REVIEW: Songs of substance from Peter Hook & The Light in Brighton

Oh my word – the Concorde 2 have done it again – with another totally enjoyable full-capacity gig.

Tuesday’s mixed aged audience saw the eagerly anticipated return of Salford-born bass-axeman and rock legend Peter Hook with his band The Light.

‘Hooky’, as he is known to his fans, was actually born Peter Woodhead, but took on his step-father’s name at an early age.

The turning point in his life was when he was aged 20 and he went with his mate Barney to see this new band called The Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester in June 1976.

That 50p he paid for his gig ticket literally changed his life, as there and then him and Barney decided to set up their very own band, which, in a short space of time, became one of the supreme indie bands in the world, namely Joy Division.

After the untimely death of their singer (Ian Curtis) they moved on to morph into chart-busting New Order.

Seven years later and they had released the UK’s biggest selling 12” single of all time in ‘Blue Monday’ and funnily enough this gig was the 34th anniversary of its release.

Truly amazing to think the song was released that long ago.

This concert was part of a three-week UK leg of the ‘Substance’ compilation albums outings and Hooky and the boys really treated the lucky punters to an amazing 31 songs.

This featured 16 timeless New Order classics, including the aforementioned ‘Blue Monday’ as well as ‘Confusion’, ‘True Faith’, ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, ‘1963’ and possibly one of my three all-time favourite songs ‘Temptation’ (the other two being ‘Neon Lights’ by Kraftwerk and ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ By Tubeway Army).

After a short 10-minute interval, Hooky (now 61 years young) and his pals, including his son, Jack Bates, who also plays bass, were welcomed back and continued their set with 15 Joy Division classics, including ‘Transmission’, ‘She’s Lost Control’, Dead Souls’, ‘Atmosphere’, ‘Leaders of Men’, ‘Warsaw’ and timeless night finale ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’.

And there you have it, this 61-year-old diamond geezer performed for no less than two and a half hours in total and in general puts most artists to shame in the commitment stakes.

I raise my hat to you sir!

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