Here Comes the Summer: New Order talk Electric Picnic, brewing beer and Music Complete

There have been many magical Hot Press Chatroom @ Electric Picnic moments, but none that quite compare with New Order's 2006 gracing of our bijou tent.

Having been told by their media handler that Peter Hook was coming down on his own, the sight of him, Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris strolling in unison towards the Chatroom had us excited - and apprehensive as well because they were having a right old ding-dong amongst themselves. The arguing continued inside the tent with the 150 or so assembled fans getting to hear tales about Ian Curtis, the Hacienda, Stephen's tanks, Hooky's Freebass supergroup and "those bunch of losers U2" that were punctuated with repeated intra-band exhortations to ?‘"Fuck off!" and "No, you fuck off!" "There are plenty of stories we definitely won't tell the grandchildren," Barney said when asked just how hedonistic it all was in the '80s. "A few came out last night at dinner, actually. We made Led Zeppelin look like the Spice Girls!"

The stress fractures exhibited that day turned out to be real, with Hooky leaving the band in 2007 in the most acrimonious of circumstances. With no new studio album for a decade, the fear was that New Order had run out of creative steam. That all changed last year when they unleashed Music Complete, a record that had fans and critics alike purring with delight. The ooh-ing and aah-ing intensified in May when an "extended version" of the record, Complete Music, hit the racks with Hot Chip and Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands among those on remix duty.

It's not just in the studio that New Order have been excelling, with a sell-out in New York's Radio City Music Hall and an Australian Chamber Orchestra-assisted gig in Sydney Opera House among their summer triumphs. Not only that, but they've also collaborated with the Moorhouse Brewery on 4.2% ABV golden ale, named 'Stray Dog' in honour of their recent Iggy Pop hook-up. So, consider their Picnic return a well-deserved lap of honour!