Last night, bassist Peter Hook marked the 30th anniversary of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis’ death by performing the band’s classic 1979 debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in its entirety — plus assorted other Joy Division and Warsaw songs — at his Manchester club FAC251 The Factory.
According to the NME’s review of the gig — which will be repeated tonight — Hook and his band The Light opened the show with “At a Later Date,” a track written when Joy Division was still called Warsaw, before proceeding to play Joy Division’s four-song debut EP, An Ideal for Living, in order. (And judging by the videos posted above and below, Hooky ceded bass playing duties — to his son, a reader notes in the comments below.)
Following a couple more early songs, Hook and Co. dove into the main course: Unknown Pleasures, with former Happy Mondays backing vocalist Rowetta pitching in on “Insight and “New Dawn Fades.” The group encored with “Transmission,” featuring A Certain Ratio’s Simon Topping on vocals, and, of course, “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”
Following the show, Hook told the NME that he’d been to visit Curtis’ grave that morning to “say hello to him and see how he was.” He added:
“Now some people will say, like they did about this show, that you shouldn’t do it and then a lot of people are thinking that you should do it. So it was nice that we had a club full of people tonight who think we should be doing it and the others can just fuck off.”
Former Stone Roses bassist Gary “Mani” Mounfield, a bandmate of Hook’s in triple-bass project Freebass, attended the Unknown Pleasures gig, and afterward tweeted, “Just returned from hookys unknown pleasures tribute to ian Curtis gig. Good to hear those tunes again, especially the early Warsaw stuff!!”
See last night’s setlist and more video after the jump…
Setlist: Peter Hook’s The Light, FAC251 The Factory, Manchester, UK, 5/18/10
1. “At A Later Date”
2. “Warsaw”
3. “No Love Lost”
4. “Leaders Of Men”
5. “Failures”
6. “Digital”
7. “Glass”
Unknown Pleasures
8. “Disorder”
9. “Day Of The Lords”
10. “Candidate”
11. “Insight”
12. “New Dawn Fades”
13. “She’s Lost Control”
14. “Shadowplay”
15. “Wilderness”
16. “Interzone”
17. “I Remember Nothing”
Encore 1
18. “Transmission”
Encore 2
19. “Love Will Tear Us Apart”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Freebass — Peter Hook, Mani, Andy Rourke — releases debut ‘It’s a Beautiful Life’
- Peter Hook’s Freebass releases ‘Two Worlds Collide’ EP, sets live debut
- Peter Hook plans Joy Division set at FAC251, spoken-word tour
- Peter Hook debuts unfinished Joy Division song, New Order outtake at FAC251
- Milestones: New Order’s ‘Technique’ released 21 years ago today
- ‘Ceremony: A New Order Tribute’ proceeds to benefit Tony Wilson charity
- The Other Two reissuing ‘The Other Two & You,’ ‘Super Highways’
- Peter Hook’s Freebass finishes first album, preps debut EP ‘Two Worlds Collide’
- New Order’s botched CD reissues finally to be re-reissued by Rhino Records
This has been a topic of conversation over at New Order Online for weeks, and I have to say, it ended up being more tasteful than I’d imagined.
That’s Hooky’s son Jack on bass.
Just about what I expected it to be – a full on cheese-fest.
I was there and it was superb, these videos are a bit clinical and don’t really capture the atmosphere. If you shut your eyes, felt the heat, smelt the smells, tasted the beer, you were back to when music was real…
great gig!!! Hooky delivered, Rowetta was spinetingling and owned the songs. ANd Karlos is a d**k
I’m so glad this gig happened, this music is so beatiful, it deserves to be played, it has to be heard, very grateful for my first chance to hear it live, and it felt like people round me felt the same. I find the dispute/controversy about the gig stupid, it’s one thing if they paraded the music round every year as a mausoleum and a completely different thing playing it as a tribute to a friend, who’s still much alive through his music and our love. There couldn’t be a better gesture, a better memorial/celebration, we needed it, that’s why we turned up. Thank you. Also thank you for this page, much appreciated.
(PS: Rowetta was fantastic, Simon awful)
I was there ‘awesome’ gig. Is New Dawn Fades one of the best rock records ever, I think so.
I love all the people with cell phones up. Just watch the concert, yes? None of this “hipper than thou-record it so I can prove I was there” crap.
I’d give my left nut to see this and here these tossers are too busy fiddling with their phones to actually experience a once-in-a-lifetime event.