It looked as though each of the synth players in their cube had a seat.So they could take a breather when they don't have a part to play for a little while?
I did have a watch of a few bits of the YouTube clips .It all looked great but to be brutally honest i struggle to enjoy Bernard's live vocals from a phone recorded clip nowadays.I mean, if or when i'm at a New Order gig his vocals aren't a problem for me as i'm enjoying being at and loving the gig but i just struggle more these days than i did at one time long ago to enjoy his live vocals on bootlegs and such.Maybe i'm going soft in my old age or maybe there's a lot more singers around these days who can really sing well live. For example , i watched The XX's set from Glastonbury on tv last week and Romy's live vocals are simply heaven to listen to.
Anyway, apart from that, i thought the actual music from what i heard in the YouTube clips of Thursday night's gig sounded amazing; Subculture (it leant towards the 12" remix i know, but) and Shellshock in particular.Maybe the synth orchestra in the cubes was, as Andy said, a little theatric but it makes a great show i think, from what i can see of the clips and pics.And i'd certainly love to see that girl in one of the cubes do all that dancing.
What do i think of the setlist? I think it's 75 per cent maginificent in the fact they played so many songs they hadn't done for years or ever but small quibble to the fact they still did a few regulars like BLT and YSF and even Decades is becoming a regular now.I'd like to see the Joy Division songs dropped completely and maybe BLT dropped (though even that sounded a little reworked form what i saw on YouTube so maybe i shouldn't grumble).
Will be very interested to see how the setlits pans out for the remaining 4 gigs of this.Will they change it every show? I hope so.
There was a feature on Radcliffe & Maconie's show on BBC 6Music yesterday (Friday 30th June) about the gig and people who had been inside were asked for their thoughts and opinion on it as they exited - go to around 56 minutes in
hereAlso, at 20.00 tonight BBC2 has a half hour programme about the Manchester International Festival and the programme info promises "unique access to rehearsals by New Order".