The career of Joy Division — the greatest band of the post-punk era of the late 1970s and early ‘80s — was tragically short, ended by the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis at the age of just 23: Not even a year passed between the June 1979 release of their iconic debut album, “Unknown Pleasures,” and his death. The band left behind just two studio albums and a dozen-odd singles and other stray tracks but their influence was vast, from the entire goth movement to Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead and Interpol (who were basically a Joy Division soundalike in their early years), to multiple samples in hip-hop songs.
The surviving members continued — and thrived — for decades as New Order, but that was a very different sound.
Joy Division’s studio albums — menacing, melancholy and melodic — were produced with eerie precision by the great and deranged Martin Hannett, but live, they were a different animal: raw, loud and aggressive, with Bernard Sumner’s roaring guitar, Peter Hook’s driving bass and Steven Morris’ supple drumming, all providing an angular backdrop for Curtis’ stentorian vocals. Although multiple live recordings have trickled out over the years, a full compendium of their concert material was missing, although they were one of the most bootlegged bands of their era.
All of that changes on Sept. 25, when — presumably as a precursor to Joy Division and New Order’s long-belated induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — Rhino will release “Eternal (Live),” a massive boxed set including audio recordings from 16 live performances across 14 CDs, “meticulously sourced from audience recorded cassettes, soundboard tapes and broadcast recordings,” including two previously unreleased shows, three previously uncirculated recordings, and two DVDs featuring over two and a half hours of live shows, including a previously uncirculated Brussels concert and two concerts and soundcheck from the Apollo Theatre, Manchester that have only been partially released on VHS (in 1982), along with a new edit of “Joy Division – A Malcolm Whitehead Film.”
The full tracklist appears below; the first track from the set, “Transmission” live in Paris, is available here.
The set spans just 14 months — March 1979 to May 1980 — but Joy Division had a wide repertoire and never played the same set two nights in a row, paying no heed to what was on an album or single or the audience had ever heard before; many deep cuts were played regularly.
It also includes the mother of all live Joy Division recordings, Amsterdam Paradiso in January of 1980, a radio broadcast of an unusually long set (because the opening band failed to turn up).
Much of the material has been previously released but is unavailable on streaming services, and it’s all been mastered at Abbey Road Studios and otherwise sonically tidied up in reliable Rhino fashion.
Housed in a 12″ x 12″ lift-off lid box with artwork by Warren Jackson, Peter Saville, Howard Wakefield and Brett Wickens, the cover photography is Sirius Through a Defocused Telescope, 2023 by Wolfgang Tillmans. The set is completed by a 16 page booklet, including notes by Simon Armitage and photography by, amongst others, Anton Corbijn and Kevin Cummins.
A special exhibit honoring the late Ian Curtis is opening at Voltz Clarke Gallery in NYC today, June 25, and is open through July 22. “Ian Curtis: Insight” presents an intimate and revealing selection of handwritten lyrics, photographs, personal letters, ephemera and artifacts drawn from the Ian Curtis archive, held by The John Rylands Library at The University of Manchester as part of the British Pop Archive.
CD1: Hope And Anchor, London **Previously unreleased**
Audio source: Mixing an audience recording by Jonathan Crabb, with a second audience recording (taper unknown). Both recordings previously unheard.
Audio source:”Exercise One” from a sound desk recording, the rest of the show is a matrix of the sound desk recording and an audience recording by Malcolm Whitehead.
Audio source: An audience recording by Jonathan Crabb
CD3: The Factory, Manchester **Previously unheard recording**
Audio source: A previously unheard sound desk recording.
Audio source: An audience recording by Duncan Haysom.
Audio source: Radio broadcast recording, France Inter.
1 Incubation **Previously unheard recording**
2 Wilderness **Previously unheard recording**
3 Twenty Four Hours **Previously unheard recording**
4 The Eternal **Previously unheard recording**
5 Heart And Soul **Previously unheard recording**
6 Love Will Tear Us Apart **Previously unheard recording**
7 Isolation **Previously unheard recording**
8 Komakino **Previously unheard recording**
9 She’s Lost Control **Previously unheard recording**
16 Isolation Soundcheck
Audio source: Sound desk recording (tracks 1-10), matrix sound desk / audience recording by Duncan Haysom (track 11), audience recording (tracks 12-16).
4 Love Will Tear Us Apart **Previously unheard**
5 A Means To An End **Previously unheard**
7 Dead Souls **Previously unheard**
Audio source: Track 1 audience recording by Andy Hooper, tracks 2-8 (mostly) unheard desk recording (except Sister Ray, which was on Still).
Audio source: Sound desk recording. Track 1, first minute taken from audience recording (recordist unknown).
1 Joy Division – A Malcolm Whitehead Film (2026 edit)
2 She’s Lost Control – Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altrincham, Recording date: 14th March, 1979
3 Shadowplay – Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altrincham, Recording date: 14th March, 1979
4 Leaders Of Men – Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altrincham, Recording date: 14th March, 1979
5 Transmission – Something Else, BBC TV, Recording date: 15th September, 1979
6 She’s Lost Control – Something Else, BBC TV, Recording date: 15th September, 1979
7 Love Will Tear Us Apart [Original 1979 Audio Version]
8 Wilderness [Original 1979 Audio Version]
9 Disorder [Original 1979 Audio Version]
10 Colony [Original 1979 Audio Version]
11 Insight [Original 1979 Audio Version]
12 Twenty Four Hours [Original 1979 Audio Version]
13 New Dawn Fades [Original 1979 Audio Version]
14 Transmission [Original 1979 Audio Version]
15 Shadowplay [Original 1979 Audio Version]
16 She’s Lost Control [Original 1979 Audio Version]
17 Atrocity Exhibition [Original 1979 Audio Version]
18 Interzone [Original 1979 Audio Version]
19 Wilderness [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
20 Disorder [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
21 Colony [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
22 Insight [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
23 Twenty Four Hours [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
24 New Dawn Fades [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
25 Transmission [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
26 Shadowplay [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
27 She’s Lost Control [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
28 Atrocity Exhibition [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]
29 Interzone [2026 Reconstructed Audio Version]