the Pretty in Pink Soundtrack (featuring The Smiths) at 35

from: https://rockandrollglobe.com/new-wave/left-of-center-the-pretty-in-pink-soundtrack-at-35/

Left of Center: the Pretty in Pink Soundtrack at 35​

Director John Hughes’s curatorial powers got college rock higher than ever on the charts

Remember when the Smiths, New Order, and the Psychedelic Furs made the top 5 on Billboard’s album chart?

The album has a number of now-iconic UK college rock artists on it, none of whom had come anywhere near the tops of the US pops in 1986: New Order (who actually had a trio of songs featured in the film, though only “Shell-Shock” appears on its soundtrack), Echo and the Bunnymen, the Smiths, Psychedelic Furs (who re-recorded “Pretty in Pink,” originally from their ‘81 album Talk Talk Talk, in a slightly more pop-friendly version for the film; the new single peaked at #41 in the US), and most of all, British synthpop stars Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, a/k/a OMD, whose “If You Leave” soundtracked the film’s climactic prom scene. Previously unknown to American top 40 audiences, their song became a huge hit, peaking at #4 on the Hot 100.

 

[Anonymous]

They were the opening act at The Festival of the 10th summer gig at G Mex in 86. Wasn't sure what to expect but they were brilliant.

Hate to be pedantic (but going to be)
The Worst opened the event. OMD were on early for sure and Wayne Fontana was certainly on before them too

 

[Falstaff]

I've only ever done that once. In 2010 Bernard Sumner had a side project called Bad Lieutenant and they supported Ian Brown at Platts Fields in Manchester, it sold out in mins to 15k people. Bad Lieutenant were superb playing tracks from their debut album, Never Cry Another Tear and some NO and JD stuff. Ian Brown came on and was absolutely diabolical, out of tune, incoherent, after 5 songs we though balls to this and jumped into a cab back to Alderley Edge.

Your comments about Japan are spot on - Here's some footage of New Order in Tokyo from 1985.

Only time it happened to me was at V-Fest in 2008. Stereophonics and Paul Weller absolutely smashed it. Then Oasis came on and shit the bed. Liam, squawking like a peacock, over a phoned-in backing band. Absolutely terrible, on every level. Apparently, we left a song before Noel had his unfortunate incident with the overzealous fan. One of the reasons I don’t do “festivals” anymore.

Come to think of it, the only other time I had the let’s GTF out of here vibe was at another Oasis festival gig. Spiritualized absolutely destroyed. Oasis came out and tossed a bunch of weak pap, culminating in “I am the Walrus” gone wrong. ...but I was there for Crazy Horse and they lit the entire place up!

Just confirmation that festivals are hit and miss and Oasis were one of the most over-rated live bands on the planet.