“New Dawn Fades” is a play new to 2024 and now touring in October, for me it is a brilliantly worked play in which the audience is fixated and brought through Manchester by Tony Wilson to see the important sites crucial to Joy Division and the people of Manchester through the late 70s.
Joy Division was an English band formed in Salford in 1976 who were inspired by the punk revolution which stormed through Britain and built many bands of the time, Joy Division gained success through their album “Unknown Pleasures” released in 1979.
However the sad death of Ian Curtis in 1980 led to the formation of New Order.
The play is overall fantastic but emotional for anyone who has an interest in music, there is a great mix of performing the songs and looking into the lives of the band, with a main focus on singer Ian Curtis who suffered with epilepsy and depression, I think the play captured his struggle perfectly.
Rowetta, Happy Mondays said the play was “very emotional at the end. It captured everything perfectly”.
For me I couldn’t help feeling the raw emotion in the building. Through both the enjoyment of the music but also the melancholy atmosphere of the play.
I think anybody who has a liking towards music should see the play and will be able to see the hard work and the toll it takes on bands to balance their career with the rest of their lives.
Joy Division truly are one of the great British bands, with a distinctive sound and massive amounts of emotion poured into their music.
