by waldnorm » Sun Nov 19, 2006 11:27 am
With the mentions of New Order concerts . . . I have to admit the one I went to turned out a dud--actually my worst concert experience ever (even beating the time my friends I worked with at a record store convinced me to go with them to see Paula Abdul in concert at Magic Mountain--she lip-synched by the way--surprise, surprise). It was the triple bill of The Sugarcubes/Public Image Limited and New Order at the Irvine Meadows, 1989. For starters--we never got to see the Sugarcubes due to unbearable traffic. We got there two hours late.
We sat in the lawn--far, far away from really seeing anyone on the stage and the New Order show was cut short due to a 1 a .m. curfew. (They all of a sudden cut into playing "Fine Time" and before the song was finished the lights went up, and the plug was PULLED on them (the concert organizers were behind schedule as it took longer than anticipated to change the equipment, instruments for each act). I only remember seeing a miniature version of Bernard Sumner singing in front,lame visual effects and not much to see otherwise, being crowded in front of a wire fence behind the last row of seating, among very drunk teenagers. My friend who got the tickets did a really rotten job getting us these "lawn seats" as they were called. (In fact, I got back in touch with him a few years ago--I should be mean and give him a call and say "hey do you remember . . . ")
I've only been to the Irvine Meadows, once, since. I got tickets the day they were available and my friend and I got to Irvine six hours early to have dinner and hang out at the malls.
I'm glad to read there's been good New Order shows. Whenever I tell anyone my experience people tell me, well that's not the type of group you see in concert, yada, yada . . .