Hippest double bill

More snippets from Mick Middles' great tome, Factory: The Story of the Record Label.

(c) Steve Benham at Joy Div.

The Distractions were like an after-dinner mint to Joy Division’s meaty casserole...

22 September 1979

The gig, that night, at London’s Nashville Rooms, would seem to be the perfect Factory blend.  The perfect rock band for the eighties supported by the perfect pop band for the eighties, or so we thought.  Joy Division and The Distractions, in town for the hippest double bill in the country.  Light and dark, entrapped in the tight, pub rock smokiness.  Such a tiny event, really, and yet so guaranteed to capture the lead reviews, later that week…  In Tony Wilson’s words, it was “One of the most satisfying and unbelievable moments of my life.”

 

(c) 1topclassmanager.

(c) Mick Middles (2009). 

Factory: The Story of the Record Label. 

Virgin Books: London. p.168-169.