After a few near misses and late call offs due to you know what, Peter Hook and friends finally made it to the Glasgow leg of the Joy Division: A Celebration.
Fans of both the original band and tonight’s line up have had to hang on to their tickets for a while, but finally the day arrived and what a show, it was one well worth waiting for.
Tonight’s stage times were given as 8pm to 11pm, and with no support on this leg that meant a 31-track show of nearly 3 hoursof New Order and Joy Division music that would satisfy even the most particular of fans.
Opening first off with a small seven track set of New Order numbers, this got the crowd primed for the evening ahead. There was to be no Blue Monday or any of the other big hitters tonight, but second track Ceremony got a big roar of approval and still sounds fabulous live. Crystal, Thieves Like Us and Your Silent Face closed part one before the band take a short breather, gratefully accepted in the boiling hot cauldron of The Barrowland Ballroom.
Next up the debut album by Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures. The band were formed in 1976 by Hook and Bernard Sumner, inspired by seeing The Sex Pistols live at the start of the punk movement in the UK. Drummer Stephen Morris and front man Ian Curtis completed the line-up. Originally called Warsaw, the band went through a number of personnel changes before settling and changed name to Joy Division in 1978, to avoid confusion with another band from London. Recorded in early 1979, the album was instantly touted as album of the year and to this day holds cult status with indie music fans.
Opening with Disorder, Day of the Lords and Candidate, the band is in full flow, it’s great hearing the album played out live, and I, like most was waiting for side two track one, She’s Lost Control being a particular favourite. Hooky’s vocal not quite as deep and slightly rougher than that of Ian Curtis, but he does the job admirably, close your eyes and its 1979 again, goosebumps time! Interzone and I Remember Nothing finished off the album. Time for another break, with the temperature in the venue now way past boiling point.
Second half of the show now and the band’s second album Closer from 1980. This was released in July of that year, two months after the passing of lead singer Ian Curtis and is looked upon as one of the major album releases of the post punk era in British music. Again there’s a feeling of Goth about it, a sense of bleakness, dark depression and anxiety, and musically influenced by the likes of Kraftwerk and maybe The Human League, with more synths and a dance feel to the music, moving away from the guitars of earlier recordings.
Atrocity Exhibition opens the record, and if you ever needed an insight into the state of mind Curtis was in at the time, this is it. The atmosphere is incredible, the lyrics to the songs are said to be a suicide note set to music and who can argue. Isolation, Heart and Soul, Twenty Four Hours – ‘Gotta find my destiny, before it gets too late’ and the funeral march-like The Eternal – ‘Try to cry out in the heat of the moment, possessed by a fury that burns from inside’. Chilling, hypnotic and just magnificent. It’s unjust that Curtis was not with us to see the release of this masterpiece.
As if we haven’t been spoiled enough the band return for a finale of four more tracks. The haunting Atmosphere, These Days, a storming version of debut single Transmission and closing with the ultimate Love Will Tear Us Apart, which had everyone in the old ballroom on their toes, before Hooky and the boys said their farewells and the evening was over.
What an effort, nearly three hours on stage, over thirty songs and every song played with 100% conviction, desire and passion. Peter Hook has been at the forefront of the British music scene for over 40 years now with Joy Division and New Order and he just seems to get better with age. A tremendous gig from a man at the top of his game, obviously loving the feedback from the ecstatic Glasgow audience. What a gig.
Words and pictures: Stephen Wilson @steviewilson99