A BIG SPECIAL BROADCAST! (The Sunday Read (1 of 3)

12/14/2025

A BIG SPECIAL BROADCAST! (The Sunday Read (1 of 3)

Where the heck do I start this post?

Did it begin 16,097 days earlier when I first attended The Concert Hall at 888 Yonge Street, Toronto to see NEW ORDER 🇬🇧 (from Manchester) play in Canada for the first time from the balcony stage left and left permanently gobsmacked?

Perhaps this story truly gets going when I approached the guy working the board before the band RIDE 🇬🇧 (from Oxford) took the stage at The Magic Stick in Detroit to see if I could have the setlist when the show ended. That’s how I met Stu Mac, sound production guy to some of the best indie bands on the planet (RIDE, SLOWDIVE, MY BLOODY VALENTINE.)

Perhaps this story really gets going when STU tells me about this new outfit from his region (The Black Country) northwest of Birmingham called BIG SPECIAL 🇬🇧. This occurs in September of 2023 after the SLOWDIVE gig in Toronto.

Two stunning BIG SPECIAL LPs later, STU advises he will be touring with them for a short North American tour stopping in Toronto on December 11, 2025.

So what’s an indie lifer like me to do? “Exactly”, I say to myself as I get let in the front door of this wonderful venue at 5:30pm.

STU introduces me to JOE HICKLIN (vocals) and CALLUM MOLONEY (drums) just before sound check. Then I am permitted to go to the balcony alone to watch them perform.

As I settled in for what CALLUM described as them being contractually obligated to entertain us for 45 minutes it struck me I was EXACTLY in the same spot from which I watched NEW ORDER on November 15, 1981.

Ironically, not only had it been 44 years, 6 children, 1 grandson, almost 33 years practicing law and a mountain of indie music later, it was the 11th anniversary of the day I got appointed to the bench! Crazy.

Here is a snippet…

BIG SPECIAL enter to “Rawhide” by FRANKIE LANE and open with the opening track from their debut LP (“Postindustrial Hometown Blues) “Black Country Gothic”

After the gig it is time to chat a bit, get my “National Average” LP signed and plan on seeing these guys again in 2026 (sworn to secrecy as to how at the moment.)