It must be said that I am a bit of a fan of New Order and Peter Hook and, of course, their immediate precursor Joy Division. Whether it’s the dryly poetic lyricism of the former, the post-punk gothic of the latter I have attended and written several reviews of them in the past. Rocknerd, for example, has reviews of New Order’s “Music Complete” and their performance at the Sydney Opera House, and Peter Hook and the Light, all from 2016. Go back a few decades and with all the writing competence of a 19 year-old, you’ll find my review from Metior on New Order playing in 1987 – back when they were one band.
There is a telling final line from that oldest review; “A well spent $16”. That was 1987; in 2025 New Order charges close to $200 to place your bum on the grass at a venue a few metres outside the fence has just as good sound quality and, in the most part, as good viewing of the performers which is to say, pretty minimal. There is a reason why many concerts at Sidney Myer are free. Now it is perhaps true that New Order were not quite as famous in 2025 as they were in 1987 when they were just breaking into mainstream fame and the probably most successful band from Factory Records. And, of course, there is inflation and cost-of-living to consider. But no, even if you dig into the stats, and even the cost-disease of the service sector, there is no real justification for a ten-fold increase in price.
This is, of course, not a treatise on the economics of music. That can wait for another time. Rather, it is a hint for a question of value-for-money. New Order are, of course, an incredibly polished band, their rough and punk roots quietly sidelined to Peter Hook to continue flying that flag. Danceable electonica with excellence in production is their forte and had been for a few decades now. Which also makes the choice of venue even more challenging. New Order started strongly, bringing out a cover of the old Joy Division classic, Transmission. They played it well, to a very happy audience, but the sound system crackled, creaked. and spluttered, requiring a heroic effort by the sound crew to bring in a somewhat different sound in the middle of the second piece, Crystal. Another challenge that the band had to face with the choice of venue was that it was also the evening of the Moomba festival, and resulting nearby fireworks delighted some fans, and frustrated others as the explosions were both distracting to the audio and visual display.
With an impressive total setlist of some nineteen songs over two hours, well over fifty percent came from their first decade plus Joy Division covers. This including some beautiful classics such as the JD/NO cross-over song Ceremony, Joy Divisions’s Isolation, Your Silent Face, Sub-Culture, Bizarre Love Triangle, True Faith, Blue Monday, and Temptation. Love Less was performed for the first time since 1989 and, to be honest, it was telling. There was not so much at all from more recent albums, although I was pleased to hear Plastic, from Music Complete, got a guernsey. For an encore, they returned to two famous classic Joy Division songs; Atmosphere and Love Will Tear Us Apart, the latter being a signature conclusion for decades now and an ongoing honour recognising original front-man Ian Curtis. Overall, however, it was a collection of classics and whilst the band did a lot for a two-hour concert, it is very clear that they had only touched on a very deep reserve of potential content which the fans were all too familiar with; the two hours seemed to go very quickly.
Overall, one can say that New Order are a truly great band, one who will remain in memory for decades after they finally hang up their gloves. They played a selection of songs that were among their best and certainly made this particular long-standing fan happy with their choices. But it must be said that their choice of venue was absolutely terrible, the sound quality challenging, and their pricing utterly mercenary. Mixed feelings are always allowed in all situations, as long as one makes the effort to identify what is good and bad about an event and the feelings of this event are very mixed indeed.
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