I have no idea what Tony Wilson would have thought of New Order’s public feuding. He hated the private feuding when we split up, so I can hazard a guess. I think it would just have saddened him more. Maybe he would have seen the Situationist side. I never got to hear his opinion and to be honest I doubt he was overly concerned anyway. He was too busy dying. Stephen Lea (our solicitor) was telling me about his appeal for medicine. He was denied the medicine Sutent in what’s known in England as a postcode lottery. This meant he could only pay for the drug privately.
He’d been suffering from renal cancer, and earlier that year had one of his kidneys removed. Unfortunately, this was one of those times when he would regret giving his three most popular bands back their master tapes, because he was skint.
Stephen set up a fighting fund to buy him the drug he so badly needed, and the music community round the world, for the most part, responded positively. Stephen said they used to have an opening session every Monday morning, reviewing the donations, where Tony would, hilariously, praise and damn the contributors in equal measure. Tony steeled himself to go to the Coachella Festival for the Happy Mondays re-formation gig (non-original line-up), to support Shaun, and with the aid of a walking cane introduced them. It was the last time he would travel abroad. It took him weeks afterwards to recover.
In July 2007, Bernard had finally married Sarah. I waited in vain for my invitation, must have got lost in the post, just like the invite to his first wedding, but Tom Atencio came over and, having lost his bag on the flight, borrowed my coat, so my coat went to Barney’s wedding even if I didn’t. Tom and I had lunch with Tony that day, which was wonderful. Even in his advanced state of illness he was witty and sanguine. Tony managed to turn up for Barney’s wedding, too, but not for too long, with him being so ill.
Having a kidney out hadn’t stopped the cancer progressing, and he died of a heart attack in the Christie hospital on 10 August 2007. I had been to see him the week before, taking my great mate Dave Dee with me for support. Dave had just been treated there for his prostate cancer, and when we got to the ward he went to pieces, saying, ‘Shit, Tony’s in the same room I was.’
When I went in Tony was with Oliver and Isabel, his children, but he was so ill he couldn’t speak. It broke my heart. It was the last time I saw him.
I enjoyed Tony’s presence in my life. I liked him, and I knew I’d miss him, which I do – just like I miss Ian and Rob. On a personal note, it was as though Tony’s death drew that chapter of my life to a close, just as Ian’s had opened it. The story ended the same way it began, with a fond farewell.
They played ‘Atmosphere’ at Tony’s funeral. I know from painful experience that it’s a very popular song at funerals, but he had more claim to it than most. Tony had moved heaven and earth to bring Joy Division and New Order into the world, so it was only right we played him out.