Peter Hook and the Light at the El Rey Theatre Over the Weekend


Peter Hook and the Light

September 16th, 2011
El Rey Theatre
It isn't easy being a Joy Division and New Order fan these days. New Order had supposedly broken up with founding members Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris forming Bad Lieutenant while Peter Hook assembled his band the Light to cover the classic Joy Division albums. 
New Order recently announced they would play a few gigs in Europe and apparently forgot to call Peter Hook. How can New Order play without Hook's signature bass lines and tone? This rumination became apparent after watching Hook and his band whip through the Joy Division album Unknown Pleasures

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Surrounded by two former members of his band Monaco and his son
Jack on bass, the rumbling bass line of “No Love Lost” pulsated through
the audience. The chest pounding bass thump of “Leaders of Men”
kickstarted your heart as Hook was impressive in his handling of the
vocals not trying to imitate Ian Curtis's distinctive baritone.
Nat
Wason summoned up a wiry guitar tone for the frantic notes of “Glass”
while the tortuous bass line rippled underneath the vicious guitar
stabs. The songs were recreated with care and special attention was
given to the tones and ambience  as they were rendered as faithfully as
possible.
A sparse backbeat quickly gave way to
the high bass notes of “Disorder” as Hook would shout out the lyrics
“Feeling, Feeling, Feeling!”. The slow crawling guitars of “Day of The
Lords”  had Hook emphasize the “Bodies Obtained” lyrics as he seemed to
enjoy seeing bandmate Nat Watson bash away the notes on his guitar.

“Insight”
featured the special guest vocals of Moby who emerged from the shadows
to give a compelling performance. Moby stuck around for a spine tingling
version of “New Dawn Fades”. Having never heard these songs live
before, it seemed that it would be as close as I could ever come with
“She's Lost Control” and “Shadowplay” sounding flawless.
Deviating
from their setlist, “Dead Souls” was haunting with its moody
atmospherics and walking bass line. A raw punk energy was displayed
during “Warsaw” that had the crowd at the front of the stage bouncing
along. Moby would return for mind exploding version of “Transmission”.
The audience really showed their appreciation by singing along loudly
during “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.
El Ten Eleven
opened the show with their own showcase of bass talents as Kristian
Dunn used a looping pedal along with an assortment of unique basses to
create head spinning arrangements. 
Personal Bias: Who doesn't love Joy Division and New Order?
Crowd: Lots of black attire and grown up Goths.
Random Notebook Dump: David J of Bauhaus was handing out fliers to his new play “The Chanteuse and the Devil's Muse”.
Setlist:
“No Love Lost”
“Leaders of Men”
“Glass”
“Digital”
“Disorder”
“Day of the Lords”
“Candidate”
“Insight” with Moby
“New Dawn Fades” with Moby
“She's Lost Control”
“Shadowplay”
“Wilderness”
“Interzone”
“I Remember Nothing”
“Dead Souls”
“Warsaw”
“Failures”
“Transmission” with Moby
“Love Will Tear Us Apart”

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