It's one thing to have a legendary band name on your CV, but to have two is an amazing achievement. This is the case for bassist Peter Hook, who you may know from Joy Division AND New Order. This tour is special for fans of both, as the 'Substance' tour promises a night of New Order's 'Substance' compilation in full and a mixture of Joy Division tracks, heavily taken from records such as the classic 'Unknown Pleasures', but also featuring on their compilation also known as 'Substance'.
Stepping into the Institute in Birmingham, the room is readily packed, there is no support tonight, just over two and a half hours planned of pure nostalgia, looking at the crowd, there are many people in here who were not even alive when any of the tracks played tonight were released originally. But that shows the everlasting effect a great band can have that even after disbandment can attract a newer audience.
To bring those up to speed who may not be so familiar with Hook's career, it's worth noting that his main role in the tracks you would be most familiar with was as the bassist rather than lead vocals (although it's important to mention he was no stranger to the microphone back then either). However, over the years, he is now centre stage, on lead vocals.
Hook and his band 'The Light' took to the stage, starting with 'In a Lonely Place', a track that features 'call to war' drums, a melodica and soon enough Hook's iconic bass tone makes an appearance. 'Leave Me Alone' and 'Regret' act as the warm-up tracks before we dive into what would be the entirety of 'Substance' (if we are going off the LP rather than the 2disc CD edition).
"Why is there a picture of Lemmy? Was he from Birmingham?" Peter asks. Not quite Peter, but close enough depending on who you're asking.
Visually, fans further back are treated to a light show that is very cohesive to the tracks. During 'Everything's Gone Green', literally, everything had indeed gone green. 'Blue Monday'? Well, you can guess what happened there. Speaking of, we are only 7 numbers in and the classic track is thrown into the mix, the room erupts and roars with glee. Everyone's phone goes into the air as Hook sings the hit track, which is very on point with Bernard Sumner's original vocal style.
Hook and the band complete what would be 'the New Order' set and the night moves onto where it all began. As mentioned earlier, it is a set of Joy Division bangers pulling tracks from the compilation 'Substance', but very heavy on the Unknown Pleasures tracks. Starting with 'Candidate', the fifteen-song segment featured fan favourites such as 'Transmission' and 'She's Lost Control', but also threw in a couple of deep cuts from scrapped projects such as 'Warsaw' or B-sides such as 'Dead Souls'.
There was only ever going to be one way to end this night and it was with the absolute classic that I'm sure anyone with ears has heard, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'. A big shout-out also has to go to Hook's band for bringing this all together and putting on a phenomenal show. A definite must if you can get to a show on the current cycle or any in the future, you won't be disappointed.
Comments