Just recently I went to see Peter Hook & The Light perform the whole Unknown Pleasures album + various other Joy Division classics. Well, all JD songs are classics, some of them more some of them less. The idea of Hooky performing JD songs have been issue which has caused a lot of debate, some fascinated, some critical. I had also my doubts, but for me it was the extremely rare possibility to see someone perform these classics live so there I went. Besides I think Hooky is the right person to cover these songs since his bass sound is the most remarkable part in JD`s music (after, of course, Ian´s vocals). The first funny surprise was that the gig intro was Kraftwerk´s Trans-Europe Express which caused some brits to make some not-so-polite comments. For a beginning there was few older tracks, then Unknown Pleasures album from start to beginning and after that some older tracks and classics like Atmosphere, Transmission & LWTUA, as a last encore there was Ceremony. It was fun to watch Hooky posing with his bass without playing it in majority of tracks! Bass playing was handled throughout the gig by his son (I believe). Hooky posed, sang and played catchy bass riffs once in a while, rest of the band kept a low profile. Band played fine enough for me to enjoy this gig, but something was missing. Something I just can´t point my finger at. Maybe it was a lack of passion or something. Just like having a beer and watching a remarkably good JD-coverband (which they actually are). As I listened to people around me, I remarked that there were alarmingly lot of people who knew Joy Division only by name and a few hit songs. You know the type: young indie hipsters who´d rather be at Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Prince of Assyria gig drinking sweet alcoholic mixers, comparing clothes & watching who is there and who is not. If they were forced down to listen Unknown Pleasures or Closer throughout alone in a cellar, they probably couldn´t take it. On the other side there were old punks and misfits who have probably listened those albums a few too many times. One old and apparently confused punk near me broke in whining and moaning when Day of the Lords started. Oh, the power of music... or maybe the power of chemical substances? In the end, it was nice evening and I certainly would welcome Hooky & co. here again to perform Closer (which they are doing at least in Brits next summer).
I´m offering you two live mixes of Unknown Pleasures, both from bootleg sources. First one is a collection of Joy Division live material, second is a collection of Hooky performing live with Light or Section 25. You decide yourself which one sounds better. Warning: expect some seriously bootleg-quality material!
Tracks: Disorder, Day of the lords, Candidate, Insight, New dawn fades, She´s lost control, Shadowplay, Wilderness, Interzone, I remember nothing
Mediafire JD-UP & Hooky-UP, Rapidshare JD-UP & Hooky-UP
