Peter Hook and The Light Perform New Order’s “Movement” and “Power, Corruption and Lies”, 13 September 2013, NYC

Friday the 13th has always been a lucky day for me, and what luck, I got to see Peter Hook & the Light. Hooky and band performed New Order’s “Movement” and “Power, Corruption & Lies” at Webster Hall in New York City. Not only that, but we were treated to Joy Division songs as well. This time though the band performed those songs under the name Slaves of Venus, a name Joy Division had considered calling themselves, as well as Boys in Bondage. (Page 5 and 90 in Hook’s book Unknown Pleasures ‘Inside Joy Division’.)

The night started off with Slaves of Venus doing a handful of Joy Division songs including Isolation and Leaders of Men. After that set ended, the guys headed back out for a brief intermission and re-emerged as Peter Hook & The Light. The band performed two albums “Movement” and “Power, Corruption, and Lies” as well as Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart and ended the night with what else? Blue Monday.

At times Hook looked out into the crowd with an expression of amazement like a kid performing on stage for the first time. Obviously it’s not going to sound like the original as Hook’s vocals are rougher than the velvety smoothness of Bernard Sumner, but nevertheless the performance was filled with just as much passion and intensity.

The set was great and I honestly felt it could’ve lasted another hour. Wishful thinking I guess.

David Potts does the majority of the guitar parts and son Jack Bates also performs on bass alongside dad. Not much interaction goes on between father and son, but that’s not an issue for me.

My issue…oh the crowd; Like the crazy lady with long hair whipping it like a helicopter propeller, or the lady in front of me lunging back and forth at times getting her hair caught in my mouth, or the lady who video taped the whole show and from what I could see, it would probably make me dizzy with the way she shot it. Oh yeah, lady with propeller hair also spilled beer on me and kept trying to wipe it off my chest. Hands off, please.

After the show, Hook came out on stage and signed memorabilia for about 30 minutes, before heading back up the stairs to mingle a bit longer with more fans.

Peter Hook and The Light are currently touring North America this month. You can check out their tour schedule for North America and the next few months here:

http://www.peterhook.co.uk/#/events

More photos below including the setlist for both Peter Hook and the Light and Slaves of Venus.