Barking and Dagenham College photography programme coordinator David Bennett has published a photobook based on the mysterious concert that was staged in March 1979.
The band performed the first of two concerts at a Walthamstow youth centre two days before they began recording their album Unknown Pleasures, he discovered.
But there was a misprint in the music press listing for the gig that resulted in fewer than 30 people turning up — most of them members of the youth centre.
“I was living in Walthamstow when I found out that the youth centre that had stood round the corner was where Joy Division once played,” David said.
“There was no physical evidence of the building apart from a few references online here and there.
“Then I discovered that the gig listing was misspelt as Joy Davidson — so not many came to see the band perform.”
David took camera in hand and photographed the venue location for his book, Joy Davidson, as a response to an event “which has remained a mystery to this day”.
He met the original gig organiser in his research and even traced some of the audience that did turn up.
The book includes images of the only remnants of the building, which was demolished for new housing, and shots of neighbouring streets where Joy Division may have walked down.
David’s interest in photography began as a child which led him to study his craft at college, where at 19 his portraits of artists and writers were purchased by The National Portrait Gallery.
He later worked for photographer Jill Furmanovsky, known for her portraits of the band Oasis.
David has since set up PpR Editions publishing books and the PpR Journal on contemporary culture — all this alongside his academic role at Barking and Dagenham College running its photography programme.
The 65-page Joy Davidson photobook is £20 through the “ppreditions.com” website and selected bookstores.
