New Order recently presented rare archival footage which features the band playing their debut single “Ceremony.” The footage was recorded on 6th February 1981 at Manchester’s CoManCHE Student Union during a live performance of the British rockers.
“Ceremony” was one of the last songs that was composed by Joy Division, with the band’s frontman Ian Curtis writing the lyrics. There are three versions of Joy Division’s recording of the song known to be in existence including the one from the band’s final concert.
Following Curtis’ suicide, surviving members of Joy Division – Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, and Bernard Sumner – formed New Order and took “Ceremony” to be their first single under the new name. The interesting thing about the track is that the band didn’t enlist it onto their debut album Movement.
You can check out the rare video of New Order performing “Ceremony” at CoManCHE Student Union below.
The release of this video serves as a part of the promotion ahead of the reissue of their seminal record Movement, which is scheduled for release on April 5th, 2019. The album will be reissued on vinyl and CD while containing lots of previously unreleased content like demos, live performances, and outtakes.
