2023 European Tour

This better be good - its almost my home town and I know a few people who are going (not me, which is just as well as been struck down by Corona 23).

Was there last night. Managed a lower tier seat at half price on Ticketmaster official resale a few days before show date.

The OVO Hydro was about 70-80 % full. Level 3 was completely curtained off as was some side blocks of Level 2. The standing floor looked pretty full, though.

I was looking forward to Confidence Man as much as New Order. I had seen them at Kentish Town Forum in London last year, was quite impressed by the performance. So 80s, so cheesy, but in a good, attractive way. Last night, the Aussie couple’s unstoppable choreography that lasted for good 35 minutes bar a short break for the costume change won over many a first-timer on the floor, they were greeted with an enthusiastic reception for a support act.

I enjoyed New Order’s set, too. Liked the industrial arrangement of Isolation. A 19-song, 1 hr and 55 mins set is the longest as you could get from them. That being said, I found the way I enjoyed their show not dissimilar to how I enjoy The Rolling Stones nowadays. Today, New Order are almost a legacy act as the Stones are. The group’s main audience is those who look back their own young days with affection mingled with nostalgia. The demographic last night was a mixture of the old and the middle-aged with a smattering of young people here and there. I hardly recognized teenagers if any — to be honest I observed more belonging to that age group among the crowd of the Stones at Hyde Park last year.

Robert Plant, in the aftermath of what would eventually turn out to be Led Zeppelin’s final American tour that ended in a state of disgrace, behind-the-scene violence and his son’s untimely death back home, once reflected, “We are not heroes any more. Heroes are in books…old books.” To paraphrase his words, New Order are not rebels any more. Rebels are in old songs.