New Order, NYC, 1981 by Eugene Mironov
 
Before they recorded their classic 1983 album Power Corruption & Lies, New Order made an extended trip to New York and absorbed some of the city’s more upbeat sounds into their own morose and world-weary music. Latin salsa, 12” remix culture and the electronic beats they heard in nightclubs like Danceteria and the Roxy were obvious inspirations for the music they would soon come to make.

But at the time this was videotaped—live at the Ukrainian National Home in New York’s East Village on November 18, 1981—New Order were still largely Joy Division minus Ian Curtis, a post punk band, not the electronic dance quartet they would soon become. It’s a fascinating document of the group during what is perhaps the least documented era of their long career. As I would personally chose Movement over anything else in their catalog, this was a real treat to watch.
 

 
Low lights, the intense musicians saying almost nothing to the audience, a concert held in a hot sweaty dance hall—there’s an extremely underground quality to this show.

Tim Sommers reviewed the gig in the Sounds newspaper:

Standing around the Ukrainian National Home on Manhattan’s lower Second Avenue puts me in a sour mood. This is a prestigious gig in an odd venue, and the audience, like the hall, is truly pretentious in its self-conscious unpretentiousness. The place is full of the cream of New York’s pseudo-Continentals, the transparent and ridiculous ‘80’s would-be bohemians with their long dark coats, scarves and faces. Unfortunately, very much the crowd you would expect for New Order. The evening’s whole mood has been strongly anti-rock, so it’s refreshing and pleasantly surprising when New Order’s set begins brightly, with real strength and power.

“Truly pretentious in its self-conscious unpretentiousness”?

New Order? The group who parodied a poster by Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero pretentious?
 

 
If you hook this up to your TV and turn it up loud it’s even better…