A new Joy Division box set, “Eternal (Live)”, brings together 16 live performances across 14 CDs.
“Years in the making”, the audio in this set is sourced from audience recorded cassettes, soundboard tapes and broadcast recordings, all mastered at Abbey Road Studios.
The content includes two previously unreleased shows Hope & Anchor and Acklam Hall and three previously unheard recordings, The Factory, Lyceum, Moonlight Club (2 April). It also features the band’s final live performance, at High Hall Birmingham in 1980, where they played “Ceremony” for the first and last time on stage. This was two weeks before Ian Curtis died.
The box also includes two DVDs giving fans 16 discs. They feature two hours and 30 mins of live shows including the previously unseen Plan K, Brussels concert and two concerts and soundcheck from the Apollo Theatre, Manchester that have only been partially released on VHS (in 1982) and a brand new edit of Joy Division – A Malcolm Whitehead Film.
“Eternal (Live)” comes as a 12-inch large format lift-off lid box set. There’s no luxury book mind you, just a “16-page booklet” with notes by Simon Armitage and photos by Anton Corbijn, Kevin Cummins and others.
It’s probably a case of buyer beware with this box set, since according to the label “audio quality across these sources varies widely. Most of the audience recordings sound exactly like what they are – recorded by a fan in the crowd – and multiple concerts have been widely bootlegged”. But they go on to say that they “have every confidence that Joy Division fans will revel in these official bootlegs, and be overjoyed by the higher quality recordings, especially with those that are previously unheard”.
“Eternal (Live)” will be released on 25th September 2026, via Warner Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 