Quickly
back on the gig trail after last weekend’s “Shiiine On”, and with a “Shiiine”
regular sadly absent from recent bills, in the towering legend that is Peter
Hook, late of course of dark post-punk pioneers Joy Division and their
offspring, indie/ dance crossover progenitors New Order. Hooky announced a tour
of New Order’s oft overlooked 2001 “Get Ready” album, prompting some research
on my part; but when I checked, I discovered I didn’t even own a copy! Either I
was too deep into my Boston rock period then, or so disappointed with their
previous 1993 NO-by-numbers release “Republic” (despite subsequently loving
their 1998 Reading Festival should’ve-been-headliner set, gig 381) that I didn’t
bother… either way, I rectified that with a cheapo CD copy, finding it a notable
improvement over its’ blander predecessor and more in line with the mid-80’s “Low
Life”/ “Brotherhood” vibe. So tix were duly booked for the Bath stop on the
tour!
Like the recent Edwyn Collins gig at this same venue (gig 1,406), I was joined by old friends and curry table regulars Paul and Colin, so I again did the pick-up honours early doors for a traffic-affected run off the beaten track to Bath, parking up in the Podium car park and enjoying some nosh in the Salamander pub before the gig. An early one, this, so we hit the venue at ¼ to 7, running into old Brunel/Lev faces Steffen and Adam at the bar! I then left the boys for a floor spot, house left, a few rows back in this already busy room, enjoying a chat with a lovely lady called Geeta and her friends about “Shiiine On”. The Light took the stage at an early 7.15, easing into opener “Crystal”, then Hooky joined us last, with an expression of serious intent and a black shirt displaying the motif “Mani No. 1” on the back, in tribute to the Stone Roses bassist, sadly lost to us this week at a shockingly young 63. “Crystal” was excellent, growling, gravelly and hard-edged, setting the tone for the first-set “Get Ready” run through, with guitarist David Potts then taking lead vocals for the subsequent poppier and catchier “60 Miles An Hour”, doing an uncanny impression of New Order vocalist Bernard Sumner in the process! “It’s kind of you to indulge me with “Get Ready”,” Hooky acknowledged at its conclusion, “it was recorded in Bath [and] cost us everything we earned for 30 years!”
“Get
Ready” itself was a definite return to form for New Order, the songwriting
better and the delivery harder-edged and more dynamic than it’s immediate forebear,
almost nodding to NYC proto-punk in its driven and dramatic slashing guitars,
augmenting the NO sonic staples of sheet synth, robotic yet thrusting drums and
of course that unique, undulating Hooky bass. So “Vicious Streak” was an early outlier
to the 2 upbeat openers, more slow-burn, austere and haunting; “Slow Jam” was
more abrasive and off-kilter with a nonetheless big anthemic choral hook; and
the tumbling stream of consciousness verse and chanted hook of “Rock The Shack”
overlaid an archetypal Hooky bassline played by Jack, i.e. Hooky Jr., his dad
alluding to shoulder issues and not playing his bass as low-slung as usual. ““Get
Ready” was mine and Barney’s second honeymoon – but it all went to shit soon
after – like most honeymoons!” admitted Hooky, finishing this excellent opening
set with a pounding, dancey and Ibiza-tastic “Technique”-esque “Here To Stay”.
Barely a 10 minute break before the workaholic bassist rejoined us to the strains of Kraftwerk’s “Trans Europe Express”, plunging straight into the dark, sinister avalanche of “Atrocity Exhibition”, leading into a selection of growling, harsh and guttural Joy Division deep cuts. Old Brunel fave, the descending bass of “Disorder”, was an early highlight, as was the regimented drumbeat of the stark and febrile “Heart And Soul”. “Transmission” was usual its roaring, anthemic self, but the clear highlight of the JD numbers for me was the beautifully stark, elegiac wallow of an extended “Decades” dedicated by Hooky to his friend Mani.
A surprising double of the mournful melancholy of “Doubts Even Here” and the building guitar opening of a brilliant “Dreams Never End” opened the New Order element of this second set, Hooky largely keeping off the beaten path with the set selection (“Blue Monday”’s thrusting dance pulse notwithstanding). A superb, propulsive “Age Of Consent” was my overall highlight; “Vanishing Point” a pulsing rhythmic dance vibe, and “Ceremony” was stately and epic, a stripped back middle 8 ceding to a stunning outro crescendo. Another tribute to Mani and his twin sons, now sadly left parentless, preceded a lengthy, inclusive singalong to inevitable closer “Love Will Tear Us Apart” before I caught up with the boys and we slightly lost our way to the car park (and in it!), eventually locating the motor for an inky drive home. So, tonight may have been a slightly sombre occasion for him given his friend’s loss, but Hooky again smashed it with another brilliant set of some overlooked gems. Hooky, mate, Mani would’ve been looking down on you with pride tonight…
No comments:
Post a Comment