Live Review: New Order

There's a full-on rave party vibe upon entering Sydney Opera House with banging choons pumping through the venue sound system. Black and white footage of divers graces the screen to set the scene. New Order enter the stage space.

"Thank you, good night," Bernard Sumner says before the band have played a single note. He then announces they're experiencing a slight technical problem. Singularity from New Order's latest Music Complete set follows, complete with its accompanying music video (which utilises footage from B-Movie: Lust & Sound In West Berlin). We can tell the band is still working through their technical issues. A man a few rows in front of us squirms in his seat, relentlessly punching the air — alternating arms to avoid lactic acid build-up — frustrated by his seated state. 

There's a vulnerability to Sumner's singing, perhaps more pronounced with the passing years, which serves as a constant poignant reminder that fronting this band wasn't his initial choice. Come Crystal, audience members migrate to the side aisles for a boogie. Those who remain in their seats resemble nodding dogs (especially during Restless). Sumner tells us the band feel honoured to play Sydney Opera House: "Really big venue. Big enough to contain our egos." Pause. "That was a joke."

Not satisfied with migrating to the aisle, our frustrated seated dancer from earlier is now spotted walking in front of the entire length of the front row, facing the audience and gesturing wildly for us to be upstanding during the Giorgio Moroder-inspired new track, Tutti Frutti, which makes Sumner chuckle mid-song. Old mate then walks back to his original position, once again squishing past front-row punters, to drive his point home. And from here on in, the show elevates to epic proportions. Seeing Gillian Gilbert play the effervescent Bizarre Love Triangle keys parts is a real treat and it's grins all 'round in the House. During this song, Sumner holds the mic down into the crowd for a front-row couple to take an entire verse, which we could've done without. He then directs our attention to the visuals, instructing, "Don't take your eyes off them". Sure, they're impressive, but should we have experienced some kind of optical illusion? Then Plastic comes in as if to demonstrate how much New Order reentered the club via their new material. We wish they'd forked out for a female backing vocalist, though (and also that we'd found a long-forgotten, late-'80s pinger in a pocket to drop before the show). 

Clap-alongs sound satisfyingly loud and in time. We all enthusiastically belt out, "Let's go out and have some fun!" during The Perfect Kiss. New Order's back catalogue is breathtaking and we'd almost forgotten about Temptation! It's absolute swoon territory even though we sound like a pack of football hooligans singing, "OH-Oh-Oh-Oh-oh!" where gentle, "doo-doo-doo"s belong. 

And of course there's gonna be an encore since we've not yet arrived at Blue Monday. This song with that backstory is incomparable. We score an extended mix and dance wildly, dusting off moves that haven't seen the light of day this century. "I see a ship in Sydney Harbour" — yes, Sumner takes it there! When he takes over Gilbert's keyboard to close out Blue Monday, his takeover is only barely tolerated, with a forced grin. Whaddayamean they're playing Love Will Tear Us Apart!? When a picture of Ian Curtis graces the screen followed by "Joy Division Always", the crowd goes nuts. We could've done without Superheated, which only seems to serve the purpose of containing the closing lyrics, "It's over," to punctuate the end of the show. 

Do we miss Hooky? Of course we do, but no one should be deprived of experiencing these songs live. New Order. Such important music; both back then AND now.