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It's not because they organised this Traffic Festival as a totally free event (they even gave you a card to go free on buses and into museums, what do you want more?!).
I think the idea behind this strategy was correct, because it's true we didn't pay a cent for public transport, museums, and concert entry, but it's also true my girlfriend Emma and I took the chance to have a short holiday in the city (which is not exactly known for tourism) and spent the money we saved from those free things for other things like hotel, restaurants, pubs etc. (just like many foreigners at the festival, from many countries).
Actually it's I have to apologise because I remembered Turin as a dead horrible city and in fact I discovered it's quite beautiful.
There are similarities between Turin and Manchester, after all New Order are coming here for their first date in Italy since 1986 to celebrate the twinning of the two cities, both formerly industrial glories trying to raise from the decline (appropriately enough last year the twinning was with Detroit and the legendary Iggy Pop came with The Stooges, a major influence on Joy Division).
Both Manchester and Turin, if you're in a usually unsafe suburb and it's raining, can be quite sad. But hey, this inspired musicians in these two cities and some great bands came out. Subsonica from Turin (unfortunately not playing at the festival, though some members are DJing at related events) just did the right thing when they helped in the creation of this festival and called New Order from Manchester. And both cities have wonderful centres, rich of art and culture. When the sun is shining and you're in the right place it won't be like London or Rome, but Turin and Manchester can be fabulous.
From Piazza Castello you can walk Via Po, one of the many beautiful and large streets of the centre which brings to the longest river of Italy, check the Mole Antonelliana with the Cinema Museum, cross the bridge and see the amazing Gran Madre church, the legend says there's a statue which could point to the Holy Graal (it's one of the many mysteries of Turin), and then you look back and enjoy a breathtaking view of the city, with the Alps mountains raising from the roofs and then admit that it's not really as horrible as I remembered, not at all. Quite beautiful in fact.
But it's time to wear my New Order T shirt, self made in 1997 (celebrating the 20 years since Warsaw, the early name of New Order's previous incarnation Joy Division, began their career and listing the side projects too) because I was going to see Monaco and I hadn't any true New Order T shirts back then, now I have but I kept on the tradition of wearing it, now enriched by a badge of The Vikings, the gang of hardcore English New Order fans (mostly members of the NewOrderOnline.com forum too) following the band around the world, a kind gift from Al Jarvis when we met in Paris in 2002.
Now that I'm ready we can go to the festival at the Pellerina Park, where I meet with Manuel and Stefano from Rome.
My mate Manuel and I went together to all the previous concerts of Monaco and New Order in England and France, having always managed to meet the band and legendary persons like the late manager Rob Gretton, former label founder Tony Wilson, new manager Andy Robinson and producer Arthur Baker you can see why we share special memories.
This time we were with other persons and just took it with a more relaxed attitude, so we didn't arrive in time to try to get the soundcheck or meet the band or anyone around them.
Maybe we should have, because longtime New Order fan and Gabrielles Wish mate Alex Staszko will later swear he saw New Order performing Warsaw at the soundcheck! A track from, right you guessed it, Warsaw the band, quite unlikely we will hear it during the proper concert, but would have been great to catch it at the soundcheck.
Before the concert begins we have also the pleasure to meet Marco, another fan from Rome who has brought his son Matteo, which is growing up very well, not only because he's almost as tall as me at only 13 years old, but also because he's a true New Order fan too (born just before Regret was released) and danced and sang all the words during the gig like a true hardcore Viking, so most respect to the kid!
My sister Serena just arrives when 808 State are begininning to play.
There's still a small audience, not even 1,000 persons I think, and I was worried about this. July 2nd was also the Live 8 day, and New Order are still a cult band in Italy. There's no other support band so it's entirely up to them to bring people to the festival since 808 State are unknown outside a small circle of DJs.
My sister had been at the festival on June 30th, when Aphex Twin headlined. Though not exactly a pop act, he is very known and appreciated in the alternative area, and yet he didn't get more than 3,000 persons. The performance of June 29th in the former foundry by Throbbing Gristle must have been a cult event too. We didn't see Carmen Consoli but she's very popular in Italy, anyway it seems overall 100,000 persons went at the various events in the four days.
While 808 State play their fabulous performance they conquer more and more people. It seems that everyone was just wandering around the park, but once they heard 808 State they just came to dance in front of stage. At the end it was a great success for the band, playing their pioneer techno classics with a live band, my sister just looked like she was at the Hacienda club in Manchester in 1989 and she was not alone. Many were amazed by 808 State. I already knew they were great, but I didn't knew they were so cool in concert. They almost look older than New Order but still can spark a rave from nothing.
After 808 State I meet with Alex Staszko who makes me happy like winning the lottery because he has brought the recordings of a couple of concerts by Gabrielles Wish for me. I discovered them when they supported New Order in 1998 and I just know how great a concert by them can sound, as a reviewer wrote, the closest thing to see Joy Division, in their own way. Actually I made a fan site which became their official site so you can see I'm a fan. I just miss seeing them live so these recordings make me so happy.
To make me even happier there's Al Jarvis who notices the Vikings 2002 badge on my shirt and gives me the 2005 one. The two of them look great together...
It's with this spirit I go back to the stage while Tony Wilson is introducing New Order, remembering how they changed the face of music for three times.
Emma is thankfully taking all the pics so I'm free to dance, as many do around me right from Crystal, the first song of this wonderful New Order concert.
The audience has become even bigger. The place is almost packed. The square of the town where I live takes 5,000 persons, the audience area of the park was much wider, from what I've seen I was guessing at least between 7,000 and 10,000 persons came to see New Order, which would have been a really huge success already. Now newspapers are reporting we were 30,000... amazing! I was glad to be surprised to see many teenagers, people born at the time of Technique or True Faith at most, I'm saying late 80s here, so it's great to see another new generation of fans is growing up, you can see a difference of almost 40 years between fans at gigs now.
People really enjoyed Regret, a live classic everywhere.
Love Vigilantes was another great moment of the show, a different and less popular song. I knew there were a lot of Joy Division fans. Actually, the triumph of tonight is a sort of revenge on the stupid goths who turned their backs on New Order when they started experimenting with electronic sounds and dance rhythms in the early 80s, looking at awful stuff like The Sisters Of Mercy. Bands like that are virtually disappeared today, while New Order's legendary status is not only mantained, but increased.
I'm not surprised by the great response to Joy Division's Transmission, which is indeed a fabulous performance.
I'm surprised an uplifting single of this year, Krafty, had got an almost equally positive reaction before. I'm happy to see the audience is grown up a lot, and can appreciate such different songs. Barriers have fallen.
There's a fantastic moment when the people clap their hands to the rhythm of Atmosphere.
But the best is yet to come: New Order play Everything's Gone Green for the first time after 18 years! It's a great experience to hear this favourite pioneering electro classic, it was planned for Hyde Park a week earlier, but they got it ready only for Turin and it was a honour to have this great comeback in Italy...
This makes it a bit weirder when the title track of the new album, and forthcoming single Waiting For The Sirens' Call is not exactly greeted with the same excitement, but with a curious silence. Actually I think people didn't recognize it at first, it's still not very known, the final response was good anyway.
Always good to hear the new live version of True Faith, based on the Perfecto remix. I think a part of the audience heard it for the first time because they were excited about the difference from the original.
I wasn't aware that Bizarre Love Triangle has become a classic in Italy too, as the huge roar from the audience says.
Almost as huge as the one for the timeless Joy Division classic Love Will Tear Us Apart and again I'm happy people can like two songs that are so different. Both songs are performed excellently, in New Order's own way. This means they can make errors playing and Bernard Sumner can spike up the vocals with whoops and silly dancing, but when we think about it we like all this stuff, that's what makes them great, with Hooky's godlike bass playing, Steve's perfect and powerful drumming and Phil's precious work at keyboards and guitar.
Another fabulous electro classic, Temptation, ends the concert. Wonderful to hear it the same night we also get Everything's Gone Green
An ecstatic audience welcomes back New Order for their encore, which starts with Your Silent Face, another great different song in the vein of Love Vigilantes. Barney does his best to avoid mistakes when playing the melodica but thankfully he just can't help it and we like it.
There's a dramatic mood swing with She's Lost Control, a touching and frightening song from Joy Division, the lights follow the devastating power of the rhythm and you can almost see the ghost of Ian Curtis dance behind Bernard Sumner. One of the most perfect moments of the concert, if Gabrielles Wish live is the closest thing to Joy Division, this IS Joy Division.
With Blue Monday there's the great 'gran finale' announced by Bernard. Again some people seem amazed they mix the initial part with Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue. This year they're always doing it as a return to the homage Kylie did when he played an amazing version of her hit mixed with Blue Monday, aknowledging the influence. There's also the keyboard of a song by (I think) Durutti Column thrown in the mix. A unusual extended keyboard final ends this fantastic performance.
Maybe it's not been their best gig ever. In fact it can't be compared to their best gig ever, their comeback at the Manchester Apollo in 1998. And I've heard the Hyde Park concert, and maybe it was slightly better, with better sound. The sound mix in Turin was a bit messy. Still good, but a bit messy.
And yet, I know it's been a fantastic gig. A truly great concert. I have possibly the best confirmation when Al Jarvis tells me he thinks this is actually the best gig they did this year. I don't know if it's true, but if someone who has seen so many concerts says this, there must definitely be some truth at least.
Marco and Matteo unfortunately must leave just after the concert, as they have their return train soon the following morning. But the rest of us just joins the English fans at the bar and have a great time. I'll later discover some members of the Italian mailing lists were at the festival, it's a pity I read it only when I came back. Anyway Al Jarvis has got once again the set list so we can make one of the best pictures ever made together with the list which marked the comeback of Everything's Gone Green in the concert, and everyone's so happy of this.
I've also the pleasure to meet Nick King, a couple of fans from Southampton and other mates from England.
It seems New Order went away from the backstage right after the concert. We were just expecting that. Manuel and me know how this kind of things go, and just knew Bernard and Steve would have gone to the hotel, but the indestructible party animal that's Peter Hook would have moved at Giancarlo, a venue in the Murazzi, near the central bridge of the river Po, right in front of the Gran Madre church, where the aftershow party is taking place.
Happy Mondays singer Shaun Ryder and Tony Wilson are DJing, and Peter Hook has arrived even before ourselves... He also spins some records! The music is great, Factory classics from Joy Division, Section 25, A Certain Ratio, mixed with hip hop, funky, punk and stuff. I just meet Hooky for a minute, not even enough to take a picture, but I'm happy he's friendly as ever and he remembers me, or so he says.
Anyway it's getting late for Emma and me, but it couldn't have been a better experience for us. Not a bad start for the summer holidays!
