A
slow gig month of April is nonetheless ending on a high note, with the welcome
return of a bona fide rock legend… having run the gamut of the entire
Joy Division/ New Order canon of releases that he was involved in, it seems
Mancunian post-punk icon Peter Hook is circling right back to the beginning,
going through the dark, dramatic goth-tinged moody post-punk of his first band
once again! Happy with that, the man’s always been more than good value
whatever he chooses to play… and given that this fell on a Saturday night, this
gave me the currently rare opportunity to bring my full-on GCSE-mode teenage son
along for a break in his studies, to further an altogether different kind of
education. When I first played Logan “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, his response on
hearing this seminal all-time classic was, “so this song wasn’t so much written,
more like handed down from God…” so I think the boy gets it…!
Also
joining us were old friends and fellow JD/NO devotees Colin and Paul, Colin
picking us up at 6 for the first gig we’d travelled to together for nearly 40
years (Orange Juice at Golddiggers in 1984, gig 22!). Mused about this
disgraceful state of affairs and other topics, during a meandering yet pleasant
drive through Wiltshire’s backroads, parking up and grabbing a drink in this
old corn market hall’s beer garden. Popped into the venue 10 minutes before the
support, happily finding a pocket of space near the front, house right. As is
his wont, Hooky was supporting himself, leading the band onstage at 8 and proclaiming,
“we’ve tried something different on this tour; we’ve let each one of the band
pick [the support] set-list! This is Paul’s turn…” Said list was a New Order
selection, and Paul absolutely nailed the choice, with the pounding backbeat
and change of pace of opener “The Him”, followed by the clattering synth
pattern and eerie melodica overlay of “Movement”’s “Truth” and a beautifully plaintive
and understated “Leave Me Alone”. Things really ramped up a few gears
thereafter, though, with an unexpected “Blue Monday”, a stately “True Faith” and
a bubbling, buoyant and singalong “Temptation” to round off a splendid half
hour vignette, all delivered with sweeping authority by Hooky and the lads.
Superb stuff… and that was just the opening set…!
Our
spot down the front got busier and more sauna-esque, as we were also joined by
gig buddy Paul (from last year’s War On Drugs gig, no. 1,219); I took a comfort
break at 8.45 and got caught out by Hooky re-taking the stage for the “Unknown
Pleasures” rendition, powering into a fast, frantic and frankly incendiary “Disorder”. “Day
Of The Lords”, next up, was replete with seething menace, Hooky growling the, “when
will it end,” hook with imperious command, conducting the crowd with outstretched
arm. The widescreen dark epic “New Dawn Fades” was however my highlight, Hooky
raising his usually low, gravelly and stentorian vocals one octave for the
genuinely affecting second verse. “Shadowplay” and “Interzone” were tense, taut
proto-punk thrashes, with closer “I Remember Nothing” (a track I often struggle
with, finding it a leaden plod) faring better “live”, all morose claustrophobia,
reflecting those uneasy cold war 70’s times.
Another
brief break before the band returned, the tumbling drum pattern of “Atrocity Exhibition”
heralding the “Closer” run-through. This was actually the first time I’d seen
Hooky do Joy Division’s sophomore effort, an album I confess I know less well
than its’ predecessor, and I was surprised how more synth-based the sound was,
particularly on the expansive twinkling Eurodisko of “Isolation”, the regimented,
almost funky stomp of “Means To An End” and the church organ wall of sound of “Closer”’s
closer, the elegiac “Decades”. Definite nods towards the direction New Order
were to ultimately take, although my “Closer” highlight was the taut, jagged
and razor-sharp “Colony”, ironically the one track which would have fit most
aptly on “Unknown Pleasures”… And, of course, all were delivered with superb purpose
and conviction by Hooky and Co., the man turning his back to the crowd at “Decade”’s
climax, signalling his approval with one arm aloft, before leaving the band to
a lengthy and rapturously-received crescendo.
They’d
saved the best until last, however; the encore saw Hooky thank everyone on this,
the last night of the tour, before an undulating, punky “Digital” ceded to the
bass riff opening of a brilliant “Ceremony”, Hooky stripping the sound right
back for the middle 8 breakdown before the haunting denouement, A hurtling “Transmission”
followed, before the inevitable highlight of the night, a gloriously skyscraping
rendition of “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, handed down by God and his strafing
bass. Just magnificent. Hooky then cast his t-shirt to the masses before
departing, then Logan and I grabbed a list and met the boys back at the car,
home at midnight. A high note to end April, indeed, with the enduring legend
that is Peter Hook!
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