Peter Hook to Perform Entire Joy Division Catalog at Charity Gig
Former Joy Division bassist Peter Hook will revisit the band’s entire catalog when he and his band the Light perform both of Joy Division‘s classic albums – 1979’s Unknown Pleasures and 1980’s Closer – among other songs at a charity gig May 18th at the Christ Church in Macclesfield, England, the town where the band was founded.
While Hook has frequently performed the Joy Division albums live since exiting New Order – including a similar concert at the same venue in June 2013 – the “So This Is Permanence” event will mark the first time the Light have tackled 1981’s Still, a collection of unreleased Joy Division cuts released the year after Curtis’ death. The event’s title is taken from a lyric from the Closer track “Twenty Four Hours.”
Tickets for the performance, which will benefit the Epilepsy Society and the Churches Conservation Trust, go on sale March 25th. Check out Hook’s official site for more information.
Both the venue and the city figure prominently in Joy Division’s history. Macclesfield was the hometown of Curtis and drummer Stephen Morris, and the band used to rehearse frequently at the town’s Talbot Pub. (However, Joy Division never performed a concert in Macclesfield, an oversight Hook has been correcting in recent years.) As for the venue, Curtis used to attend Christ Church in his youth.
While Hook is revisiting Joy Division, New Order, the bassist’s other former band, revealed in January that they’ve begun work on their first Hook-free album and first LP of newly recorded songs since 2005’s Waiting for the Sirens’ Call. (2013’s Lost Souls was culled from leftover tracks from the Sirens’ Call sessions and featured Hook, even though he’d left the band in 2007.) The band has yet to share an album title or release date.