Preston 28 February 1980

Track data is currently not available.

Performer: Joy Division
Distributor: City Hall

Notes: Joy Division: Ian Curtis (vocals); Bernard Sumner (guitar, keyboards); Peter Hook (bass); Stephen Morris (drums). Recorded live at the Warehouse, Preston, England on February 28, 1980. Includes liner notes by Anthony Wilson. The sleeve notes make it plain: This is "just a gig by one of the greatest bands that ever lived and wrote and played." This gig, taped at the Warehouse in Preston, took place during the final round of UK dates Joy Division was to play before jetting off to the US. PRESTON 28 FEBRUARY 1980 is a truly awesome and atmospheric record, and though it's a warts-and-all document, it almost revels in the technical difficulties the band had with the sound system. At one moment, Ian Curtis even declares that "everything's falling apart!" "The Eternal" is a truly electric secular hymn with arching synthesiser chords while "Transmission" and "Warsaw" are frenetic and impassioned punk. The crowd was clearly having a good time and unwittingly witnessing a very special event. During a hiatus, a girl opportunely announces "Anyone from Burnley? The coach is going in five minutes!" Joy Division's very last gig, in May 1980, was also recorded (just two weeks before Ian Curtis' unexpected suicide) and released as the album STILL. This Preston recording though is a more concise and accessible album that fittingly ends brilliantly, and ironically, on "She's Lost Control," a definite high.

Melody Maker (6/5/99, p.37) - 3 stars (out of 5) - "...what one of the five greatest groups of the 20th century sounded like for 70 minutes at the beginning of the Eighties....you kind of wish you'd been there." NME (Magazine) (5/29/99, p.38) - 9 out of 10 - "...Plough into the raw, chaotic, spellbinding innards...and it's hard not to be blown away by the band's dark 'n' primal power....Shadowplay and Transmission are breathtaking stills of one of the century's most vivid poets burning up onstage..."

Joy Division virtually defined the term "post-punk." They combined punk's rawness and iconoclasm with an artier sensibility that encompassed poetic lyrics, existentialism, and a dark moody mix of guitars and keyboards that was a major influence on goth and industrial music. After singer Ian Curtis's suicide in 1980, the rest of the band went on to even greater success as the poppier, more electronic-oriented New Order. Although they burned brief, their indelible imprint revived over two decades later as inspiration for a whole movement of indie rock on both sides of the ocean.

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25