Our three-day liaison with divine live music came to an end Friday night via Joy Division/New Order bass magician Peter Hook & band's magnificent performance of JD's gem of an album, Unknown Pleasures.
Despite having no real expectations, we were nervous about the show. "For the love of Ian Curtis just let this be as awesome as we think it will be!" we prayed. Just as it was sent to the cosmos, it was done.
They prefaced the set with a short documentary about the Factory Records/Hacienda golden era in Manchester with a main focus, of course, on Joy Division and New Order. Initially, the mini-screening had technical difficulties and people acted stupid and impatient yelling out stupid shit, we just didn't want them to give up and NOT show it! After a few minutes all was fixed and we were pleased.
Then we met our maker.
Hooky and the guys walked on stage and shit got amazingly surreal. Peter Hook's my favorite member of Joy Division. He plays my favorite parts in their songs and I'm in love with his 1979 self. Now he's old and I'm around the age he was when he was in Joy Division, a little bit weird. So now I have an old man crush on him because he's still so awesome, haha. Not only this but we were about to listen to a bunch of songs we never in our lives would ever hear live. EVER.
The set was Unknown Pleasures set on shuffle plus "Atmosphere," "Transmission" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart." I went nuts during "Wilderness" my favorite JD song ever ever ever. The crowd got mad rowdy during "Transmission" jumping and singing "DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! TO THE RADIO!" at the top of their lungs it was glorious. The crowd really got going during the finale, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" doing all of the above and moshing with the biggest smiles.
The musicians he chose to back him up were choice. His son, Paul, who had primary bass duty, had our jaws on the floor. Hooky the Second was slappin' da bass with his quick and fancy fingerwork, just like his papa. Ripped it the hell up! Hooky the First had his bass strapped on but he still can't play and sing at the same time so with vocals to take care of, Papa Hook just laid down what I'd like to believe are his most favorite parts to play (rock poses and all, hehe) and accented Paul's rhythm. Double bass work on these tracks, a fucking dream come true.
As far as Hooky's vocals, he brought his non nonsense swagger and killed it. It was relieving he wasn't trying to be Ian Curtis and that he also didn't look like some kind of caricature up there. He sang and played the songs, he didn't talk much. The couple times he smiled it was joking around with his son after Baby Hooky's bass fucked up and had to use the ugly replacement and maybe at the end.
The whole time Snail looked upon the Hooks with her famous face of disgust. This is mainly because they're so good it's retarded. We "hate" because we love so much!
What was literally disgusting was the amount of people player hating on Hooky for taking this show on the road. Bunch of shit-stirrers refusing to support the project, crying out shit like "HOW DAAAAAARE HEEEEE?" and "IAN CURTIS WAS JOY DIVISION!" assuming Peter was defiling the memory of the patron saint of post-punk Ian Curtis. We feel bad for those people really, missing out on a great show because they can't get over their purist bullshit.
To us, the only people with the right to do it are the surviving members of Joy Division. Peter Hook is one of the three. Out of the three, Peter was the best suited to pursue this because to us, his basslines make this album. I pay more attention to Peter's input on that album than Ian's singing and lyrics. Anyhow, Peter Hook did fans a favor by taking this risk, he made happen what Ian Curtis sadly yet selfishly took away from their US audience: a chance to hear a Joy Division set live.
At the end Peter Hook gratefully exclaimed, "Thank you so fucking much!" He seemed taken aback by the overwhelmingly positive response :) NO, HOOKY, THANK YOU FOR BEING SUCH A GENIUS ;_;
Drunk with happiness upon exiting Webster Hall just as the club kids were making their way inside, we floated home once again with a loss for words and brain seepage with ideas about our distant futures. We had to conserve our ticket stubs for our grandkids to see. We'll tell them how Peter Hook gave new life to these timeless Joy Division tracks so long ago and how awesome it was. They'd probably stop paying attention half way in and call us weird but we'd be too busy reliving the moment to notice.
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