- It can be nerve-wracking going to see one of the most important musical influences of your adolescence try something a bit different, especially when they should be well past their prime. But by hooking up with the Australian Chamber Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid LIVE, New Order made a reinvigorating choice. The pairing coaxed into place everything that might have been wayward, overblown or cluttered about such a collaboration. The sound was unusually crisp, orchestration restrained, and reinterpretations subtly filled gaps left by the band's often stripped-back arrangements.
Moving on stage as the haunting "Elegia" played over grainy images of divers at Sydney's iconic Luna Park pool, original members Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, and Gillian Gilbert, and newer additions Tom Chapman and Phil Cunningham, pushed straight into a selection of newer material from Music Complete alternating with a back catalogue heaving with classics. The jangling guitar of "Regret" was layered with symphonic warmth. The melancholy of "1963" was amped up by the interplay of bass guitar and string section. And recent single "Tutti Frutti" bridged New Order's emotive indie pop and dance party exuberance.
From there it was a build in intensity to the crescendo of "The Perfect Kiss". "True Faith"—transformed into a baseline-driven house monster—was followed by "Blue Monday" and then "Temptation" as coda. The encore was three Joy Division classics, including the first performance of "Decades" since Ian Curtis's death.
Gilbert was her usual deadpan self on keyboards and Morris still efficient on drums, but Sumner acted like he had a new lease on life: cracking dad jokes, dancing and pogoing about the stage, and demonstrating unexpected vocal range. The ACO proved a perfect foil, never overpowering the band but delivering depth and complexity in the interstices of its performance. In places rapturous and sublime, this concert put rumours of New Order's creative stagnation to rest.
Photo credits /
Elizabeth Humphrys