Peter Hook And The Light: Live In Belfast

It is almost exactly 45 years to the day that I first saw Peter Hook wielding a bass on stage. It was Buzzcocks‘  Different Kind Of Tension Tour, Oxford New Theatre 30/10/1979 and Joy Division were the support. This punk-adjacent adolescent was already smitten by Buzzcocks‘ spiky, lovelorn melodies. Joy Division were a name, a curiosity that October night – jerky, angular and full of angst. I couldn’t wait for them to get off the stage. The next intersection of these three lines happened a few months later when BBC Radio 1 broadcast of the then-slowly-disintegrating Buzzcocks‘ set from Manchester Polytechnic on 22nd May 1980. Pete Shelley announced ‘Strange Thing‘ (a particularly doom-laden and sonorous instalment of what was at that point the band’s final run of singles for United Artists) by saying “This one’s dedicated to Ian Curtis, who died at the weekend“. In the vacuum that Buzzcocks‘ first demise left, I came to respect New Order for their adventurous spirit and their self-sufficiency, and for their escape from Joy Division‘s suffocating legacy. I came back to Joy Division later to finally appreciate their bruised and gloomy majesty and to acknowledge their standing in the pantheon of Manchester demigods.

Flashforward 45 years then. Belfast’s Telegraph Building housed the old printworks for Northern Ireland’s provincial daily newspaper. It’s a cavernous hall that swallows 2000 people and there must be 1000 men of a certain age and build, 200 long suffering partners and 800 icon-curious youngsters here tonight who weren’t born when Hooky and his comrades were in their pomp. Like many metropolitan venues these days, the Telegraph switches to being a nightclub at 11, so it’s an early start for what those in the know are expecting to be a long and wide-ranging set. After a brief and dramatic intro, the band stride out and launch into a joyous and affecting New Order greatest hits set based on the Substance album. Part of New Order‘s schtick was their sophisticated naïveté – or was it innocent artfulness – the simplistic guitar lines, the pulsing electrobeats, the wavering vocal … The Light capture all of that effortlessly. While reliant on sequences and beats, the band are faultless, with Hooky commanding the stage. The inclusion of a bassist leaves him free to sing or embellish, with his trademark high register, chorused bass sound adding his unique sonic signature. All the hits are here, ecstatically received – bigger, better, refreshed and revitalised. Condensed this way into one set, it’s astonishing how many hits New Order had and how familiar they are – Temptation, Thieves Like Us, True Faith, Bizarre Love Triangle and, of course, the mighty Blue Monday. All rapturously received. All possibly better than the originals. Bernard Sumner set an admittedly low vocal bar. Peter Hook is a better singer. There. It’s said. There’s a polish and professionalism to the whole show that only relentless touring can hone.

Set two is a full band show that effortlessly transports us back to that all too brief moment when Joy Division were poised to conquer all. The weight of Ian Curtis‘ passing is acknowledged and adds a particular poignancy to the performance, but this is no po-faced memorial show. The songs live and breathe as they did back in the day, full of Curtis‘ raw and eloquent poetry set to that most unmistakably distinctive post-punk soundscape. Particularly in this set, the vocalisation of Curtis‘ lyrics matches the recorded output closely enough for it to be uncanny at times. Could it be said that Joy Division had hits? Maybe inclusion in television advertising brought the band to new attention. What they do have is classics and they’re all in the set tonight. Particularly poignant and affecting is Atmosphere, which perfectly captures the essence of Curtis‘ doomed star: past and present swirl in one emotional vortex in which love and sadness, celebration and regret all combine in one emotional communion.

In both sets, Peter Hook And The Light out-New Order New Order and out-Joy Division Joy Division for the duration of this celebration. This is no covers show, this was a post-punk time machine that transported us back directly through the decades. No filler, no pomp, just an honest and respectful homage to two great bodies of work connected by the formidable Hooky. Knowing that leaning on the legacy is not enough, he also leaves you in no doubt that he is a showman, the king of his world on stage and delivering what the people want but respectfully acknowledging the journey he has taken to be with us tonight. Catch him if you can.