A poignant return to famous studios
NEW Order star Bernard Sumner has spoken of the poignancy of performing the band’s eagerly anticipated Manchester International Festival shows at the city’s Old Granada Studios.
The Manchester band will reimagine a host of their old songs, backed by a 12-piece synthesiser orchestra, at what is set to be one of the hottest tickets of this summer’s MIF.
Speaking at the festival launch at the old Mayfield Depot yesterday, frontman Bernard said the gigs will have added resonance because of the band’s links with Granada, where Factory Records boss Anthony Wilson famously worked.
It was at the studios that the group, then Joy Division, first performed on TV in 1978 on Granada Reports.
After the tragic death of lead singer Ian Curtis in 1980, the band went on to become New Order, one of the most critciallyacclaimed and influential bands of the past 40 years.
Bernard said: “There’s a poignancy for us to play at the Old Granada Studios because our very first chance to play, ever, on television was on Tony Wilson’s show, I think it was actually Granada Reports, we played the Joy Division song Shadowplay and another. That was our introduction to television so Granada is very close to our hearts and, of course, the relationship with Tony, who later became the boss of our record label Factory Records.
“We looked at Mayfield Depot as a potential venue, but then we saw Granada Studios and it just made sense. It was a nice touch.”
The five gigs are subtitled So It Goes, a nod to the TV cultural show Wilson hosted in the 1970s on Granada.
The band will perform this June and July on Stage 1 at the studios, with a 12-piece synthesiser orchestra from the Royal Northern College of Music, and with a visual backdrop created by artist Liam Gillick.
The band have cut their back catalogue down to a set list of around 12 songs, although Sumner said it took two days to go through their old material.
“We’ve been a round a while. We’ve made a lot of songs,” he said. “But Manchester International Festival wanted us to do something completely different to our normal set. So we came up with the idea of that we’d play songs we don’t normally play, that we’d take those songs, break them down into their micro components, like smashing mirrors, and then use musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music, these various constituents will be arranged by Joe Dudell. “There will be 12 synthesiser players, we’re going to deconstruct the songs and Joe will reconstruct the songs and the students will hopefully play better than we do!”
As to how the gigs will look, Bernard was playing his cards close to his chest – although he revealed there would be ‘no Blue Monday’ in the set.
He said: “Liam Gillick is a friend of Peter Saville’s, and with Peter so involved with us, he gave us a brief of modern original, original pieces done in a modern way.
“Liam has comes up with some fantastic designs, it’s going to be a really, really intriguing set but I can’t give too much away.
“The technical aspect of it is probably the most difficult bit. But we’ve had two rehearsals and it works.”
The festival will also celebrate the global cultural significance of Joy Division and New Order with a free art exhibition, True Faith, held at Manchester Art Gallery.
It will explore the visual legacy of the bands, with the original album artworks created by Saville, through to posters, music videos and the works of modern artists who have been inspired by the music of Joy Division and New Order.
tickets for the New Order: so it goes gig will go on sale at Friday at 1pm from mif.co.uk.