A new Joy Division box set, described as the band’s “first-ever official collection of live concert recordings,” has been announced.
Joy Division was active from 1976 to 1980 and released just two albums during their brief but incredibly influential run. Beyond their significant musical impact, the cover artwork for their 1979 album, “Unknown Pleasures“, has become an iconic image in alternative music.
Given the band’s short lifespan, the Joy Division nostalgia machine has churned out no shortage of live material. Never before, though, has so much of it been compiled in one place. Now, as the surviving band members prepare for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, Rhino has assembled just that in “Eternal (Live)” a box set of 16 complete live albums, spread across 14 CDs, with a couple of DVDs thrown in for good measure. Among the concert recordings are three full concerts being released for the very first time and several more full recordings of shows that have been excerpted, to varying extents, for past releases.
Joy Division disbanded in 1980 following the death of frontman Ian Curtis, who was 23. The rest of the band — guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris — then founded New Order alongside keyboardist Gillian Gilbert.
The compilation, titled “Eternal“, is due out September. It consists of 192 tracks sourced from 16 live performances, including the final Joy Division concert in 1980, spread over 14 CDs. The package also includes two DVDs featuring two-and-a-half hours of live footage.
The audio is a fairly even mix of sound desk recordings and fan bootlegs, with some spliced together to get the best audio quality. There are also two radio broadcast recordings, both previously released: one from Paris nightclub Les Bains Douches and the other from Amsterdam’s Paradiso. The pair of DVDs comprise two and a half hours of concert footage, much of it unreleased, and a new edit of Joy Division – A Malcolm Whitehead Film. The full set was mastered at Abbey Road Studios and comes with a 16-page book of notes from Simon Armitage and photography by Anton Corbijn and Kevin Cummins.
The live shows included is Hope And Anchor, London **Previously unreleased** 1st March, 1979 Bowdon Vale Youth Club, Altrincham :“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 14th March, 1979. the next set is from Acklam Hall, London **Previously unreleased** recording 17th May, 1979. The Factory, Manchester **Previously unheard recording** 13th July, 1979 YMCA, London 2nd August, 1979, Futurama One Festival, Leeds 8th September, 1979, Les Bains Douches, Paris 18th December, 1979, Paradiso, Amsterdam 11th January, 1980
Audio source: Radio broadcast recording, VARA.
Effenaar, Eindhoven 18th January, 1980, The Warehouse, Preston 28th February, 1980 The Lyceum, London 29th February, 1980, : The Moonlight Club, London 2nd April, 1980 Winter Gardens, Malvern 5th April, 1980 Ajanta Theatre, Derby 19th April, 1980 High Hall, Birmingham 2nd May, 1980
You can listen to a rendition of the song “Transmission,” recorded in Paris in December 1979, out now.
With 16 performances across 14 CDs, sourced from audience-recorded cassettes, soundboard tapes and broadcast recordings. The music was mastered at Abbey Road Studios.
The set will also include two DVDs featuring video recordings of the band onstage. The set features two previously unreleased shows and three previously unheard recordings. It also includes their final live performance at Birmingham’s High Hall in 1980. Singer Curtis died by suicide in May 1980, shortly before the band was to start its first U.S. tour.
Joy Division will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in November along with New Order, the band they became. Bassist Peter Hook said he would never play with his old bandmates again, shutting down any speculation that the group would reunite at the Rock Hall induction ceremony on November in Los Angeles.
“I haven’t spoken to Bernard [Sumner, singer and guitarist] for … I didn’t even speak to him,” Hook has said, when 2026’s class was announced. “He spoke at me. That’ll be 15 years. Steve [Morris, drummer] and I spoke about four or five years ago, but that wasn’t a friendly moment. And I haven’t spoken to Gillian [Gilbert, keyboardist] in 15 years. So, it doesn’t look good.
“They’d have to reach out and try and form some kind of relationship. You can’t just go ‘truce for the night’ after what we’ve been through. If you knew what we’ve been through, you wouldn’t even suggest it. That’s the thing. Nobody knows what you went through.”
“Eternal (Live)” is being touted as Joy Division’s “first official collection of live concert recordings.”
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