Date: 14 July 1989
Artist: New Order
Support Acts: Public Image Limited, The Sugarcubes
Venue: Mann Music Center
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Ticket Price (USD): $13.50
Billed as ‘The Monsters of Alternative Rock’, New Order, Public Image Limited, and The Sugarcubes toured together in June and July of 1989—it was the summer concert event for US college students. This show would be my first time experiencing all three of these bands live. Two years earlier, I had missed a similar tour featuring Echo & The Bunnymen, New Order, and Gene Loves Jezebel. And in 1988, I had hoped to see PiL open for INXS; however, things didn’t quite work out on the night of that show.
Friday July 14 was a perfect summer night for an outdoor concert at the Mann Music Center in West Philadelphia. I attended the show with my buddies Bill, Brian, and Todd—we acquired general admission tickets, with which we could view the performances from unassigned bleacher seats or a large lawn area in the rear of the venue. With so many fellow students and friends also present, it was as much a social outing as a musical event.
I never did care for The Sugarcubes, so I chatted with various folks during the opening set by Björk and company. However, I was eager to see Public Image Limited, so my crew got as close as possible within the bleacher area. PiL were on the road to promote their recently released album “9”, which was the band’s most commercial effort to date; it’s a bit crap, in my opinion, although the singles “Disappointed” and “Warrior” are passable. But that didn’t matter, because John Lydon’s magnetic stage presence easily compensated for any weak tunes.
“Warrior” proved to be an effective opener, followed by “Happy”, and then the band dipped into older material starting with “This Is Not A Love Song.” During “The Body”, Lydon had the audience chanting the song’s repeated refrain of “We want your body!” But his most memorable moment came late in the set, as Lydon announced, “It’s sing-along with Johnny time,” and then launched into a powerful rendition of “Rise.”
Setlist:
01 Warrior
02 Happy
03 This Is Not a Love Song
04 Home
05 Round
06 Brave New World
07 Same Old Story
08 The Body
09 Open And Revolving
10 Rise
11 Disappointed
12 Public Image
John Lydon has always been a hard act to follow; unfortunately, New Order were clearly not up to the task that evening. With little audience interaction and minimal enthusiasm, New Order’s performance was a surprising letdown. Touring in support of “Technique”, the band’s setlist heavily favored that album, rounded out by big singles.
Setlist:
01 Touched By The Hand of God
02 Dream Attack
03 Ceremony
04 All The Way
05 Round & Round
06 Mr. Disco
07 Every Little Counts
08 True Faith
09 Vanishing Point
10 Temptation
11 Bizarre Love Triangle
12 The Perfect Kiss
Encore
13 Blue Monday
14 Fine Time
New Order may have been the headliners, but PiL stole the spotlight that night.
That's The Ticket 