Fanzine
Joy Division
7th March 1980

City Fun 19.Review of X-O-dus /Distractions at Deville's;Section 25,A.C.R.,Joy Division at The Osbourne.I'm sure there was another bloke on that bill;bit of a solo artist who'd played along with some of these Factory stalwarts before...Anyway it was a good night.Always thought A.C.R. were tops;never saw a bloke try to play the guitar by banging and sliding a knife along it..(well maybe Sun House and his mates did but they were long gone,and not in a funky-esque style).Joy Division were at the top of their game that night and I remember the sound was very clear.They did a fast poppy version of "love will tear us apart" which I think I've got on that" Le Terme" bootleg,and much preferred to the dirgy 7" release.There's also a mention of an upcoming John Peel Road show at The Poly;think it might have been the first one with Armed Force and Elti Fits as the only two mentioned.I'm pretty sure The Fall played at this because,as I recall, someone threw a half empty/half full pint pot (plastic),which hit Mark Smith on the head.He didn't bat an eyelid;just carried on singing/ranting regardless till the end of the chorus(?) then got off the stage,walked through the crowd and belted the culprit.Like a true professional the show went on.Now that I think about it Alan Pellay was on and ended up smacking someone in the face,up the front with a micraphone because they kept winding him up.Must have been something in the air...
The Elti Fits were another Hulme band and very good too.I've still got a single of their's from the gig (Letterbox) which has John Peel's moniker on it (Fab+40 after it,not sure what that means).Wasn't big on getting autographs..well it was a bit of a naff thing to do back in the day;still got Freddie Garrity's autograph from when I was a kid though..nice!)
I'm on one now so I'll just keep going....Elti Fits played at Plank Lane,Leigh for the Zoo/Factory collaboration to raise money for the local youth club I think, around Easter '79.I think it was 2 quid in with kids on bikes patrolling the perimeter of the field ,making sure people didn't just walk in;as if you would.!..Anyway it was a nice sunny day with a big line-up and a slowly growing crowd;(I'm sure the poster for it will be on this website).Well I think X-O-DUS played and I particularly remember Elti Fits because the bass player collapsed and someone kept shouting abuse to which which the lead songstress took offence and used language unbecoming a lady;quite rightly too!.I think a boil had burst on the bass player's face or something....??Anyway I hope he's alright now...
Other bands playing:The Distractions,Orchestral Manouvres,Echo and the Bunnymen (when Echo was still part of the band),Teardrop Explodes, A.C.R. I think,probably some others ,with Joy Division at the end.Tony Wilson said something on stage before they played about: if this festival was held years from now there'd be thousands of people there;sounded pretentious at the time.( I probably got that completely wrong, but if he did he had a point). We had to leave halfway through J.D.set as we were miles from anywhere and didn't want to miss the last bus back to town.I've actually got a picture in my head of Ian Curtis,Julian Cope and Ian M'Cullough sitting in front of the mixing desk where Mr.Wilson was most of the day;pity I didn't have a camera,would have been a good picture.The posters for it were around town for a couple of years after, in various states of decay;wish I'd nabbed one.Well that's me story.Just took me half an hour to type all that...phew!