad man to make sure we got to the airport in plenty of time for a nice cold lager before the flight, we met up with Nick King and waited patiently for Al and Mark to arrive. Mark is always late. Al arrived just after our first beer and decided to get another in. Bit of a mistake that was, anyway Mark arrived right at the last minute as we said our cheerio’s to Baldrick and headed for the flight. I was dying for a piss as we passed through to the boarding gate, unfortunately we had to wait for what seemed like an age in the swealtering heat, Al was even more miffed cos there were a few lads in Watford tops or “Scummers” as he calls them. After getting on the plane I waited patiently for the fooker to take off so I could head to the bog, I was not having much luck as I had to wait a good half an hour, by the time I got to the bog I was in there for a good five minutes. We have moments like this loads when we travel from Corby upto Glasgow for Celtic games, you don’t want to be a Jessie yersel, so you always wait for someone else to ask the driver to stop! Anyways another few beers were had on the plane and we were there in no time.

We touched down (after a few more beers) in Madrid shortly after 9pm local time and headed straight for a taxi to our hotel. Jarvo had already been in contact with the Pompey Order and Stash, Stash had done his usual and headed off to find a local Irish bar, top lad. Whilst Gary, Gordy and Dave Legge settled in their hotel bar waiting for us to join them, which we duly did, after dropping our stuff at our hotel a short 5 minute walk away at the other end of the road. We had a couple of beers in this hotel bar and decided to go meet up with Greg, Ness, Alex, John, Christine, Margaret, Pedro (A Catalonian living in, working in and hating Madrid, top lad though) and Norbert of the German Order. Nice enough wee Irish joint as we sank another couple of beers and were joined by Dave and two girls he was with (Mandy & ?????) and talked gigs and footy, at this point we had only just found out about the Italian fixing scam. So talk was on Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio being dumped into Serie B and Milan staying up but ducked 15 points next year and losing their Champions League spot! Cannae remember who had enough of the Irish Bar, but it was decided to head somewhere else, we ended up 15 yeards away in the next pub up the road where another few lagers were sunk. Dave told a few of us off for correctly pronouncing his name Hibell, he insists it’s always been pronounced Highbell, ultimately leading to a few of us arguing, as is the norm when Dave starts. I think we got back to our hotel about 3ish and settled for a night of me listening to Al and Mark try to outdo each other’s snoring!

We arose too late for breakfast, again, the norm for us lot as we sent a few texts out and decided to head into town to meet up with some of the others to decide on the day’s plans. Alex and Colin I think headed to a museum as we headed off to get something to eat, by which time we were joined by Mr & Mrs Milky, they knew where they were going as we headed to a nice wee Spanish eaterie with dodgy lighting and waiters that looked like they wanted to gob in yer grub cos you didnae speak the lingo (we upset him by asking for a menu in English) I chose well with a gorgeous bit of Pork tosted with Paprika and Cheese. Needless to say we had a couple of beers, though the San Miguel was not to my liking. We headed off a bit later to Saint Anna Square where the others were gonna converge upon as well, it was fookin roasting so a few of us decided to take the safe option of having a few coke’s before heading on to anymore beer. The Milky’s informed us it was 30% more expensive to order beers whilst sat outside these establishments, so we took the cheaper (and cooler) option of sitting just inside the gaff. Nick King smokes more than I do, which feckin amazed me, and as we were sat outside we looked 30 yards down the hill and noticed loads of the other Vikings sat oustside ordering their beers. So we shouted down and waved and were joined shortly after by Gary, Gordy, Greg, Ness, Alex, Dave Legge, John, Christine, Jeanette, Margaret and Colin. After several more beers sat out in the sun, discussing the wankers amongst the security and police of the Liverpool gig the week before, everyone decided more food was needed. It was about this time several of us gave up on the Coke and started on the “Tostado’s” a type of Spanish home brew which had a weird colouring to it, but to be fair it didnae taste too bad. We were also joined by Mike Garrity and Ren around this time, both of whom came in their usual garb of Hawaiin t-shirts and shorts! Food was now needed, now, I am not being funny, but I think I can safely say there’s not one place in Corby that serves such delicacies as Octopus and Squid!!! This is what Al, Mark and Gary ordered, obviously, being just about game for anything I decided to have a go. I am a dick. As I placed the Octopus thing in me mouth the smell hit me, trying to bite into it, my stomach immediately told me to gob it out, much to the amusement of the others sat around the several tables. As I looked at the other plate, I thought, them onion rings look a bit tasty, it was then I was reliably informed that it wasnae onion rings, but in fact Squid. Again I thought why not, as I bit into this it was a wee bit chewy and again the taste is hard to describe “fucking minging” was the term I used as the Squid joined the Octopus on the floor. I settled for a bite out of one of the Spicy Potatoes they serve over there, which was by far the lesser of three evils, though hot spices and me don’t mix either so I had one of these and gave up and ate feck all. The funniest story of the day belonged to Gary, he told all of us that whilst they were all at their hotel getting their breakfast, Alex was moaning left, right and centre about not having any butter, so Alex turns to Gary for the Spanish for butter. After several shouts Alex grabs the waiter and says “Amigo – Preservatives!” The waiter took one look at Alex and walked away trying not to piss himself. The reason being that in Spain the word “Preservatives” means condoms, classic! Alex seeing the funny side actually applauded Gary.

For one reason or another we all headed down to the gig early, I think it was 7 when we left to get taxi’s, we had a right carry on, cos the first two or three taxi’s we jumped into refused to take us down to the gig. Luckily we had Gary in our taxi, and that lad knows a good bit of the lingo! We ended up walking towards the centre as we spotted a copper and decided to ask him to sort us out (well, Gary and Mrs Milky asked, we just stood and watched) after a few minutes of haggling and the policeman grabbing us a couple of taxi’s we were on our way. Gary made the remark that the Police in Spain were far different to those in the UK, which was hard to argue with really. Everyone was now in good spirits, both with the alcohol consumed and the fact we were on our way to see New Order. As we got to the site it wasnae looking to shit hot as Alex phoned Al and mentioned there may be a problem with our passes, luckily for us, Alex had sorted this by the time we got down to meet him as we were all given the orange summercase wristbands. I had made my first guestlist and was more than a wee bit feckin happy about it!!! We waited for the other taxi loads to arrive and then headed into the site, I have to say it was not the greatest as the floor was just a dust-bowl (as Al had predicted) not only that, but it was another of these fookin events where you have to queue up twice for a drink, once for tokens and again for the drink itself, we also met up with Norbert from the German Order. So after we all grabbed some refreshments we headed to the VIP area, unfortunately it was a case of “yer name’s not down yer not coming in” but not to be deterred, Alex, Colin and Mr & Mrs Milky done the sneaky whilst the security was destracted and lasted a good half an hour or more until the Security clicked that they didnae have Blue wristbands. We actually caught two of the bands on before New Order, first up were the Dandy Warhols, gotta say they didnae impress me, just noise to me. Then it was Starsailor’s turn, of all the Vikings I was stood with, I was the only one who really enjoyed their set. It was a bit of a strange venue, as soon as one band finished the crowd would disperse and disappear elsewhere, whereas at festivals in the UK, most people tend to stay at the same stage, meaning it’s a right cunt to barge yer way to the front when the Order come on. As soon as Starsailor finished (and we grabbed another couple of beers) we walked right to the front of the stage without any problem whatsoever, that I did enjoy! I noticed a lad staring over at us and a little later he came over to say hello, obviously hearing our accents, he was a top lad called Andy (we think) from Hull who had travelled over on his lonesome and had been following New Order since 1982. We started early with the chants and we even gave a chant to Roger Lyons, who waved over and later gave us the two fingers when a chant of “Get yer hair cut” went up. Before we knew it the band had taken to the stage, by now the crowd had swelled to a good few thousand and we could tell it would be a good gig with the swarms of people who tried shoving their way to the front. The gig hadnae started and there was already a bit of a scrummage.

It was back to the ‘normal’ start with Crystal and Regret getting things going, even though it was mayhem it wasnae a big a crush as Barcelona last year, nevertheless, according to the Vikings who did other European dates last year this was still a helluva lot better than any of them. Most of my first pint ended up over some Spanish lad in front of me who then proceeded to lick the beer off his arm, the atmosphere was great and everywhere you looked there was one of us lot, just total joy across everyone’s faces, Barney mentioned something like “We can tell this is gonna be a good gig.” Next up was Ceremony, and if things were a bit mental after the first two tracks it was gonna get worse now, we were also treated to one of those memorable moments at a New Order gig, in the past we’ve had the fcuk up to Guilty Partner in 98 and the sound going during True Faith at T in the Park last year with the crowd singing along acapella with Barney, this time it was Steve Morris’ drums or the sequencer that failed and we had a fcuked up intro to Ceremony for the first time ever? Ceremony is Al’s favourite and he takes great relish into shoving people right into the thick of it at the best of times, but more so during this track, poor Mike Garrity was the first recipient, but he couldn’t have cared less, I can remember the look on several of the crowds faces as Al started this, basically shock! Anyways, Mike was dressed in his daft Hawaiian t-shirt and shorts and also a daft hat that he uses to record the gigs but as I say he was loving the madness of a concert abroad. It was around this time Hibster appeared on the scene, he missed out on a photo pass for the gig, so he had to slum it with us lot. 24 Hours was fookin amazing, I thought it was somewhat lacklustre at Liverpool, maybe it was the atmosphere at that gig, but from memories of Madrid, the band were really tight during almost all of the set, Hooky revelling in the shouts and adoration and storming from one side of the stage to the other. Working Overtime was met with huge roars from the crowd and it may have been this song where Gordy got semi naked and bumped into several of us and Gary and JG did the sensible thing and removed their glasses for the set as well. Many of the crowd were probably hearing Working Overtime for the first time, which would explain their (over)enthusiasm. Transmission blew WO away by a mile as the band stepped it up a gear and Phil clearly relishes the Joy Division songs, a few of us were taking a bit of a battering around this stage, not only with the crowd but with the heat as well and to confound matters I had just scoffed the last of the other pint I had. Your Silent Face was announced as “We’re gonna do an old song now, something from Low-Life” for a second or two I thought Sunrise was coming back into the set for the first time in nearly 20 years, but I should have known better! I always like a slower tempo song about this time anyway as it gives me a chance for a customary cigarette. WFTSC and Turn followed this and although they are classic songs, they just don’t go too well with each other in this order in the set list, I also have to mention that there was a right tasty blonde bird that several of the Vikings spotted and also Bobby Gillespie was at the side of the stage, which was quite amusing as Primal Scream were supposed to be on a stage around the corner at the same time New Order were playing, fair play and maybe this explains why Bobby was attacked in a bar later that night, some fan probably pissed off he had to wait an hour for their gig!

As normal we’re back to the Holy Trinity of Bizarre Love Triangle, True Faith & Temptation. BLT batters the life out of everyone and Barney treats us to the sign language along with True Faith as he sings along, much to the amusement of all of us lot down the front. Temptation had everyone singing along again and people in the crowd trying to find room to dance, then they left stage, but it has to be the shortest stage exit and return for an encore, I think it lasted about a minute before they were back out, something to do with time running out. The Perfect Kiss started and again, the stunned look on the locals faces was amazing, they couldn’t believe this was being played again, I have some cracking memories of this wee rotund Spanish fella jumping up and down with us like a mad eedjit and singing even worse than mine. Blue Monday closed the set which is Mike Garrity’s favourite song. What a night, the crowd couldn’t be faulted for their efforts and all the Vikings had a cracking time, the crowd dispersed and I was left standing with Greg, Ness, Wolfram and Dave Legge, I think the rest of them headed off to the mixing desk to try and grab the set-lists. After a few minutes Andy Robinson appeared and was talking away with Steve (Wolfram) as we went over, I said hello and got an “Alright Shug” which I was chuffed with cos I’ve only met Andy a few times, and if it wasnae for him and Alex I wouldnae have been on the guestlist for both the Spanish dates! We decided to get home as soon as possible and headed for the exits, apparently no-one wanted to stay for Keane. It was disorganised chaos as the venue was in the middle of an “egg and chips estate” that was Gary’s quote for the evening – “Milton Keynes of Spain” was the other. Basically in the middle of nowhere and we walked for what seemed like an age and waited even longer for the bus which took us home, we soon met up with the rest of the others though and enjoyed plenty of banter with everyone agreeing that the gig was a corker.

I think we got back about 2.30 in the morning and most of us headed for something to eat, but no-one could decide on anything and I ended up with a Beef sarnie which was minging, thankfully I was too drunk to notice the inevitable snoring of Al and Mark though and we were all dreading the early rise to Barcelona as we were up at 7.30!

Neworder Liverpool 8th July 2006. Summer Pops.

6 months we have waited for a gig, unfortunately there was no way of getting over to the Athens gig last month as I was absolutely skint. The Corby Order set off in two cars little after 12pm, Baldrick drove Our Kid, Cousin Eddie and Brian whilst our designated was Uncly John (he tends to drive to the concerts, leaving Lorraine to drive back, thus meaning John can get pished during the day) with me and Malky in the back. We gave Baldrick a 10 minute head start and still beat them to the venue with time to spare. Luckily for us, the festival was signposted all the way through the city – I have to say, in following the band since 89 this was a first with us finding the venue so easily.

On the way to Liverpool I received a text from Alex saying “I want to lick yer bum” – typical Alex :nod: So I thought I’d have a bit of fun and replied with “Is that you Sharon?” obviously sensing he was onto something Alex wasted little time in sending another perverted message – to which I replied “Can’t make it tonight as I’m gonna see that 80’s band New Order, I’ll see you the morra, wear the kinky stuff I got ya” to which Alex’s reply was “I’m sitting here touching myself” – I decided to leave it there and wind him up when I saw him in the pub. Daft get!

We headed straight to the Hanover Hotel, where the original meet up was arranged, we soon bumped into Timbo and he introduced us to Paul (PHD), Paul’s mate Alan and Marc who posts on NOOL. The first beer went down a treat as we I caught up with Tim and interrogated Paul and Alan on their gig experiences. Not long after we were joined by Monty, Lunatic Fridge and his son Ethan, who informed me he had actually heard of Corby and K*tt*ring cos he had an auntie there, so I explained that I hate K*tt*ring which I think he found amusing – after another quick pint we were off to the aptly named “Slaghterhouse.” I got the number of a taxi firm and handed it to our John to phone a taxi, within seconds he handed the phone to the bargirl cos the person on the other end of the phone couldnae understand him!

The Slaughterhouse was already very busy by the time we got there, the first few people I saw were Jem, Greg, Ness and Alex, so I greeted Alex by saying “Hello Sharon” Ness cracked up straight away as she knew I was winding up Alex all along – and I also sorted Jem out with the skull and crossbones Viking badge which has the Borromean triangle which I got tattooed on me arm. As I say the place was heaving and it was filled mostly with the same old faces, as usual we spent ages saying hello’s before we even got to the bar. Rocket Mick, Mike Garrity and Johnny Two Sheds stood out as they were all in their usual daft Hawaiin T-shirts – concealed underneath where Shedhead T-shirts with “Talking Bollocks since 2006” which should have been replaced by “Forever talking bollocks” Also in the pub were : Garymac, Ally, Nick King, Jarvo, Mark (JG), Wolfram, Mad Darren, Dave Legge, Big Col, JT and the ever delightful Lucy, Chris Nash, Trisha, Hibster, John, Christine, Gary, Gordy, Mike, Luca, Jeanette, G-Man and his missus, JAK, Jake Dudek, Darlo Order, Martin Frads and his missus (who is proper Scottish according to Fradders) Royser, Liam and Agentwood, Andy Hall, Ted Baker and the rest of the Salford Reds, Vinnie (where’s ma DVD), Bonzette and Nick, Julie, Delilah, Norbert, Matthias and the rest of the German Order (although Danny was missing cos he’d done his knee ligaments celebrating a German goal in the World Cup!) I think the only Viking who was missing was DoN as he was best man at his cousin’s wedding. He was gutted when we spoke to him in the build up to the gig.

Jarvo came over with mine and John’s share of the new Viking badges “Los Vikingos De Gira” specially done for our impending trip to Madrid and Barcelona. This time we decided on five different colours, obviously I asked for Green, and I have to say, they were by far the coolest. I think we handed out about 30, so there are a few left for the Spanish trip. Jarvo had already managed to get rid of all his badges and the day was nowhere near over – I also remember him winding Jem up that she’s actually got more of an orange glow than Dale Winton, which was met by a very quick “Do you want a slap?” As with the usual pre-gig sessions I try and dive round all the different groups scattered round the pub, The Shed people were in particular fine voice, well, that was when they could get a word in edgeways from Rocket Mick. Myself and Mike were also showing off our Viking tattoo’s to various people during the day. Our John was amazed at the amount of mates we had at these meet ups, I introduced him to Garymac, our John is “a bit wer a bit wey” so him and Garymac hit it off instantly. I also managed to discuss the new project I am starting when we get back from Spain with Nick and Ally, as it is going to be a Revenge and Monaco DVD (with possibly The Other Two as well) Nick and Ally have sent me most of the promo’s and with the help of a couple of others, mainly Uncly John, we have a few snippets from TV. Alex did the usual sweepstake in the pub, for this gig it was the seventh song, I have no idea who won though, I will find out in Espana. Hibster turned up a bit later as did G_man and his missus and Chris Nash and Trish. Hibster was on photo duty and I think he ended up with nearly a thousand pictures by the end of the night!!! Lorraine was also bemused by my marching over to her every 10 minutes or so asking her for more badges for the people in the pub. I think we still have a few left for Spain. Brian who was with us has not seen New Order since the 80’s and he seemed to be blending into proceedings nicely. I also spent a bit with Liam and Christy and was telling everyone how Christy was mine and DoN’s tourist guide when we visited New York back in 2003.

The day passed unbelieveably quickly and the next thing you know we’re heading to the venue. It was already 9pm when we got there so myself and Uncly John decided to get 4 drinks each to save us having to go back. So it was two bottles inside the trousers and a pint in each hand. We worked our way round the side till we got to the front, and as there were a few spare seats in Row CC & DD, we thought that they would do nicely. So myself, Malky, John, Lorraine, Eddie and Our John dived in there. Baldrick and Brian were back in their own seats. On came Alan Wise and introduced the band as “The Four Tops” to bemusement by some around us, it was weird not being able to dive next to yer mates for the crush at the start, but as we looked round the first few aisles, we spotted almost all of The Vikings, kind of surreal. The band started with Love Will Tear Us Apart and the place erupted, even though it was a seated arena, there was no-one sitting anywhere near us as people were dancing away and singing along enthusiastically, it was half way through this first song when we first encountered the Security being quick to grab people and telling people to behave! Fookin ell, you can’t dance anymore! It was well over the top.

The band sounded great, my mate Malky turned round and said “I didn’t think they’d be this loud” as Crystal kicked in, this was Malky’s and Our John’s first gig and they were loving it. Regret was up next, the band sounded sharp to us lot and in good spirits, though I think it was at the end of this song when Hooky had a go at the security down the front, so it wasnae just us who noticed what a bunch of bstards they were being. Next up was 24 Hours, this sounded better than the last couple of times I’d heard it played as well, maybe it was the drink, I dunno until I get my hands on the bootleg! I noticed Mark and Steve Butler over to our left in the middle of the arena, so I went over to say a quick hello and pass on one of the bottles of lager I had. It was not long after this Steve was thrown out for being on the wrong end of the wrong row! As I got back to my seat I asked John and Lorraine where our John was, he’d been kicked out for sparking a cigarette, it was turning into a bit of a joke and we weren’t enjoying ourselves like we usually do at gigs with loads of people being ejected for extremely trivial things, people were being told “we’ve warned you three or four times, you won’t be told again” which was absolute nonsense. Al, Greg and Ness amongst others were on the front row and couldn’t enjoy the gig because every five minutes or so they were having torches shined in their faces and asked to produce their tickets. The security was so badly organised it was beyond a joke. With our John having been ejected my cousin Eddie also left in disgust following John outside, though he was told by the security lad that John wasn’t being ejected, just given a warning, he lied through his teeth as Eddie followed on and watched in dibelief as John was thrown out the front gates! New Order continued to hammer through the classics nevertheless, after Krafty they played Working Overtime, the first time I’ve seen them do it live, though they did play it in Athens last month and I caught 30 seconds thanks to Al phoning me when it was on. I love this song, so was thrilled, a fast heavy up-tempo tune number which is reminiscent of The Stooges at the top of their game. Then we had an old crowd favourite, Transmission, with the delirium of the crowd, you could tell that this was the first time that a lot of them would have heard this played by New Order, for us it was all part of the show these days as this has played constantly for the last few years. After this the band decided to slow things down “Cos we’re getting on a bit” and we were treated to Your Silent Face, usually this is where I light up a cigarette, but after witnessing people getting thrown out for a lot less I decided against it. Waiting For The Sirens and Turn from the last album were up next, personally I’m much rather Road To Ruin than WFTSC but beggars cannae be choosers. Onto the Holy trinity of BLT, True Faith and Temptation, it was around this time that poor old Rocket Mick also found himself ejected for dancing in an aisle! And I think Hooky mentioned something about leaving the stage and leaving security to it to see how they’d cope then. G-Man and his missus who were in the row behind us to start with had now joined our row as there seemed to be more empty spaces, can’t think why!!!

Malky, now was really getting into the proceedings with these old favourites – jumping all over the place with the rest of us as the crowd sang along to every word. Next up was the best surprise of the night, even if we did have a good idea they were gonna play it. The Perfect Kiss has to be in most people’s Top 5 New Order songs, so we have to give a tip of the hat to the band (and very possibly Roger Lyons) for bringing this classic back into the set-list, if only they would follow suit with Age Of Consent and Sunrise which are the choice of the Hardcore. Blue Monday was segued into the end of the slightly edited TPK. And off the band went to rapturous applause. They came back on and did two more favourites in Ceremony and Shadowplay (by which time Uncly John had disappeared down the front with a few of the other Vikings) Even with all the carry on going on around us, I thought the band were on top form. As always Al and Mark stayed on to grab a set-list as we all waited down front, Alex was trying to grab a few words with Andy Liddel, New Order’s lighting guy, when security unnecessarily jumped in again and told us all to leave. On our way out into the second tent there seemed to be police everywehere and they joined in with the security and forcing everyone out of the venue. As we got out the venue itself we were told to “get a move on” then I was shoved in the back, obviously yer gonna react when someone shoves you, so my words were “Don’t push me you fucking wanker” it ended up being a policeman I was shoved by so I was lead away to receive an £80 on the spot fine, much to my bemusement. I’d never heard of this before, and I still can’t quite believe that it was me who was shoved and end up in the bad books? I have to admit on the way out I decided to get my money’s worth, by calling him a big lanky speccy cunt and a few other things. But you have to understand how incensed I was at this big fcuker. As I got thrown out the gates Jarvo grabbed me by the neck and shoved £20 in my hand, which I promptly returned not wanting a fuss made. But within 5 minutes of us all laughing about the incident outside the gates, Al, Lucy and JT arranged a collection for the fine and gave Lorraine £60 towards it. As everyone else headed off to various bars and hotels around town, the Corby Order were heading home.

I have to say even with all the carry on by security, it still couldnae spoil a fantastic day out with all me mates and some new one’s, stand up PHD, Alan, Andy, Ted and the Salford Reds. Hopefully we’ll see you lot joining the ongoing tour in October. A massive thanks also to all those who contributed to my on the spot fine. I cannae wait for Madrid and Barcelona.

NU ORDAH.

Here we go again, another tale in the neworder history book! All this started with ATR phoning Al a few weeks back to tell him he’d just heard it announced on Radio 1 that New Order were gonna be playing a John Peel tribute in London. Cue mad texting and phone calls from Al to all the usual suspects, unfortunately yours truly forgot to turn his phone on that morning so I didnae receive news till an hour or so later, which led to me doing my usual panic like fuck routine! News was filtering through that Al, Dave, DoN, ATR, Gordy, Ness and more of the Vikings were all snapping up four tickets each, so I got straight on the phone to Lorraine who secured four for the Corby Order.











As usual I take the back seat and leave everything to everyone else, let’s face it, I am a useless bastard. Anyways, the day of the gig Ness posts on the site that New Order ain’t gonna be taking stage till 10.25 and they were only scheduled for 20 minutes, thus meaning there was not a hope of the Corby Order seeing the set if we wanted to catch the last train home. Fuck! So after some more banging of the head off the nearest wall I phone John & Lorraine to tell them of the news, thankfully in the end Lorraine agreed to drive, though I think it’s safe to say she was well pissed off cos she know couldnae enjoy a swally with the rest of us. So that was the train tickets thrown in the bin and us setting off for London.



On the way down, I received a text from Niely to give him a shout when we got to Finchley, so we met up with him about 4 and thank fuck we did cos we had to change trains at Campden, which we weren’t told about when we got our tickets! We got into Waterloo and no longer had we got off the train than Niely disappeared, so we headed for a taxi to take us straight to the pub……and Niely’s only gone and beat us there! The first friendly face that came straight over was me Bruv DoN, then an unknown drunken guy grabs me and says “I owe you a beer” with me looking dazed till I worked out from his accent it was Mario, who had flown over from Holland especially to see the show. Top man. Then me ole mate G was over, Grahame had come doon frae Glasgee fer the show.











Once we got the beers in and had a chance to look around it was just like every other neworder piss up! The only thing about these meet ups is you never have the time to chat away with everyone properly, this will be the excuse for spending every last minute in the pub before the Order take to the stage (wherever we are!) The Corby Order stayed in the best place, which was right next to the bar of course, and all the usual suspects were all around us. Alex was quick off the mark collaring me to have a go of his famous sweepstake, I think I ended up with The Perfect Kiss and Tammy drew out Regret, Nick King came over and gave me the 3 Waiting For The Sirens’ Call singles & Slipcase, plus a 5 track promo he bought on Ebay, top man! He was stood with Jarvo, Gina G, Wolfram, Mad Darren from Wales, Alex The Red, John & Christine, Iain & Bunny, Jeanette, Helen, Gordy & G, then there was Clive and his cousin, DoN, Hibster, Ness and Uncle Liam who was sat with Barney Army & Sugarcane, we also had Tim, Jim Reilly and Phil from Digital as well as Warren, Will & Iain (and his missus) from Re:Order.











The beers were getting sunk unbelievably quick and it wasn’t long before we heard reports of our first casualty, poor ole Mario had drunk himself into a coma and decided to go for a kip just outside the front of the pub, I am sure Uncle Liam said he was gonna get a picture! A few of us checked, but Mario said he’d be alright if we just left him for a bit. Then there were quite a few people arriving a bit later, Dave Legge and Neil that we were with in Barca (and Hyde Park) then we had the pantomime baddie, Craig aka Digitalwaters, who wanted to be known as a spotter and not a Viking, but to be fair he was a sound lad and stood drinking with the Corby Order for quite a while and once he got to get to know our humour, he happily joined in.











I had to thank Tim with a beer as well for sorting me out with Dylan stuff for my dad who was 50 on the Friday and not much after that I was at the bar yapping away when I heard a Scottish accent, it turned out to be Paul who has also just started posting on the site, he was down with his mate Matty, who unfortunately is a Motherwell fan, other than that he seemed a sound lad. I also met up with Chris Nash for the first time, he was with his missus and sat with Paul & Matty. Chris is another tall bugger, it must be something they put in the water down here!











Who else was late? Johnny Giles I seem to recall, I think he made some excuse up about working, and if memory serves he did this at Hyde Park, rumours are going around he’s a tight arse, I believe Al started that one and I think it was Al who introduced me to Mr & Mrs Milky as well. Then there was Colin T all the way down from Aberdeen, another top lad who stood with us for ages, Col sorted me out with tickets for T in the Park, so he earned a beer for that. I can’t remember whether Vinnie was a late arrival or not, cos I didnae catch up with him till later on, Vinnie would go on and steal a back page pass the sneaky get! I also recall telling Warren and Will that the Corby Order were hoping to make it to Derby in December for their show, I am useless at keeping things quiet, you see, the idea was to turn up and surprise them! There were also a few people I didnae get to meet that were with Jarvo, JG and ATR, but we did meet Al’s wee sis who was with her husband who happened to be even more unfortunate than Matty cos he was a Dundee Utd fan!











The hours passed by too quickly and as they did there were quite clearly several chants of New Or-Dah. Special mention of the day has to go to Jarvo though, he got specially designed Viking badges with John Peel RIP and even did the PC&L colour code on them, not only did he hand them out to all and sundry, he refused everyone’s attempts at getting him a beer! Fookin brilliant Al! It was about 9.15 when we decided to leave, there were a few people who wanted to see the Super Furries. So we all headed down to the venue, apparently Al headed in for the furries, noticed Delia Smith on stage and buggered off to the bar again. Hibster also had grief whilst going in, he spent the early part of the SFA Set arguing with a lad from the box office over his seats, turned out Hibster was wrong.











I can remember not wanting to see the Super Furry Animals, I think the same applied with Uncly John cos we didnae go in, we stood at the bar, much to the annoyance of our other halfs (cos me and John were a bit pished) We were joined at various stages by the G Man who was quite clearly as drunk as us. And Colin who took a cracking picture of me and my wallet at the bar, cos Rocket Mick wanted to see proof it existed! I also remember nearly being thrown out before the gig started, cos no matter how many times this security guard told me not to smoke, within minutes I’d be lighting up again, after the third warning Helen came over and apologized for me and grabbed me outside so we could smoke there, thus saving me being booted out. Cheers Helen! It wasn’t long after that we took to our seats and the shouts for the band had begun, a couple of us thought about joining the rest of the Vikings down the front but security grabbed a couple of people back.

Funnily enough we were in the same row as Liam and Colin, Clive and his cousin were one row below us but because of the noise as The Order took to the stage they couldnae hear us. Feargal Sharkey sorted New Order out with a cracking introduction then Barney told everyone that we were in for a Joy Division only set! We went fookin mental. Rocket Mick had sent me a text earlier in the evening to tell us Hooky had said this on the radio. Within the opening bars of the first song (Transmission) we could see the rest of the Vikings head to the front of the stage. Jammy gets! The place was rocking and to be honest I was just trying to take it all in, New Order doing a Joy Division only set as a tribute for John Peel! Our row were all on their feet singing and dancing away, we then got a storming She’s Lost Control, but next was even better. Shadowplay. Fuck me, that was mental – I just looked at Uncly John and we both started jumping up and down saying something like Fucking Hell! Shadowplay had never been played by the Order at a gig before, so we knew it was something special, especially when you consider there were only 900 people at the gig! I hope the great man was enjoying the show from up the stairs – cos we certainly were!











Love Will Tear Us Apart then got everyone off their arses, even the non New Order fans clearly enjoyed this, at least, all the people around us did. Then we got Atmosphere, the whole set was for JP, but this was his favourite song and was more apt than ever, Hooky had also put “God has a DJ” onto the amps for the set. A very emotional 4 minutes it was. We thought that was it, we were ready to go home happy enough, when we heard Hooky say “Let’s do this one for Ian lads” it was only Warsaw! A proper Joy Division punk song and again a song that Peel had played in the earliest days of Joy Division, we could see the Vikings down the front going mental – it was when that kicked in me and John were gutted we weren’t at the front! But how could we complain? I remember wishing the Rocket was with us – so while the song was on I phoned him and held it aloft, hoping he’d be able to hear it, unfortunately, after speaking to him the other day, all he heard was white noise.











On the plus side we were just treated to a storming set by our heroes and I’m sure JP would have approved. All the talk as we filtered out was about the two songs that we’d never heard the band play before, this more than made up for the fact that the last tube was cancelled and we had to get a taxi back to Finchley! Me and John also met Feargal Sharkey on the way out, I asked him if he was a Tim, but I was that drunk I can’t remember his answer. C’est la vie!



As usual the craic with meeting up with everyone was just fookin amazing, you couldnae wish to meet a nicer bunch of lads n lassies and it’s always great meeting up with new faces at these kind of things as well to share yer stories with. I hope Warren & Will remember that they are guestlisting the Corby Order for the Re:Order show in Derby, I will get the beers in lads. Cheers to everyone who came along and made the day what it was and another special mention to Lorraine for staying sober and driving us to London and ma missus for putting up with another drunken performance and letting me sleep on her all the way home. There endeth another ShugZV production……until the next set of gigs.



New Or-Dah!

Yes, yet another tale of beer, beer, beer and then more beer. This time my travels took me to see New Order abroad for the first time, so you can imagine the excitement leading up to this wee holiday of ours. The last time I was in Barcelona brings up mixed emotions, the anger at being denied into the stadium for the first ten minutes of the game after paying £500 for a ticket and flights, due to us being drunk and ripping up a ticket by mistake, then the thrill of getting in, standing at the top of the main Barcelona stand with 30,000 Catalans watching Celtic knock Barca out of the UEFA Cup, with David Marshall making himself an instant hero with the Celtic faithful after keeping Ronaldinhio, Eto and Deco et al at bay.

For several months before the gig, myself and John, who regularly visit the pub after 8 a side football on a Friday, would talk about finally going abroad to see the Order. John had planned to go to New York with Lorraine, but that fell through at the last minute due to sky high prices for flights, so he was gutted but happy that I was going to see them with the rest of the mad Vikings. A lot of the lads had already planned accommodation, so I was lucky when Grahame Ferguson got in touch and said he was gonna book an apartment and there were four spaces available, so that was me, DoN, Hibster and Hibster’s pal Sean sorted! As usual, being both lazy and useless I had to rely on Jarvo sorting my flights out, which meant I was on the same flight as him, Hibster and Sean, then I had to ask my good pal Darren aka Baldrick to sort me out with a lift to and from Luton airport, Darren’s a diamond and said it wouldnae be a problem. I am well lucky having mates that sort me out!!!

Me and Al met up with Hibster and Paul in the airport for a quick pint (and I smoked several fags!) before jetting out, me and Al made the most of the hospitality on board by sinking a few beers, we arrived about 9, dying to know the AC Liverpool European Cup Final score, this wee Spanish guy wandered past laughing 3-0. It didnae take a genius to work out the Scousers were getting gubbed. I wanted AC to win anyway, cos me mate Mark is one of those Scousers who enjoys going on an on about how great Liverpool are. Our wee group waited for the next group of New Order fans to arrive, 10 minutes later we had teamed up with Don, Gary, Gordy and Helen, next thing I receive a text from Grahame saying “3-3 yer missing one of the greatest finals in years!” Foowk! We got two taxis to Las Ramblas, but unfortunately for me, Don, Hibster and Paul we got lost, Hibster’s Spanish was simply not up to scratch! So we spent a long 30 very long minutes trawling the streets for Bar Lisa, in the end we gave up and settled for the nearest place that sold beer to watch the penalties, me and Don were cheering for AC, so when the Scousers won we were gutted, but you couldnae take it away from them, they deserved their night, what really struck me was the amount of Spanish people who appeared in the street with Liverpool tops and scarves! We eventually found Bar Lisa about half an hour later, I can’t remember the last time I felt so relieved, Al’s group found it almost as soon as they got dropped off in the taxi….Bastards! Greg and Ness were also there with Mandy who is a friend of Dave’s, plus Grahame and Alan who we were staying with.. We soon settled down after all the hassle and scoffed a good few bevies, introducing Hibster to Alan was funny, cos Alan had clearly had a few and spoke with a broad Scottish accent to Hibster’s West Country droan. When Hibster said he was a Rugby fan, Alan unleashed a Billy Connolly type verbal of “Aint they all posh gets with names like Tarquin and Henry” which was funny as fuck, obviously Hibster has had this aimed at him several times before (mainly by me, Al and Don during our work emails) so he gave it the same old story of “footballers being poofs, falling over when they are brushed past” Also got a chance to yap away to Gary, Gordy, Greg and Ness who I’d not met up with for a while. If memory serves, we all headed round to The Temple Bar (Irish of course!) for another beer or two and to meet up with Alex,, obviously we are all beer monsters! Stayed there talking away about our travels and the scousers and decided to get home, so our lot got a carryout from one of those dodgy street traders, we sat up for a good few hours watching a mixture of crap German porn which was on the TV, and a neworder dvd I had compiled for the trip, with all the recent stuff on TV. (Jonathon Ross, Later, Popworld etc…)




Thursday, the plan was to go to the Nou Camp and Cathedral etc… but after walking fer miles around Las Ramblas, we finally decided to get some breakfast, and settled in a Pizza place. Everyone decided to go to the venue of the festival and pick up their tickets, I couldn’t cos Al had sorted my tickets out. So we headed out to the site after taking a couple of tubes, and got the tickets sorted, unfortunately we couldnae get in to the site, but from what little we saw, it looked a big place, as we were leaving we bumped into Paul Carbury aka Mickey Way and his missus, they had not long arrived in the city, we decided to hit the closest bar to the venue, which fortunately was just across the road, we bumped into a lad called Adam who hails from Cambridge, he was a sound lad, he actually lived in Spain for a couple of years as an English teacher, and he was waiting for his mate from Cambride to arrive, his mate posted on the site before we headed out, I think the post was “3 Big strong Cambridge lads are coming over to Barcelona” Oo-er! By the time we got back to the apartment I just thought “fuck it” I couldnae be bothered doing a tour, neither could Don, so we agreed to do it on the Friday. Grahame and Alan had just chilled at the beach all day, and, as had been promised for weeks before we went to Barca, they were going to take us to a gay bar, Dave and Sean had already made plans with Mandy, we got dolled up and headed over to “La Fianna” which is situated in El Borne, you have to see the place to believe it, the bar area is yer standard pub, except with benches and long tables and dim lighting, as you go round the corner to the eating area it’s totally different, it’s all pink and orange and red with big comfy sofa type sitting areas, with big candelabra’s reaching down from the ceiling and it’s even darker in this area than the bar, of course there are normal tables to eat at as well. The barman came over to ask us what we wanted, he was Irish! “4 lagers pal!” he then asked us where we were from and said that there was gonna be filming in the restaurant in the next hour, so would we mind “not turning round and looking like startled deers into the camera” apparently the filming was for !”A place in the sun” which neither myself or Don had heard of, but G and Alan said it was some kind of upmarket property programme on Channel 4. In the end they decided against filming directly behind us, cannae think why! This next bit is class, we were ordering our dinners and all decided to go for Steak, I was first up “I’ll have it well done” as did Alan, DoN went for “Medium” but when it came to G, he had to ask for “Rare” but the Spanish waitress did not have a clue what he meant, so G getting ever so slightly flustered, said in English (very slowly and pointing at the rest of us and using his hands in a one, two, three motion) “Well done” “Medium” “RARE” this dragged on for several minutes, much to mine, DoN’s and Alan’s amusement, in the end Grahame’s steak was just as burnt as the rest of ours but was pink in the middle!

As it was a gay bar and I’d never been before I was keiching it about going to the bog, in the end I had to ask G where they were, after telling me, he says “Watch out for a tap on the shoulder, cos they then batter you over the head and drag you to the cubicle” No sooner had I started to do a pish there was a tap on the shoulder! It was Alan….. the bastard! Half a heart attack but I still found it amusing at the same time. We retreated to the bar area for another couple of beers, then wrongly decided to go elsewhere, mainly to meet up with the rest of the Vikings, I say wrongly, cos the bar was great and the beer wasnae too expensive, so with the executive decision being made we head of to the Temple Bar again where we arranged to meet Al, Gary, Gordy, Greg, Ness, Helen and Mike.




As we waiting for a beer, me and Don got chatting to a Scouse lad and his Spanish mate Jordi, the Liverpool highlights were on a big screen in the pub, Don was obviously still rankled about Liverpool winning the European Cup and arguing every point with the Scouse lad, I ended up yapping away to Jordi for about an hour, he was as gay as a ten bob note, but to be fair he was a football fan and followed Barcelona, so I took great delight in telling him all about mine and Uncly John’s visit when Celtic knocked them out, funnily enough he could remember the thousands of Celtic supporters, cos we took over Las Ramblas that day and drank them dry. I think his words were “You fans drink empty pubs” which is usually the case when we travel abroad! After getting back to the group (Al’s lot had appeared just after us) I was ribbed fer a good hour for chatting up a gay bloke, which I took in good spirits, as usual with us lot the talk was mainly about football, none of us could believe the Scouse lads were European Champions! The pub was slowly emptying after another few beers and for one reason or another we decided to hit a nightclub, we walked round to the Place Reil to have a look round this massive square, even at 1 in the morning there were still hundreds of people sat outside bars and café’s drinking, the weather was great, nice and warm, anyway, Grahame suggested one particular nightclub, but the bastard was shut, so we walked a wee bit further and ended up in a nightclub called “Jamboree” the whole group was still together, but somehow only myself, Grahame, Alan, Don and Mike ended up inside, the first level was like a nightclub in Corby, pretty dark with a cack wee dance floor, we got the beers in and just stood round the outside of the dancefloor (like blokes do) Mike was in good form, he didnae get up on the dance floor, but I can vividly remember him dancing around where we were stood, we decided to go downstairs for another beer and to see what that was like, it was quite a bit bigger and the place was packed, the heat was unfuckingbelieveable! But as long as we had a beer, we could just about survive, Mike ended up on the dance floor with two American birds, he was clearly enjoying himself! We decided enough was enough not long after and headed back to the solitude of the flat for another couple of beers and some snacks. Ended up in bed about 6 in the morning.

Friday I was fucked, Hibster, Mandy and Sean were at the festival the night before cos they like weird sheet for music! They headed out to do a tour of the City about 1, bollocks to that, I just couldnae face it, after going out for brekky with Don and G, I just lazed about the flat reading the Scottish papers I picked up from a local newspaper vendor for most of the afternoon, the rest of them went to the beach and met up with the others at the Marina. We all started to get ready about 6, I can remember everyone trying to “digsy” the shower for the next go! We had all arranged to meet up at a café not too far from our apartment, on the way, there appeared to be some kind of wedding going on in one of the local chapels, next thing you know this Ferrari comes round the corner, absolute cracker, cannae remember the name of it, cos I’m gash with cars, but it was a 2 seater and had the engine in view (where the back seat should be) absolute cracker so it was. The Café we were supposed to meet in was closed. Luckily Al, Gary, Gordy, Helen and Al’s new bird Jo (who had flown out to be with him after only 3 dates!) found another place just up the road. The place was run by the Italian equivalent of Jack and Vera Duckworth. Mark aka Johnny Giles and Paul Carbury aka Mickey Way and his new missus also joined us in the café and they were equally amused by the Duckworth’s.




G and Alan suggested we headed back to La Fianna “The Gay Bar” for a few swallies before we went to see New Order, so off we toddled round there, I had been phoned several times from Humberto (Budvar) to meet up, but I ran out of credit and unfortunately we didnae meet up until the gig started. La Fianna was quite busy, but we still managed to “secure” the bar area and grab one of the long tables / benches. The best surprise of the night was also seeing the film crew (from the previous night) again, this time there were three birds instead of the family we saw the night before, it was quite clear to us that they were some kind of wannabe porn stars and were filming scenes from a porno, one of the crew asked us lot if we’d mind being filmed, what a daft question! They filmed the girls having a conversation on the phone and taking a huff, then wandering to where we were sat, one of them sat on Mark’s knee and asked us a few questions, I think Jarvo mentioned London and before you know it, he’d scared the birds off! I think there were about 10 of us in the “round” and we were getting the drinks on tab – funnily enough I’d noticed something that looked like a Euro note on the table, I picked it up and it was 50 Euro’s that was a nice bonus and given to G towards the eventual tab. We headed off to the gig after another couple of drinks, this was the most sober I’d ever been going to a New Order gig, we only had 5 or 6 drinks beforehand. We all caught the tube to Primavera in good spirits, we arrived about half an hour before New Order were due to come on, we bumped into Alex, Jon and Christine as soon as we got through the gates, the site looked massive and the evening air was nice and warm, there were thousands at the stage we were going to to, but first things first, a piss in a secluded part of the site then a pint. Alex managed to get me to enter the sweepstake twice and I ended up with songs such as 586, Decades and Leave Me Alone which hadnae been played for 20 years! There was a lack of New Order t-shirts for a souvenir, so we headed over to the stage, I received a text message from my Uncle John (who was on holiday in Benidorm) the text read something like “Thinking of you jammy bastards getting ready to see the best band in the world have a great night” that’s my Unc! Back to the mayhem, somehow myself and Don had managed to lose the others and we had to plough our way through the crowd of Catalans, funnily enough they didn’t take too kindly to me and Don barging our way past them, we spotted Mark, situated near front stage right so me and Don shouted out “There’s only one Johnny Giles” to bemused looks on the faces of the locals around us. After a few minutes barging our way through we managed to get to the rest of the Vikings, just before the gig started we were stood with Al & Jo, Mark, Alex, Gary, Gordy and Ness, John and Christine were not too far away and G and Alan were on the sidelines determined to take the concert in properly!



Anticipation was high and several chants of “New Or-Dah” started (from us lot) the band came on and there was a massive sway from the crowd even before the concert started, all of a sudden we knew it was gonna be good. Barney says hello, pulls out his melodica and we’re into Love Vigilantes with the long running intro, the place goes fookin mental, to start with I was clinging onto Jarvo but still getting bounced backwards and forwards by a crowd who were clearly up for it, this wasn’t what I was expecting, I’ve heard all the stories about festivals and concerts abroad, so I was expecting quite a mellow crowd, thankfully it wasn’t, it was a typical British gig, hundreds of people down the front singing every word and bouncing up and down like teenagers who had drunk too much Tennant’s Super and were exerting their energy to the music in front of them before collapsing in a heap dazed and confused after the gig! I have to say the music was clear and crisp and the band sounded on fine form, this is the kind of gig you want when you have spent the last month or two sorting out airfares, accommodation and saving for the all important beer sessions on holiday. Crystal was up next and it was business as usual, if memory serves me here, it was this song where myself and Don started to drift through the mellee going on all around us, we had started the gig stage right in front of Hooky, but due to the constant charges a few rows back with people trying to get closer to the stage we ended up centre stage in front of Barney, I was hanging onto Don for dear life, it’s a strange emotion down the front for new order gigs, yer getting battered left, right and centre and yet the emotion of seeing the band and being with like minded souls carries you through, it’s what we’ve always done at gigs, I think the only new order gig where I haven’t been in the ruck at the front was my first concert back at the N.E.C Birmingham in 1989 and the reason for that was we had seating tickets, in 1998 at the M.E.N.A myself, John & Lorraine had seating tickets, but we were close enough to the crowd to jump in and avoid the security guards!



There was no let up in the speed of the set as Regret kicked off, all around us were delirious faces, all suffering the same battering we were taking, I did notice a few people behind us falling to the floor due to the swaying all around (and possibly too much alcohol consumed) but they were quickly pulled to their feet by others before getting trampled on. We were then treated to Road To Ruin, which is one of my favourites on the latest album, just as it started myself and Don had spotted an old friend stood right next to us belting out the words, a good few of us had first met Budvar at the Move festival back in 2002, where after the gig I led a few of the others down the road doing the “Barney” jig. Happy memories. It was equally good to see him after all the carry on trying to get in touch with him before the gig. Krafty and Transmission kept the energy levels up, and to be honest, my calf muscles were killing me as we had jumped up and down like loonies for 25 minutes without a break, so when they announced they were doing Run Wild next I was a happy lad as I knew the crowd would stop for a wee break and I could smoke a fag! Having said that we were still crushed at the front and trying to pull a cigarette from ma pocket was no easy thing, by the time it was out it looked like a banana! Anyway, having had the American bootlegs from the month before I was really looking forward to hearing the band’s new interpretation of Run Wild, it’s basically a light acoustic version and to me it sounded great and again we had several of the locals singing every word like their life depended on it, next we were onto the latest single Jetstream, I thought the band played it well, but after the ferocious start to the gig, the crowd were quite happy to calm down for another few minutes although the chorus was met with the standard jumping up and down. In between songs we had a few words from Barney and Hooky who seemed in great spirits but to be honest I can’t remember the banter too much. Waiting For The Sirens Call was up next and the crowd around us woke up again, I think most new order fans will agree this song is an absolute gem and is regarded by many as the best song from the same titled album, myself and Don had managed to push and shove our way within two rows from the front and when we turned to our right amongst the mayhem we could still see Al, Mark and the rest of the lads (they are not hard to miss down the front!) I think Ness and Helen had managed to get right to the front of the barrier on Hooky’s side.



We were then treated to a few old favourites, Bizarre Love Triangle saw Barney down on his knee’s while singing the chorus I remember this vividly cos Don had his phone camera out to try and capture it, we all knew True Faith would be up next and still there was no let up in the crowd, things were to get even worse when they started Love Will Tear Us Apart, for a lot of the people at the gig I would imagine they have only caught the Order maybe once or twice before and Joy Division are a band still close to a lot of hearts (especially within Italy and Spain) it was absolute mayhem at the front we were nearly on the floor several times during this song, according to G and Alan after the gig – the crowd was going “extremely mad” when they played this. Then mine and Don’s favourite was up, Temptation kept the same intense levels within the crowd and the singing along was great with all the “oo-oo’s” from the Spanish crowd, a joy to behold as always. Exit band stage left, but we knew they’d be back for Blue Monday, they always come back for Blue Monday! To be fair though it was one of the best versions of it I’d heard, with Roger Lyons bringing back some of the 83 programmed part and robotic vox, myself and Don headed over to where the lest of the hardcore were, and I got told off by Gary for my singing too loud, to which everyone else found amusing, when I say loud his actual words were “ Will you shut the fuck up” it may have been more in reference to my not singing in tune.




After the concert all the mad Vikings met up at the closest bar to the stage, which should come as no surprise to anyone! Us lot were in a great mood, cos we had just witnessed a classic gig, the atmosphere created by the locals just added to everything that is good about a new order gig, meeting up with yer pals, drinking loads of lager and getting murdered down the front while listening to the best band in the world while they are on form! I was also introduced to Dave Legge, Si Sweeney and Neil and Jeanette who was with her man Alan and Wolfram who were also at the gig – unfortunately we missed out meeting up with Frads, dunno where he ended up. I can remember walking round with Don, Dave, Mandy and Paul to get a burger, they were pink inside so I just tossed mine and settled for another beer, we could hear the Human League starting, the next thing I knew everyone had burgered off to see them, except me and Neil who chatted away about Celtic and Rangers, you see Neil, as well as being an Arsenal fan, he has a soft spot for the huns, so we had a heated conversation on Scottish football whilst listening to “Don’t You Want Me” being belted out from the stage across from us, very surreal. The Human League actually sounded alright and after their set the whole lot of us met up again, it was already about 3 in the morning and we were still getting served lager, which lead to a falling out between Don and Hibster, twas all very comical, Dave allegedly fell into Don and spilt his pint of lager, so for the next couple of hours Don kept telling Dave to get him another beer in, this all led to play fighting much to everyone else’s amusement, I also vivdly remember Gordy wandering around in Helen’s Green cardigan which he pinched from the back of Helen’s chair!




We also met up with Danny from the German Order who was with his missus, this was the first time I’d met Danny, we had a good laugh, mainly talking football and new order….what else!?! There was also a local lad who was the double of Alex, except his belly and side burns weren’t quite as big I think we stayed at the site drinking until 5 then decided we had to get one of the last buses home, which was an event within an event, the bus was mobbed but us lot managed to get a seat, which clearly riled a few of the locals, one of whom was waving a football flag – I think it was Argentinian and had political connections because Big Gary was arguing the toss with the lad in Spanish – which was brilliant cos both of them were winding each other up and I could swear Dave was also speaking the lingo and confusing the poor lad even more.

Our bus driver was quite clearly a practising taxi driver cos the journey was fast and bumpy to say the least! But we got back to Las Ramblas safe and sound and after a couple of days we knew exactly where our apartment was, we got “home” to a scene which will live long in the memory for all the wrong reasons. The G-Man was out for the count on the sofa, the Television was on and showing awful 1970’s style porn, on G’s lap there was half a roll of tissue paper and a scud mag opened to the centre pages and the best was saved till last a bottle of washing up liquid in a clear jug on the floor for lubrication, why oh why me, Dave or Don never got a picture still astounds me cos it was an absolute classic, the next day G would claim that his mate Allan had set up him up, but you can decide for yerselves. I had to wake poor G up and say “Would you mind moving G – yer kipping on my bed!”




Got to bed about 7 and we were up again at 12! Celtic were playing in the Scottish Cup Final, and we all knew it was Martin O’Neil’s last game in charge, after 5 long years it was cheerio to our saviour and we had another nutcase taking over in Gordon Strachan. I along with G and Alan headed off to the Michael Collins pub which was conveniently situated next to the Sagrida Familia Cathedral which I missed out on the last time I was in Barca, unfortunately there was a massive line of people waiting to get in – so we headed straight to the pub to get a couple of beers and prepare ourselves for an emotional afternoon. I think Don, Hibster and Paul headed down to the beach to meet up with the others. The pub had a big screen and nice cold pints of Stella, by kick off time all the seats were taken and there was a wee atmosphere building, talking to G and Alan we decided we didnae care what the score was as long as we won! Which of course we did winning by a single goal scored through a free-kick from Alan Thompson which Bobo did well to get out the way of! After another beer or two and watching Martin O’Neil, John Robertson and Stevie Walford collect the Cup we headed back to the appartment in very good moods. Don was getting ready to go out – everyone had arranged to meet at the Marina for a last night meal. Having planned nothing else we all headed down and after 20 minutes of arguing which way it was we found the restaurant where everyone else was, they all had a table situated outside which took in a cracking view of all the boats in the marina, everyone was at the meal except Dave, Paul and Mandy who were at the festival……and new order weren’t playing!?! I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the prices, so I opted on a beer and no food, afterall, food is for jessies. Mind you, seeing Don tucking into a steak I was getting a wee bit watery round the mouth, I spent most of the evening panicking about sleeping in for my flight the next morning, you see, I was supposed to be on the same flight as Al and Mark, but they bastards booked themselves to go to Lisbon instead to catch another new order gig! So I had to fly back all on my tod, and my travelling record on my tod is not good, the first time I travelled home alone was after one of the new order online piss ups in Manchester, I was that pissed getting the train the next morning I got on the wrong train and ended up in Milton Keynes rather than Kettering! After being assured I’d be alright (mainly from Ness, Don and Gary) I relaxed a wee bit and it was a good craic being with this mad bunch and getting the piss ripped cos of my singing at the festival during new order the night before! Most of the group decided to go back to the festival for shite such as They Might Be Giants, so I headed back to the Gay Bar with Alan and G, we had a good craic talking about this mad mini holiday we had and the porn stars and steak problems and sleepwalking and New Order and Celtic, the usual! G and Alan tried to get me to stay out, but being too sensible for my own good I headed back to the appartment about half 12. That was it. Holiday over as I woke up at 7.30 to get a taxi to the airport.

As always when meeting up with all the new order lads and lassies a great time was had by everyone, usually aided and abetted with far too much alcohol being consumed, Barca was a fantastic setting for the gig, the weather was magic and the people and scenery magic. We were also very lucky with a crowd who were clearly up for it and I made another few pals on the trip, Alan and Sean were a great craic, and like me and G, Alan is a massive Celtic fan! Also Wolfram who I’d meet up again with at T in the Park (even if I did forget him again!) And we met up with Si and Neil and German Danny at Hyde Park. A massive thank you to the usual suspects, G, Don, Jarvo, Hibster, Mark, Greg, Ness, Gary, Gordy, Mike, Helen, Alex, John & Christine for making the trip worthwhile. Oh, and the band for being on great form. For now Amigo's it's Adios.

Neworder Hyde Park, London 24th June 2005.

Right, yous’ll have to bear with me on this wee tale, cos my memory is fookin terrible at the best of times, and seeing as wee drank the equivalent of a small scandinavian army (possibly of Vikings) you will understand things are not quite as clear as they should be. We had been building up for this weekend ever since we got back from the Primavera Festival in Barcelona last month, expectancy was high, because Barcelona was not only a great gig for the band, but the Catalans and fans from all over Europe who travelled to see neworder for the show made it into a British type atmosphere with the mosh pit and constant shouts for the band inbetween songs. There was a group of about 30 of us Vikings over for the gig, several of whom had already taken in the first four gigs of the “Festival Tour” in the USA.

So we roll on 3 weeks from Barcelona, and I find masel on the way down to London for the next leg of my mini-tour, I am in a car with John, Lorraine and my missus (who after several weeks of harassment) who finally caved in to go and see the Order and we are listening to a collection of B-Sides and Obscurer neworder tracks that John had put together. Ahead of us by an hour was the second part of the Corby Order, driven down by one of my best mates Darren aka Baldrick, also in the car were two more Sludden’s in the form of Steve and Eddie (who both post on NOOL) and another friend Cam. The weather was pretty miserable the whole day, overcast and warm, with several showers. We arrived at Hyde Park corner just before 4’o’clock, and after getting directions from Mark we were soon at the pub, the place was absolutely mobbed, with upwards of 100 people congregating outside, lager in hands, and several different types of neworder and joy division t-shirts and one guy stood at the pub entrance with a Viking helmet, I should have introduced masel but we were more concerned about getting straight to the bar for a liquid refreshment.

Before having a chance to have a look about to see who was in, this Baldy guy with a strange northern accent, Manchester City hat and neworderonline t-shirt grabbed me, aye, twas Rocket Mick! Eyes wide open clearly he had already partaken in a lager or two and was clearly having loads of fun with fans he’d not met before. Before we had ordered our first pint another lad came over to myself and Mick, pointed at us and said “You’ll be amazed by this (pointing at Mick) You’re Rocket Mick and you’re ShugZV…..I bet you haven’t got a clue who I am!” He was right, we never had a clue, even though this guy had sent us several neworder rarities over the years, it was Clive aka Old Blue. Absolutely top bloke is our Clive, I can remember receiving a double CD he compiled back in 2001 with loads of stuff not released on CD before, 7” versions of singles and rare remixes etc… The pub was absolutely packed to the rafters, we had a quick look and noticed several of the “hardcore” Jarvo, DoN, Ness, Greg, Gary, Gordy, Mike and Frads (all of whom I’d had the pleasure of being in Barcelona with) and said a brief hello to a few others, I also had the pleasure of bumping into Brian aka 5 hates 6 who’d travelled down from sunny Scotland, it’s always good to put faces to names. As I mentioned before, The Audley was mobbed, so me, Tamzin, John and Lorraine decided to get some air and stand outside the pub, it was then we bumped into even more familiar faces, JT and Lucy whom we’ve had the pleasure of drinking with a couple of times (Rob Gretton’s memorial night and The Pogues last December) and both masel and JT have sent various pieces of neworder stuff each way. Also bumped into a great lad who never posts on the site called Ian, who was with his wife and a couple of friends, before DVD Recorders were readily available on the market, Ian used to send me several parcels of goodies, and not only that, but they were professionally done with covers and labels (he’s a graphic designer) so it was great meeting him again. The funniest thing was while us four were outside talking away with all the fans we totally forgot about the rest of the Corby Order who had been in the pub bevvying away, Steve said he’d been yapping away with Rocket Mick and Barney Army (who’s name has escaped me again!) Another couple of beers had been sunk when the German Order appeared outside, I met Danny in Barcelona when he was with his missus, so I went over and said hello, and he introduced me to the rest of the lads, obviously I asked them all which football team they supported! If memory serves correctly one of the lads follows a German 4th division team, fair play! I took them over and introduced them all to the Corby Order and several pictures were taken. Tim also came over for a yap with all of us as well, like Rocket he was also sporting a neworderonline shirt.

The day wasn’t the brightest, but with the free flowing lager coming at us left, right and centre and the banter about football and whether neworder would play E/G/G (which David Sultan had caught at the soundcheck) we were all in great moods, unfortunately I missed the chance to say hello to David, he’d disappeared when I finally got the chance, I also missed out meeting Chris Nash and his missus who had also gone to gig earlier, which was a shame. Anyway, next thing you know Mark aka Johnny Giles has popped outside to see us, he said something like “You’ll never guess who’s in the pub……only John Collins” to which Rocket Mick, quick as a flash, said in that broad Chorley accent of his “Joan Collins? What’s she doin ere?” a Rocket classic I’m sure you’d agree! As you can imagine, all us Sludden’s were delighted to have a Celtic legend in the place, especially Eddie, as JC was his childhood hero. I dived over to the pub entrance and apologised for being a pain in the arse, but said we’d gie him peace if he jumped into one photie with us, to which he obliged, I think Uncly John told him we were all massive fans and would never forget the goal at Ibrox when the forces of darkness banned the Celtic fans. I did mention to JC later that all of us were trying to decide his best goal for Celtic and he said we’d be there all night. Class.

I think it was about 5ish all of the Corby Order (except masel, John and Lorraine) buggered off to the Festival as they wanted to see Graham Coxon, The Bravery and Moby. It didnae matter, cos every 5 minutes we were bumping into more new faces, Ed who posts on World In Motion spent a good half hour with us, I think he went in early as well because he wanted to see few of the bands before the Order. The rain was coming down in stages now, a few minutes here and a few minutes there, only the Northerners remained outside, I think mainly cos no-one else could understand what we were saying. If memory serves it was me, John, Lorraine, Jim and Lucy, Jim (double L) and his mate Andy from Darlington who was sporting another Viking Helmet and Steve and his missus aka The Nuts Family, can I just say that Steve gives Rocket Mick a run for his money, not just on the obsessive nature of their new order collections, but talking absolute bollocks and speaking in a very strange accent, seriously though, they are two of a kind, both as mad as they are funny as foowk. After suffering a bit of a soaking we all decided to head in the pub and meet the rest of the peeps. I think it was Rocket who had introduced me to Darrell aka Fac 51, Juha aka King Of Nothing and Maya aka N.O Babe,. I was also introduced to Geri and her husband and also Ed Boland and Lucy and Ian Yeung (who had only posted on the site once before)and a few others, I also remember giving a Vikings badge away, but I cannae remember the lads name, and I also gave Stockholm Monster a free ticket for the gig, which Grahame Ferguson had sent down from Glasgow as he couldnae make it. Again after several beers more, I bumped into more familiar faces Dave Legge, Helen, Neil (who’s aRangers fan) and Si Sweeney (we were all in Barca together) then there was Sanjay and DC, Bansheeman, Chemical and Nick King and the guy who posts as Rathbones who was a cracking laugh, I told him I’d forget his name and I have! Also a bit later on Marko appeared, another lad who I’ve traded stuff with in the past and another of the giants…. The average height for a lot of these buggers is about 6ft 2, which is a pain in the arse when yer a modest 5ft 7! Every five minutes there was someone with a camera, so I can’t wait to see some of the pictures that have not yet surfaced yet. It’s hard to keep up with this wee tale, but I’m trying to remember everyone who was there, I met Phillip Collins for the first time, he plays in Digital with Tim, then there was Will and Warren from Re:Order who are top, top lads, and all of Jarvo’s mates and work colleagues without forgetting the lovely Gina. I also remember Gary asking me to introduce him to my Uncle John, so he knew exactly who was to blame for my neworder obsession….lol. It was now just the hardcore drinkers / Vikings in the pub, everyone was in great spirits, and the atmosphere at times was like that of a football match, with several chants of “New Or-Dah New Or-Dah” much to the bar staff’s amusement. We all decided to leave the pub at the last minute so we timed it just right for neworder coming on stage, I think most of us left The Audley about 10 past 8 for the 10 minute walk to the Park, as soon as we got into Hyde Park I found a tree to do possibly the worlds longest piss. Luckily for masel, John and Lorraine, Cam who came with us for the day was looking for the bogs, so he was available to take us back to meet up with the rest of the Corby Order.. I think you may know where they had situated themselves…..right next to the beer tent. They were all looking a bit worse for wear and a wee bit wet, well that will teach em for going in early for The Bravery, Tammy told me that Eddie, Cam and Steve had spent more time perving on the birds at the festival than watching the bands, fair play, Baldrick was behaving cos he’s got a girlfriend and Tammy knows her, plus the fact he was driving so he couldnae swally any beer!

John suggested we get a couple of pints before diving down the front, we timed it to absolute perfection, a couple of bottles (plastic) of Carlsberg each then we got Lorraine and used John as the battering ram to get through the crowd, now when John wants to get to the front you don’t get an “Excuse me” or “Sorry” from him – he just kinda grunts and barges through any wee gaps he sees, quickly followed by myself and Lorraine. Just as we got to the front Alan Wise came on stage, told ye’s we timed it perfectly, the crowd started making some noise and you sensed it was gonna be good, Lorraine saw a gap at the barrier and dived for it, me and John stayed put, about 5 lines from the front, ready for the madness which we knew was about to start. The band came on stage to massive cheers and promptly kicked off with Crystal, which I had said in the pub they’d kick off with. Within seconds the mayhem started, everyone jostling to maintain their position, the surprising thing was that a lot of the people down the front were :ahem: getting on in years. The Blackburn Youth are a myth or legend wrapped in an enigma, everyone’s heard of em, but for some reason or another we keep missing them at gigs, but I could swear I saw a few of em diving and pushing like maniacs, Niel Johnstone aka The Hac Must Be Rebuilt was amongst this mad group behind us. As I had a good look at all those going mental I saw more and more recogniseable faces, Gary, Gordy, Mike, Jarvo, Mark, Alex, Will, Warren, DoN, Greg, Ness, Hibster, DC, Marko, Ed, JT, Lucy, Nuts, Tim, Rocket, Jimll, Andy, Brian D, Frads all going fookin mental, then as I looked at the front there was Jim Reilly Jim Reilly stood next to Lorraine. You have to remember we were all very drunk, and my memory is as bad as anyone’s, plus being in the mosh pit was like going 8 rounds with Tyson as we all received several blows to the head and body, which is basically what it’s all about.

Crystal passed by in a daze, quickly followed by a blistering Regret, it was about this time when John noticed that Barney wasnae staring at the autocue half as much as usual, it would be later on we would find out that due to the weather or technical fault, the auto cue was fooked, so Barney was flying solo, which became more apparent throughout the gig. Somehow I had still managed to hold onto my two bottles of lager, though a helluva lot of it was spilling from the bottle as we bounced up and down, the poor bugger in front of me got covered, but we didn’t care and the crowd was singing along with every word of every song, a scintillating atmosphere which was lapped up by all around me. After Regret I was actually hoping for a bit of respite, but as soon as we saw Barney with the melodica we knew what was coming, it was Love Vigilantes alright and it started in the same way they used to play it in the 80’s with a longer intro, absolute class, we were right in front of Hooky, who was clearly enjoying himself, prowling the stage like he owned it and pulling plenty of rock star poses to the adoring masses. It was one of the best versions of Love Vigilantes I’d heard in a long time and the pogoing and pushing was reaching murderous levels during the chorus. After the song finished the fans started with the now famous “New Or-Dah” chants and Barney made a comment about coming up with a better tune for it, he also asked the crowd if anyone had Hay Fever, cos if they did they were welcome back stage for a “snort of something that will sort you out” Class. Krafty kicked us all off again, my legs were getting heavier and I was aching all over with the madness around me, I was holding on to the lad in front for life with two beers, still in my other hand, this was when I decided to make a move and get even closer to the front, after a few wee shoves I was directly behind Lorraine and Jim Reilly, I found masel stood next to Jeanette who was with Alex and his pals. The first breather of the set came thanks to True Faith, I think all the older people in the crowd had run out of gas with all the mayhem, it’s probably been a wee while since some of them have enjoyed a mosh pit like this, I sparked up a fag for masel and Jeanette, and had a much needed swig of lager, fookin heaven I was in, John had managed to get back over to our new position, and as I turned round I noticed The German Order had found where we were and they had joined the mad Vikings at the front.

I distinctly remember Transmission kicking off, cos I heard someone say “They are doing a Joy Division song? Great!” Obviously not a frequent gig goer then! The first strains from Hooky’s and Phil’s guitar and Steve’s speed drumming set the tone for the chaos to begin all over again, so many people were singing along, it was brilliant. Run Wild was up next, and this was the moment in the set when most people knew for certain there was no autocue for Barney, cos we couldnae work out what the fuck he was singing, he basically ad-libbed most of the song, and came out with lyrics including Satan somewhere along the lines, DoN picked that up, I was too busy singing the proper lyrics. While this was going on Hibster took the chance of the lull in the crowd to get a good few snaps with his special 12 gauge camera that can zoom for miles! Masel and John were just happy to get an opportunity to scoff some more beer. Jetstream passed by and sounded great with Dawn on backing vocals, they should have used Dawn at Glastonbury instead of Ana! Waiting For The Sirens Call rolled along and if memory serves, there was a total fuck up in lyrics from Barney, with Dawn again helping him out, it was around this time Hooky went for a wander along the outskirts of the stage and standing underneath the BIG screens lapping up the crowd and giving it laldy. The crowd picked up in ferocity for the old favourite that is Bizarre Love Triangle, Lorraine was singing very loudly along with this, as she turned and said at the start of the song “This is MY song” Barney once again doing his now customary kneeling and singing during the chorus and his daft one legged dancing during the rest of the song. I actually remember that BLT got the best reception of the night, especially around us, and as I say the “Mosh” pit again kicked off big time and this is the song where people probably took most of a battering. Next was another bonus for the people who don’t attend many gigs, Love Will Tear Us Apart, with people around us knowing there was no autocue, I feared the worse, I was expecting a song with total lyric fuck ups and verses round the wrong way, funnily enough this is what happened I think. Still the crowd were too busy going mental and singing along that we didnae notice too much, I can remember Will from ReOrder taking several pictures of the Viking crowd at the front as well, plus he had me and John telling him ReOrder have to play Corby so we can hear aa decent setlist! Temptation (my all-time fave) was up next, and although I always love it, I thought it was missing a bit of something, couldnae put ma finger on it, but it sounded a wee bit flat for the first couple of minutes, as the song went on it picked up, and again we got the famous “1, 2, 3, 4” bit from Barney before the song takes off onto another level. My favourite memories from this part of the gig was me and John starting off the “der, der der der der der” part sing along wit the crowd around us, magical stuff. The band disappeared after this, but we all knew they’d be back, and most of us were praying for Everything’s Gone Green, which as I mentioned way back in this wee story, was played in the soundcheck. Unfortunatley we didnae get it, or Age Of Consent which I’ve been waiting to hear for so long now. Someone needs to give the band a slap for not playing this and should tell them to get rid of that daft Jazzed up True Faith.

Whinge over, the band came back and gave us another couple of Joy Division songs, crisp and clear versions of Atmosphere and She’s Lost Control, with very little “whooping” from Barney, which I’m sure kept a few of the JD purists a bit happier. Blue Monday (what else) closed the show, I think Barney said it was “that fookin song again” Yep, heard that before. Still, with Roger Lyons’ updated programming we have been hearing something close to the 83 original, which is refreshing. I have to say Phil looks an integral part of the band, and he frees Barney up a lot on guitar, Hooky looks like he’s having the time of his life, we all know he’s at his happiest when the band are on stage, Steve looks like he’s constantly asleep, my missus couldnae believe how good a drummer he was, and yet he looks so bored. Barney’s Barney. As most of the crowd filtered away, we stayed right at the front meeting up with all the usual suspects. John was hoping for a setlist, little realising Al had already accosted Diane and received 2 of them. John saw one on the floor near us, picked it up and realised it was for Moby’s set, not happy he screwed it up and threw it away. As everyone else headed off to The Audley for another few beers, we had to dive to the tube station to get the tube back to Finchley and drive back to Corby, which was a right bastard cos I was dying for another few beers with the lads n lassies we’d been out with all day. C’est La vie. I’d just like to say cheers to everyone who made it to The Audley it was a fookin pleasure and a magic day, if I have missed anyone out please let me know so I can amend the story, my missus loved the experience as did Steve, Eddie and Cam who were all neworder virgins. They can’t wait for more gigs, luckily me and the missus and John and Lorraine are all going to T in the Park along with a good few of the usual suspects. Cannae wait peeps.

“New Or-dah, New Or-Dah, New Or-Dah”