The cohort of Joy Division, and later New Order, was always shrouded in a turbulent history and legendary status amongst modern listeners. A chord was struck with me when I finally listened to ‘Unknown Pleasures’ around 10 years ago. The haunting lyrics, groaning vocals and washed production had an air of nihilism and discontent surrounding it. I was obsessed. I unfortunately didn’t connect the same way with New Order for a long time, with the edge all but gone in favour of a pop-infused, electronic sound. A core member who famously didn’t connect with this shift towards electronic music was bassist Peter Hook. When I later came around on New Order and began to appreciate the artistry behind the lush synth layers and pop oriented songwriting, one thing that never changed between the two bands was Hook’s rock solid bass tone. After learning about the opportunity to see both the band’s material performed by him and his backing group at The Fire Station in Sunderland, I simply couldn’t pass up. While I might not have expected the same euphoric epiphany that Joy Division’s original material gave me, I was expecting passable renditions of classics I’ve grown up with.
After two and a half hours had raced by I was left dazed, confused and ultimately struck by the newfound tenacity of these songs in a live setting. The first half was New Order tracks, particularly their greatest hits from the ‘Substance’ compilation. From the first track to the last, I was shocked at the new life given to the New Order tracks. The live setting did the gorgeous synth lines and tones justice, with the increased volume and ferocity giving Gillian Gilbert’s original work a whole new meaning. The beauty and softness of the original synth pads and sweeping arpeggios were fully utilised here, helped by the venue’s acoustics and The Light’s fantastic musicianship. One thing that really surprised me though was Hook’s vocals, emulating Sumner’s monotone delivery in a slightly lower manner, given his age. Hook, a former backing vocalist, did a fine job doing the material justice on the vocal front. I was also surprised by the contributions of guitarist David Potts, doing backing vocals and sometimes moving to lead whenever required. His higher, more treble heavy voice was needed to cover songs like ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’.
The second half of the set was Joy Division material, with the sound drastically changing from the first half. The guitar tones got harsher and the synthesiser was all but gone for the rest of the show. There were soaring highs, with the performances of ‘Transmission’ and ‘New Dawn Fades’ being elevated by the live setting. Nonetheless, I was baffled by some of the setlist choices for this section. Material such as ‘Warsaw’ and ‘Dead Souls’ were deep cuts, but are much weaker compositions than the band’s other works. Hook also tries to emulate Ian Curtis, just like he did with Sumner, except it came across as unnatural and rather forced. While the New Order set was much better overall, the choice to close on ‘Love Will Tear us Apart’ definitely concluded the performance on a high.
In retrospect, the performance was fantastic and gained me a new perspective on the old material shown. These songs have aged beautifully and perfectly translate to modern day, with Hook & The Light bringing a new level of intensity to the tracks. The standouts for me were ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘Thieves Like us’, ‘Transmission’ and ‘KW1’. The band are returning to the north with dates in Bradford and Whitby later this week. I wholeheartedly recommend the experience to Joy Division and New Order fans alike.
