Watch Fiddlehead Cover New Order’s “Ceremony” In Boston
Boston post-hardcore greats Fiddlehead don’t play live very often — partly because the members of the band are all busy with their real lives and partly because they seem determined to make sure that every show is a special emotional experience. This weekend, the band will play a short run of East Coast shows with End It, Dazy, and Final Gasp. (I have to miss the DC show because of my grandmother’s funeral, and I am sad about it.) Last night, Fiddlehead played a hometown memorial show for an old friend, and they made it count.
Last month, Boston hardcore promoter Jimmy Flynn, a beloved figure in his scene, died at the age of 40. At the Middle East in Cambridge last night, Fiddlehead, COA, and Final Gasp played a memorial show for Flynn. During their set, Fiddlehead leader Pat Flynn — no relation, as far as I know — spoke about loving Jimmy Flynn and about the importance of holding onto the people in your life. They also began and ended their set with covers that felt appropriate for the occasion.
Fiddlehead closed out last night’s show with a version of “Chunks,” a 1984 anthem from the Boston hardcore band Last Rights. They started the show with a version of New Order’s “Ceremony,” a song that’s profoundly sad for all sorts of reasons. “Ceremony” was one of the last songs that Joy Division wrote as a band before Ian Curtis’ 1980 suicide. The song was written partly to lift up Curtis, who was struggling. When the remaining members of Joy Division formed New Order, they released “Ceremony” as their debut single. Below, watch footage of Fiddlehead’s cover and listen to New Order’s original.
Fiddlehead’s excellent recent album Death Is Nothing To Us is out now on Run For Cover.
