“They’re good songs, aren’t they?” says Barney and, given that his band have just played ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Shadowplay’ and ‘Transmission’ back to back, it’s impossible to disagree.
Add in the double-whammy encore of the rarely aired ‘Decades’ and the obligatory ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and this is the most Joy Division-y New Order have been for a good while.
Despite admitting to having a 9.3 on the Richter Scale hangover, Mr. Sumner is in genial form as he dedicates ‘Tutti Frutti’ to the staff of the Gino’s Gelato concession to his right – “Quality ice creams at very reasonable prices” – and follows a jovial “Top o’ the morning to ya!” with a self-deprecating, “I know, English cun…” No need to cross the ‘t’ on that one!
New Order’s recent Irish festival appearances have been solid affairs but, playing to their own crowd tonight, they’re able to rest mega hits like ‘Krafty’, ‘Regret’ and ‘Crystal’ and delve deeper into their back catalogue.
Barney whipping out his melodica (oooer etc. etc.) is the cue for the band to launch into a version of ‘Your Silent Face’ that with its “No hearing or breathing/No movement, no colours/Just silence” refrain reminds you just how hauntingly poetic New Order can be.
No mere nostalgia act, room is found for three more of the highlights from 2015's Music Complete - 'Singularity', 'Academic' and 'Plastic'. That there's no mass sprinting to the bar during them confirms that both band and audience are happy to keep evolving.
While there’s no shortage of serious middle-aged men and women in the crowd – the forearm of the German gentleman next to me is adorned with an Ian Kevin Curtis 1956-1980: The Joy Ends tattoo – there are those of a more Madchester disposition who’ve come to bust out the moves.
They’re not let down with Factory fresh renditions of ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘True Faith’, ‘Blue Monday’ and ‘Temptation’ that turn the Trinners cricket pitch into a seething dancefloor.
Unforgivably there’s no ‘World In Motion’ – Barney doesn’t want to be even more of an ‘English cun…’ – but otherwise this was New Order on top of their game.