...continued
20. 2023.11.15 Inglewood, California (YouTube Theater) Cast your mind back to 2023, when the news of the
Darker Waves festival broke. Certainly there have been many great festivals over the decades. But the announced lineup focused on just these genres seemed dubious to many: New Order, Tears for Fears, The B-52s, Echo & the Bunnymen, DEVO, Soft Cell, The Psychedelic Furs, The Human League, Orchestral Manouvres in the Dark, Violent Femmes, X, Clan of Xymox, The Chameleons (and, as they say, many more) at the same one day festival raised some eyebrows. The seemingly amateurish gig poster didn't help assuage doubt. But once the bands themselves made their announcements, it became all too real. The speculation began: Would New Order schedule a tour to make the most of their visit (the West Coast, North America, South America?), or would it be a one-off like Texas 2015? It turns out it was neither. They merely scheduled one additional gig: In Inglewood, which is about 40 miles from the beach that would host the
Darker Waves fest. Annoyingly, that satellite gig would occur three days before the festival, which is a 5+ hour drive from Monterey Bay. I wasn't going to drive there and back twice (and flights seemed like overkill), so it meant a Wednesday to Sunday trip was the plan. I had been chatting a bit with the lovely Canadian Viking, Sandroid77. But as the festival drew nearer, she had too many other things going on and opted out of attending. I took consolation with the thought that a long distance relationship (yes, I was getting way ahead of myself) was probably more than I could take on anyway. On the bright side, in anticipation of seeing her (and the possibility of attending an all day gig on the beach with sweltering heat), I put myself on a fitness regimen in case going topless was a consideration. Yes, I am vain.
I hit the road Wednesday and surveyed the area in Inglewood between the venue and motel once I'd arrived. Inglewood had a bit of a rough reputation back when I'd seen The Cure at the Forum in 1987 and Depeche Mode there a few years later. It looks alright these days, but I opted for a ride share instead of walking. Unfortunately, the driver seemed confused about where to drop me off at the massive entertainment complex, which also includes SoFi Stadium. So I ended up having to walk about 15-20 minutes before I found the entrance of the theatre. Despite my months long assumption of typical Southern California weather, Manchester was in the house. It began to rain on my walk. And it continued to sprinkle down as we waited for the staff to belatedly open the gates and let us in to the venue. Sadly, the merch on offer was not as enticing as the special
Substance T from New Orleans. I had sort of been hoping for something unique. Perhaps featuring the orange
Republic floatie that had been on the tour poster, but it was not to be. From there it was off to check out my vantage point and meet up with Screwball, a SoCal-based Viking. He offered up a pog (like a Poker Chip, with a design to commemorate the gig). This seems to be the North American equivalent of the Viking badges, NüOrderMan had given me one in New Orleans.
But then it was time for support act Blossoms. I actually really like their take on pop music, which doesn't necessarily follow pop trends. Though I wasn't expecting them to be stellar live, I was happy to finally get the chance after backing out of attending a 2019 gig with my Ex (we had bought the tickets before the breakup). Unfortunely, the sound mix was appalling. The bass was super boomy which was worrying. This was quite a new venue, and I'd have thought acoustics would have been a focus in the design. My recollection is that the sound didn't really improve during their set, which although strong, didn't include my favourite song of theirs (gem "How Long Will This Last"). Fortunately, by the the time the Wagner/"Touched by the Hand of God" intro began to ring out, the sound was sorted. But with "Crystal", "Regret", "Age of Consent", "Ceremony" and "Restless" following, it was clear the band wasn't reimagining the setlist. The return of a slightly reworked (as compared to the 2011 version) of "Isolation" being the only track that was somewhat surprising. I was happy to hear the "Bizarre Love Triangle"/"Vanishing Point" medley though. It had been absent from the New Orleans set. Strangely, a photo of a physical setlist that was posted listed the encore as "Decades/Atmosphere, Transmission, LWTUA". I wouldn't think they were considering a medley of the first two, more likely deciding to make a decision between them in the moment. But we will never know, a time curfew meant they only ended up encoring with "Atmosphere" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart". All in all, it was still a great show. Despite the setlist quibbles, I'm always delighted that they are still performing well. Not only for my enjoyment, but for the multitudes of people that are invariably seeing them for the first time. Emboldened by the sounds still pounding in my head, I opted to not wait a ridiculously long time for a ride share and walked back to the Motel. Perhaps I was a bit disappointed that Inglewood had been cleaned up, and wanted to tempt fate. Regardless, the walk was uneventful, I was already thinking about heading out of there in the morning.
InglewoodSetlistI now had Thursday and Friday to kill before heading to Huntington Beach for
Darker Waves. I'd decided to spend those days based in Hollywood. A massive amount of dining options and proximity to Amoeba Music were paramount. I also spent some time hiking around Griffith Observatory, which is a great experience. Early Saturday, I checked out in Hollywood and hit the road for the beach. Well, Huntington Beach. I again left my car at the motel and used ride sharing to avoid parking fees and other potential issues. While the weather was slightly better, amazingly there was still the threat of rain. Certainly that translated to hope for the multitudes of Goths that were descending into this uncharted territory of surf and sand. I saw very few people in short pants (like those I'd packed, but not worn), but many in full Gothic regalia. It wasn't quite Cruel World, being tempered with more postpunk, synth pop and, frankly, more normal looking fans, but people watching was definitely top of the scale. I won't go into the other acts as there were far too many, but I must say that it's very disappointing that this festival doesn't seem to be returning.
21. 2023.11.18 Huntington Beach, California (
Darker Waves) As expected, New Order's
Darker Waves set was merely an edited version of YouTube Theater's. One improvement that did stand out was their slotting in "Be a Rebel" after "Your Silent Face". I understand they want to feature their "newest" song, but using it to up the tempo after "KW1" was a much better place for it than being sandwiched between beloved bangers "The Perfect Kiss" and "Substance". I hate to say it, but these shorter festival sets really seem to suit the band. As with the
Music Tastes Good festival in 2018, they really knocked it out of the park. The promoters wisely offset the stagetimes of New Order and other headliner Tears for Fears, which meant there was a massive crowd on hand. And it gave me a chance to catch most of the TfF set afterwards. Upon leaving the festival, there was again a massive demand for ride shares. I instead set off on foot, the music and memories swimming in my head.
DarkerWavesSetlistI wouldn't want a short festival set to be my swansong of New Order gigs. But only time will tell...
