Roskilde 2010: Bad Lieutenant

When it comes to English rock royalty, you really can’t get much bigger than Bernard Sumner, a founding member of two of the most important bands of the modern age, Joy Division and New Order. Some fans would be happy if Sumner went on the reunion tour circuit like the Psychedelic Furs and played all the hits from his two famous former bands but recently, he and New Order compadre Phil Cunningham soldiered on to create an entirely new band.

I was as sceptical as the average obsessive Joy Division / New Order fan when I first heard of Bad Lieutenant, wondering what direction this group was going towards. First impressions are always important; from the first time I heard the opening guitar riff of ‘Sink or Swim’, I was smitten. Pop songs are notoriously difficult to write, and Bad Lieutenant had penned a corker. Grounded by the Icelandic volcano mess in April, the band couldn’t play Coachella or a string of scheduled North American dates, so Roskilde would be the first time I would catch the band in action.

When the band starts with ‘This is Home’, a song from their 2009 album ‘Never Cry Another Tear’, Arena is not filled up at all, and this is cause for inward groaning. Denmark, this is Bernard Sumner for pete’s sake. Just watching Sumner and Cunningham play their guitars so effortlessly is worth the price of admission. These guys are masters. I would have been happy with an all-Bad Lieutenant set but then the second song startsand ears across Arena perk up like antennae. Could it really be New Order’s ‘Regret’?

Sumner’s Mancunian wit further brightens the mood between numbers, commenting wryly, ‘it’s sunnier in England. Except where the English footballers live’. An obvious dig at the English squad’s terrible defeat to Germany the weekend before, but the football-loving Danish audience laughs heartily. ‘Sink or Swim’ goes down a treat with its shoegazey guitars and holds its own alongside New Order’s ‘Ceremony’.

Multiple electronic snafus delay Sumner’s blatant desire to give the crowd something he knows they want – the classic ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ – and judging from his swearing, he is tetchy. Bad Lieutenant track ‘Twist of Fate’ is proffered as a temporary substitute, and wow, it’s a rollicking rock number that can easily take Muse-inclined punters’ minds off any ‘80s synth-laden track. But whatever was giving his crew problems before is sorted, the oh so familiar synths rev up to loud applause, and Sumner ditches his guitar. He tells the lighting crew, ‘turn the lights down, we’re in competition with the sun’. What he really should have said: stars will be shining right there, onstage, in just a few moments. He is charismatic as any frontman today, offering his version of the Running Man and kneeling down for, what else? The immortal line of ‘every time I see you falling, I get down on my knees and pray’. It’s a wondrous, tear-inducing sight to see. And his voice is as beautiful as it was over 20 years ago.

The crowning moment was the set ender - a massive singalong to Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, complete with Sumner strumming his guitar while shouting ‘come on!’ to rally the fans. With Ian Curtis’s death so many years ago, I never thought I’d get to hear this song live ever, so what a wonderful surprise ending. Sumner tearing at his guitar like it was yesterday: proof positive that he and Bad Lieutenant can successfully bridge the new garde with the old. Audience cheers were deafening when Sumner, slightly winded, eked out his appreciation, ‘cheers, thank you very much, you’ve been a fantastic audience’. Message to Bad Lieutenant: we salute you.