Autograph
Joy Division
The Derby Hall
8th April 1980

Ian Curtis's autograph. This was obtained backstage at the ill-fated Joy Division concert at Derby Hall, Bury, a month before he died. Annoyingly for such an eventful night, I only have very foggy recollections - I can remember walking towards the venue (and the usual pre-JD gig excitement/anticipation), and what I was wearing (my trusty old hand-painted 'Systems of Romance' t-shirt - someone we occasionally saw at gigs used to call me 'Ultravox', so I clearly wore it often!). I think I felt that the audience seemed to have a lot of skinheads in it - ie more than we would have expected. I can also remember a lot of hanging around, and I do have a vague recollection of our speaking to someone stage right, I think, and getting let through backstage. I want to compare notes with my friend about what I recall of that, before recording it here. Later on, all I can recall is it seeming to take forever for JD to appear, then confusion over what on earth was going on on stage, it becoming rowdy, then fighting starting up. I distinctly recall being pulled out onto the street with my friend by some blokes we were with, then heading off shell-shocked and disappointed. I had completely forgotten that I had this autograph (!) until I found my autograph book a couple of years ago. It was sellotaped on to a page with the date carefully written above. I looked at the date and thought, "Hang on a minute...", Googled it, then had a bit of a swear and an emotional moment. For obvious reasons, one of my 'things I would save in a fire...' My friend and I intend to get together at some point to try and piece together some more memories of the night, so hopefully an update to follow.