New Order - Finsbury Park 9th June 02 DVD

Finsbury Park, 9th June 02 is what it says on the cover: an unadorned video record of New Order's outdoor concert in London on that date. As such, it suffers slightly from the same incongruity as any manifestation of New Order live. One tends to picture the creators of such sonic miracles as "Bizarre Love Triangle" and "Regret" wearing star-spangled robes and pointy hats; the prosaic reality of a bunch of blokes wearing jeans and T-shirts is inevitably somewhat disappointing. There are other, more fundamental, problems with this performance. Granted that the sound... is better than the sound at open-air concerts usually is ("Love Will Tear Us Apart" is especially tremendous), but whatever ambience may have been generated in the mud on the day has not translated to the small screen; there is an unintentionally poignant moment during the exhumation of Joy Division's "Atmosphere" when one shot over Barney Sumner's shoulder lingers on a distant burger van. Nor does it help that Sumner frequently, and off-puttingly obviously, refers to an autocue at his feet. Given that anyone who has taken a serious interest in British pop over the last 20 years knows all the words to "True Faith" and "Temptation", it is extraordinary that the man who wrote them doesn't. On the DVD: Finsbury Park, 9th June 02 has subtitles in English, French and German. Sound is available in Stereo, DTS 5.1 Surround and Dolby Digital 5.1. Special features include a brief documentary called "New Order 9802", which comprises clips of their 1998 British tour and a few reminiscences from fans, and a three-minute montage of black and white footage of the set-up and sound check at Finsbury Park, titled "Earlier in the Day". There is also a song selector. --Andrew Mueller [show more]

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