New Order [1983.06.30] Holy Grail (Chicago)

New Order - Holy Grail
Cabaret Metro, Chicago, IL, USA
Thursday June 30th, 1983

Very Good Audience Recording
Encoded: FLAC & 320 Kbps MP3

"Holy grail recording surfaces of New Order’s
scorching ’83 gig at Chicago’s Cabaret Metro."

http://www.neworderonline.com/live/Concert.aspx?ConcertID=359
http://www.new-order.net/no/gigs/nogigs82.html#NO-820830.html

Track List:
Confusion
Chosen Time
The Village
Truth
Leave Me Alone
Your Silent Face
Denial
Age Of Consent
Ceremony
In A Lonely Place

It’s not often something like this sort of falls in your lap.

June 30, 1983 was the hottest day of the year to date in Chicago.  The now-legendary venue Metro - then known as Cabaret Metro - had been open for roughly a year.  While I was just an 11 year old kid cavorting on a beach across Lake Michigan from Chicago that day - or most likely asleep in the summer cottage, considering the time - New Order finally made their debut appearance in Chicago.  Attendees say it was unbearably hot inside the Metro that night.  And allegedly even hotter on the stage.  That day, the high temperature reached near 100° F in Chicago and it had barely cooled as the evening went on.  Making matters worse, the band took nearly two hours to get on stage after the opening act, which made an uncomfortable and stinky audience even more strident.

The set starts out as your typical New Order set of the era would.  Things seem OK, maybe a bit rowdier crowd than normal, until late in the fourth song “Truth” when the sequencer starts to act up.  They launch straight into “Leave Me Alone” which ends uneventfully.  Then, the power goes out (as you’d have it).  A restless crowd begins complaining amongst itself, with audible complaints about sweat dripping into eyes, another mentioning rubbing ice all over their face, and vocalized thankfulness that they brought paper towels in.  Random sequencer bleats punctuate the rumbling crowd, as the roadies and venue staff try to get the power sorted.  Hooky mentions needing a shower.  Eventually, “Your Silent Face” starts.  It devolves into a unique and fascinating exposition on what a sequencer-using band does when the sequencers are failing mid song - Steve Morris jumps behind the drum kit far earlier than usual, and essentially drives the song to its skittering end as the sequencers never recover.  I think this take is spectacular and I think you’ll agree.

Barney then makes reference on stage to equipment and power problems, mentions the band’s just going to jam, and Steve then pounds out the drum riff for “Denial”.  Instead of jamming, the band then finishes the set with four straight sequencer-free tracks, ending on the majestic “In A Lonely Place” well into the wee hours of the morning.

There is no jamming, no acoustic “Blue Monday” despite the venue owner’s misremembered statements made over the years since.  It’s possible of course at some point these did exist and were edited out from this tape upstream, but I doubt it and all other recollections of this gig fail to mention any acoustic “Blue Monday” performances.

For the past 34 years, this set has been legendary in the New Order community due to the circumstances which befell it.  And a tape was never known to exist, nor a setlist for that matter.  With the 1980 Beach Club set, it was part of the Holy Grail pair of lost New Order sets.  That changes today.  The story of how this tape ultimately came to me is nearly as good as the story behind the gig, but to protect privacy I shall simply thank A. for this.  I believe this is from a 1st generation dub of the master, and whomever the actual taper is remains a complete mystery.