Five decades into his career in music, former Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook is still going at 60 Miles an hour – and he doesn’t look like stopping. The 70-year-old Mancunian seemed as youthful as ever as he took the stage for the final date of his band The Light’s “Get Ready” tour of Australia and New Zealand in Perth on Monday night.
Despite being at retirement age, in a recent interview Hook said he would “play at the opening of an envelope if asked”, and it’s easy to see his passion for performing when watching him live. The five-piece Light have been regular visitors to WA since Hook’s acrimonious exit from New Order in 2007 led him to establish the new group 16 years ago, in what was their sixth show at Perth’s ornate Astor Theatre since 2010.
The latest cab off the rank in the Hook-fronted group’s ongoing quest to cover the entirety of Joy Division and New Order’s 30-year discography is New Order’s 2001 record Get Ready, the band’s comeback album in the wake of an indefinite hiatus following the ill-fated release of 1993 album Republic.
Get Ready heralded the end of a tumultuous recess for the influential alternative dance group, which saw them lose their record label, Factory, and it’s infamous nightclub, The Hacienda. But it would take the further loss of long-time manager Rob Gretton, to whom the album was dedicated, for the band to abandon their respective side projects and reunite once more.
Hook’s influence on the recording is notable. The Steven Osborne-produced album is built around a more guitar-driven sound harking back to the band’s roots as Joy Division rather than their preceding LP Republic, giving Hook greater space to weave in his iconic melodic basslines.
Despite the weeknight show and many recent trips to Australia, Perth’s continued thirst for the Light was evident as the Astor was filled to the brim for the tour’s finale. The show kicked off with rollicking Get Ready album opener and lead single, Crystal, as the power-posing Hook’s trademark chorused bass tone tore through the mix to take prominence. For many people, it’s this sound that characterises the spirit of New Order. Nearly every track on Get Ready has a Hook bassline taking the lead, from the tearing 60 Miles an Hour bridge to penultimate track Close Range’s emphatic outro.
But there’s something for everybody on the record, with keyboard parts and synthesised backing tracks adding a danceable energy for those less inclined to Post-Punk, and its done justice by The Light. It’s a well-paced album, and the crowd responded accordingly to its natural flow. The lower-BPM electronica of tracks like Turn My Way and Vicious Streak allowed them to take a breath before settling back into the brooding intensity and overdriven guitars of Primitive Notion, one of the set’s highlights.
It’s interesting to ponder if Hook cringes at having to sing New Order frontman Bernard Sumner’s mundane lyrics. Case in point, Slow Jam’s “I got thirsty for a beer, then I had to go to sea” and Rock the Shack’s “When I hear a baby cry, when I see an old man die, that’s just the way it is.” The price of pleasing the fans, and one of the album’s pitfalls.
Guitarist David Potts, who formed the duo Monaco alongside Hook in the late 90s, plays a key role in covering vocal duties for many of the Get Ready tracks, including the poignant stripped-back album closer Run Wild. The eerie similarity of Potts’ delivery to Sumner, who sings on the original album, makes for an easy swap, albeit an uncomfortably close one. Two unique distinctions of the Light’s current iteration is that it features two basses onstage and a father-son duo. Smashing Pumpkins bassist and Hook’s offspring Jack Bates holds down the low end in the traditional bass role while his father plays leading man and undertakes primary vocal duties.
Hook has a magnetic aura about him that many performers strive to have. It’s arguably this struggle for power with Sumner that equally drove New Order to its great heights and led to its untimely demise. Never missing a chance to swipe at his former bandmate, Hook referenced New Order’s reunion and eventual split as he introduced the track Brutal. He said, “This is the first song we made when we reformed. I didn’t think it would happen; I didn’t think the nightmare would happen twice.”
After a brief intermission, the Light returned for their second set, as the crowd immediately responded to early Joy Division classics No Love Lost and Warsaw, punctuated by punchy distorted guitar and crashing drums alongside Hook’s usual propelling basslines.
Despite all being middle-aged blokes on the outside, The Light captured the youthful Punk ethos and energy onstage that’s arguably lacking in much of Joy Division’s cold and reverb-dense records, but was apparently very much evident when they performed. It’s probably the closest many who were not around for the band’s whirlwind four-year career will get to seeing them live, which ended abruptly following singer Ian Curtis’ suicide in 1980 and led to the remaining members rebranding themselves as New Order.
Prowling the stage like a cornered tiger, Hook swayed his low-strung black Yamaha bass to the beat during Shadowplay and She’s Lost Control, two dynamic tracks from Joy Division’s seminal debut record Unknown Pleasures. The New Order portion of the second set began with Hook whipping out the melodica for ballad Love Vigilantes, followed by the band’s debut track Ceremony, undoubtedly a fan favourite.
Hook and Potts’ hit with Monaco, What Do You Want From Me, also got a run as repeated “Sha na na’s” echoed through the venue. The crowd’s vocal cords were well and truly warmed up by the time Temptation was played as the dance factor was dialled up for the run home. Hook’s work with The Light is undeniably unique. It blurs the lines between tribute band and original act.
Regardless of your perspective, as a co-writer of massively popular tracks like set closers Blue Monday and Love Will Tear Us Apart, Hook has as much right to play them as his former bandmate in Sumner, who is now the only remaining original member of New Order following the recent departure of Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert from the band.
And he does them more than well.
The Light concluded their marathon three-hour performance with a bang as the crowd sang the chorus of Joy Division’s signature hit Love Will Tear Us Apart back to them, with Hook standing triumphantly, arms outstretched, bass over his head.
Not bad going for a 70-year-old, and a hell of a way to close a tour.
Setlists
Set 1: Crystal, 60 Miles An Hour, Turn My Way, Vicious Streak, Primitive Notion, Slow Jam, Rock The Shack, Someone Like You, Close Range, Run Wild, Brutal, Krafty
Set 2: No Love Lost, Warsaw, Disorder, Something Must Break, She’s Lost Control, Shadowplay, Heart and Soul, Transmission, Atmosphere, Love Vigilantes, Face Up, Ceremony Regret, What Do You Want From Me?, Vanishing Point, Temptation, Blue Monday, Love Will Tear Us Apart
Photos by Mark Diggins
With thanks to John Howarth & Metropolis Touring for the media access.