PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 22.02.19
Having witnessed an evening with Peter Hook & The Light twice before, I knew that tonight’s proceedings were going to be right up there come 31st December 2019 as one of the best gigs of the year!
It transpires that Peter Hook absolutely loves tonight’s venue, the Concorde 2, (and Brighton as a whole), as this concert hall is the only place that he has performed tributes to all of the Joy Division and New Order albums that he originally featured on. Plus he joyfully added that every single one of his Concorde 2 concerts have sold out!
The 63 year old bassist Peter Hook (birth name Peter Woodhead) was a founding member of the groundbreaking and timeless band Joy Division with vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist Bernard Albrecht and drummer Stephen Morris. They had previously been known as Warsaw and took the name from the David Bowie song ‘Warszawa’ found on his 1977 ‘Low’ album. Joy Division wrote and recorded 43 songs and played over 120 shows in just 29 months between 1978 and 1980.
With the sad passing of Ian Curtis in May 1980 – who I know is thought about by Hooky every day – the band continued on under the New Order banner, initially as a trio, but after a short while they drafted in Stephen Morris’s girlfriend Gillian Gilbert on keyboards. Her first concert with the band was in Manchester on 25th October 1980.
From the Joy Division days, there were two unrecorded songs, as Hooky told us this evening that Ian (Curtis) had left them, namely ‘In A Lonely Place’ and ‘Ceremony’. These were recorded and became New Order’s first output. Tonight, Peter Hook & The Light performed ‘Ceremony’, which was a late replacement judging by the setlist, which instead shows ‘Transmission’.
Hooky was a member of New Order over a 27 year period and in 2007 he parted company with them, having arguably produced the best music of the 1980’s with timeless anthems ‘Blue Monday’, ‘Confusion’, ‘Everything’s Gone Green’ and ‘Temptation’, the latter of which had an outing this evening.
In the 1990’s they gave us ‘Regret, ‘True Faith’ and the eye watering England World Cup anthem ‘World In Motion’, which was performed with gusto this evening and it sent tingles up my arms as the crowd were bellowing “Ing-Ger-Land”.
Hooky and the boys (Peter Hook & The Light) have been performing Joy Division and New Order material since their inception in May 2010 and each of the different content shows I have witnessed, the band make the tracks sound as close to the recorded material as possible, with tonight’s Concorde 2 performance was not an exception. For this tour it was time to perform New Order’s ‘Technique’ and ‘Republic’ albums in their entirety and with an opening set of Joy Division material.
You certainly get value for money with this band, as tonight we were treated to no less than 30 tracks from them spread across three sets and an encore. There was barely time to order any drinks when they appeared on stage and they were off.
The band are Peter Hook – lead vocals, guitars, melodica, bass, electronic drums (2010–present), Jack Bates – bass, electronic drums, cymbals, cowbell (2010–present), Paul Kehoe – drums, keyboards, synthesizers, programming (2010–present), David Potts – guitars, backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (2013–present) and Martin Rebelski – keyboards, synthesizers, programming (2017–present).
They don’t bother with support bands as they support themselves and tonight us lucky punters were rewarded with half a dozen prime cuts of Joy Division material that you can’t hear played just like the original band anywhere else. It’s as close to Joy Division that we can get these days. They opened with ‘Dead Souls’ and finishing with ‘Ceremony’ and sandwiched in between, the classic ‘She’s Lost Control’.
After a short break, the quintet were back at it and performed their renditions of New Order’s 1989 No.1 album ‘Technique’. The nine tracks came at us in the correct running order, with highlights being ‘Fine Time’, ‘Round & Round’ and ‘Mr Disco’. As ever, Hooky was wielding his slow slung axe and threw many poses. Not much time for talking in between songs as they were on a tight schedule.
Another brief break ensued and they returned to perform the other No.1 New Order album ‘Republic’, which burst onto the scene in 1993. Highlights from this album being ‘Fine Time’, ‘World’ and ‘Spooky’. With the eleven tracks performed, they went off stage again. The crowd wasn’t going anywhere! Not a single soul moved. If they were to return, then what treats would be on offer?
To finish with we had 4 absolute corkers, ‘World In Motion’, (with a guest rapper who resembled their merch guy) ‘True Faith’, ‘Temptation’ and to end with the Joy Division anthem ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, which got a majority of the crowd jumping up and down. What a way to end a set!
After 30 tracks they were done! Hooky took off his sweat stained t-shirt and threw it into the crowd and shouted “See you next year!”. I wonder what delights he and his excellent band will bring us?
This evening’s setlists read:
Joy Division set
Intro tape (‘Trans Europe Express’ by Kraftwerk)
‘Dead Souls’ (originally found on 1980 ‘Licht Und Blindheit’ single)
‘These Days’ (originally found on 1980 ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ single FAC 23)
‘The Sound Of Music’ (originally found on 1981 ‘Still’ compilation album FACT 40)
‘She’s Lost Control’ (originally found on 1979 ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album FACT 10)
‘Shadowplay’ (originally found on 1979 ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album FACT 10)
‘Ceremony’ (NOT ‘Transmission’) (originally found on 1981 ‘Still’ compilation album FACT 40)
New Order set 1: ‘Technique’ album (1989) FACT 275
Intro tape (includes ‘Ragnar Returns’ from the film ‘The Vikings’ by Mario Nascimbene)
‘Fine Time’
‘All The Way’
‘Love Less’
‘Round & Round’
‘Guilty Partner’
‘Run’
‘Mr Disco’
‘Vanishing Point’
‘Dream Attack’
New Order set 2: ‘Republic’ album (1993)
‘Regret’
‘World’
‘Ruined In A Day’
‘Spooky’
‘Everyone Everywhere’
‘Young Offender’
‘Liar’
‘Chemical’
‘Times Change’
‘Special’
‘Avalanche’
New Order set 2: encore
‘World In Motion’ (originally found on 1990 EnglandNewOrder single FAC 293)
‘True Faith’ (originally found on 1987 ‘True Faith’ single FACT 183)
‘Temptation’ (originally found on 1982 ‘Temptation’ single FAC 63)
‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ (originally found on 1980 ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ single FAC 23)
More on Peter Hook & The Light HERE and HERE.
Those wishing to get a little closer to Hooky, Joy Division and New Order, will be interested to learn that he is auctioning off a whole load of his own personal memorabilia on Saturday 2nd March 2019. I have taken ownership of the special auction catalogue and it makes very interesting reading indeed! Further details HERE.
Further reading about tonight’s albums ‘Technique’ and ‘Republic‘:
‘Technique’, New Order’s fifth studio album chronicles the impact of acid house on the band, marking the clearest statement of the rock and dance influences which were shaping their output. Released in January 1989, just after the bands infamous G-Mex gig and after-show downstairs at The Hacienda in December the previous year, it became New Order’s first album to go to number one in the UK. It was also hugely successful in the United States where the influence of Quincy Jones’ Qwest label regularly got the band’s singles to the top of the American dance charts, ‘Technique’ was driven by the classic acid house single ‘Fine Time’ which rivals ‘Blue Monday’ as probably the most openly dance orientated record the group ever produced whilst other tracks on the LP ‘Round & Round’, ‘Mr Disco’ and ‘Vanishing Point’ also reflect the dance sensibilities then fusing their way into New Order’s sound. Yet like on its predecessor, ‘Brotherhood’, these are balanced by the vocal led, more rock leaning ‘All The Way’, ‘Guilty Partner’ and ‘Run’.
Legendarily recorded in Ibiza in 1988, ‘Technique’ has often been observed to capture the sound of that summer and the heady period back them both on the island and in the UK and of course, Manchester. As is widely known, the band didn’t actually do much work in Ibiza, a jaunt that Factory label boss Tony Wilson once told Peter Hook “was the most expensive f*cking holiday you’ve ever been on”. The band returned to the UK to finish the LP at Bath’s Real World Studios later in 1988, itself the scene of another legendary New Order party when recording was completed.
In many ways, ‘Technique’ epitomised its time and the culture surrounding it. It came out to generally ecstatic reviews from the top notch echelons of the music press. In the UK, Melody Maker called it “a rare and ravishing triumph” whilst NME proclaimed the band “had fashioned an LP of rare and unflinching honesty”. Across in the States, SPIN called it New Order’s best ever album, Rolling Stone referred to its “sonic presence with immaculate playing” and Pitchfork sum up the album simply as “magnificent.”
“Placed in the perfect position to deliver the definitive alternative take on house music, the band produced another classic record” – All Music
Many consider ‘Technique’ to mark the high point of New Order and as they went on from the album to headline Reading Festival in August 1989, before going on hiatus and also pursuing their solo projects, this is generally thought of as the golden period for the band.
Due to the well documented history surrounding ‘Republic’, it is remarkably difficult to characterise it as sharing the same sunny outlook as ‘Technique’ but Hooky’s decision to include it in these concerts underline his commitment to perform all of his catalogue that he has committed to record.
Not that ‘Republic’ wasn’t hugely successful. Again it went to number one in the UK and became the band’s biggest ever selling album in America, narrowly missing the Billboard album chart top ten peaking at number 11.
However it is not unknown that it was New Order’s most difficult album to make. Factory Records had hit financial trouble and needed a New Order album to bail themselves out so the band were coerced into recording the album in to save Factory. Something that didn’t entirely work out as Factory was then to go bankrupt in November 1992 and New Order then signed to London Records, an offshoot of Warner Bros with ‘Republic’ released in May 1993.
The band roared back with first single ‘Regret’, still thought of as one of their finest ever, and subsequent singles ‘Ruined In A Day’ and ‘World’ did well, both in their original versions and as remixes which again dominated the dance charts.
Yet it’s not hard to deduce that the demise of Factory, coupled with the ongoing difficulties surrounding the band’s involvement in Manchester’s Hacienda as well as internal friction within New Order and due to the band members’ solo projects, all had an impact on the recording sessions and mood that lies behind ‘Republic’, something that Stephen Hague did his utmost to assuage in producing the LP.
Still considered a worthwhile addition by fans to New Order’s catalogue, yet, if not perhaps hitting the standards they had previously set for themselves, ‘Republic’ did receive some strong reviews. NME’s Dele Fadele awarded it 8/10 on release whilst All Music commented that “‘Republic’ simply borrows elements of contemporary innovations in club music to frame a set of effortlessly enjoyable alternative pop songs.”
