Peter Hook & The Light are bringing their incredible “Substance – The Albums Of Joy Division & New Order” back to the U.S. in 2018. Hooky and the band will be performing both the Joy Division and New Order albums Substance live, in their original track sequence and in their entirety. Having reviewed the tour in 2016, Rock Subculture rated it the #3 show of all of 2016, so it is definitely expected to be one of the best tours in 2018. [Read more…]
Peter Hook & The Light Performing New Order’s “Substance” at The Fillmore | San Francisco, California | 11/5/2016 (Concert Review + Photos)
“The hangman looks round as he waits, the cord stretches tight, then it breaks…” Peter Hook & The Light opened their sold out concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco on Saturday night with the dark and prescient “In A Lonely Place”. Kind of an appropriate song to begin with for a few reasons… of course, it is from New Order’s Substance, which they played in it’s entirety, in it’s original track order (with three bonus songs on the front and one at the end). But it was also a song that the original members of New Order wrote as Joy Division with front man Ian Curtis from that original band. So it really doesn’t sound anything like a New Order song at all; it is distinctly Joy Division (dark, analog, and sans any pop sensibility). Having covered Peter Hook & The Light’s previous “album” tours in the past few years, I expected them to come out and do the Joy Division set first and the New Order set second, but they flipped the script. But that first song, is at once a Joy Division song and a New Order song… at the time a bridge from the past to the future. They led out with New Order’s Substance and closed the night performing the Joy Division compilation album of the same name. So how was it? Well, I saw the full original band perform in live in concert almost a quarter of a century ago. In recent years, I’ve seen Peter Hook as Peter Hook & The Light several times. I’ve also seen the rest of New Order (sans Peter Hook) touring separately several times as well. I have to say that, hands down, this show was the best “New Order” performance I’ve ever experienced. In my opinion, New Order’s Substance – their most seminal work – this is the best it’s ever been done live on stage. It truly exceeded my own hopeful and lofty expectations. At the center of it all is the fact that Peter Hook somehow continues to keep the “flame” of both Joy Division and New Order ignited and authentic to what it was and always will be to those who find power and meaning in the works of both bands. Brilliant show. [Read more…]
Peter Hook & The Light Bring “Substance – The Albums Of Joy Division & New Order” To North America In October And November
Peter Hook & The Light bring a second leg of “Substance – The Albums Of Joy Division & New Order” back to the U.S., kicking things off in Detroit tomorrow tonight, with shows running through the end of November. Hooky and the band will be performing both the Joy Division and New Order albums Substance live, in their original track sequence and in their entirety. [Read more…]
Peter Hook & The Light Performing New Order’s “Low-Life” and “Brotherhood” (with Moby) at The Fonda Theatre | Hollywood, California | 11/22/2014 (Concert Review + Photos)
“And that’s how you play The Perfect Kiss!” An emphatic Peter Hook, currently touring as Peter Hook & The Light (formerly of Joy Division and New Order) – rock and roll’s greatest bass player – is apparently a skilled mind reader as well, as he pulled that quote right out of my head to shout back through his microphone after playing the best rendition of the classic song that I’d ever heard. Hooky and his band are in 2014 touring New Order’s third and fourth albums (Low-Life and Brotherhood, respectively) in their entirety, having done the same in 2013 with the first two (Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies). As an added bonus with each of these outings, they open for themselves as Slaves of Venues with dedicated Joy Division sets, which collectively makes for quite a substantive and lengthy set of shows each night. At The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood Saturday night, the dedicated fans in attendance were also treated to a surprise guest appearance on stage for the encore, with none other than Moby coming out to perform vocals for the first two songs of that set to close out the evening. All and all, with a show kicking off around 9:30 PM and going until 12:30 AM, it was three solid hours of celebration for fans of Joy Division and New Order. It was certainly one of those special shows were the venue, artist, and fans all clicked perfectly to make for a very memorable experience and a blazing hot and awesome show by a legendary artist and performer, who in my opinion is the heart and soul of New Order keeping the most authentic live performance of their music alive for old and new fans.
Peter Hook of Peter Hook & The Light, New Order, Joy Division: “Rock Talk” Podcast Audio Interview
This article features the latest in an ongoing series of “Rock Talk” podcast audio interviews for the Rock Subculture Journal. Today’s guest is Peter Hook. Peter Hook is a founding member of Joy Division and New Order, and next week embarks on his latest tour as Peter Hook & The Light, covering the third and forth New Order albums, Lowlife (1985) and Brotherhood (1986), in full. Last year, he and his band covered the first two New Order albums and my review of that tour can be found in a separate article (see: “Peter Hook & The Light Performing New Order’s “Movement” and “Power, Corruption & Lies”…).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS