Peter Hook & the Light in Seattle

We went to the center of the city of the night to catch Peter Hook & the Light at the Showbox last night. (Well, maybe it's pretty close to the center; it's hard to say. Seattle's geography is weird like that.) Without an opening act, the band came on stage to the "Regnar Returns" theme from The Vikings -- at least that's what someone standing next to me in the crowd said -- and launched into a generous set of New Order classics. The set included all of the Substance compilation. After a short intermission, the band returned to the stage to "Trans Europe Express" and did the same with Joy Division's Substance comp, with a few additional JD choices for good measure.

The band's lineup is basically the same as the touring lineup of Hook's side project Monaco -- drummer Paul Kehoe and guitarist/vocalist David Potts, with Doves keyboardist Martin Rebelski in place of Monaco's original keyboardist Andy Poole. Jack Bates (Hook's son) augments the lineup on bass. I don't remember the last time I saw a band with multiple bassists, other than Spinal Tap playing "Big Bottoms." As it turns out, Bates fills in the bass riffs whenever his dad is singing ... or whenever Hooky is just sort of waving his bass around, as if it were some sort of shield. He's still kind of a gruff, glowering stage presence, but not nearly as belligerent onstage as he was when I saw him with New Order, in the late '80s. (He did make a comment, right after the intermission, that Seattle and Manchester both lost their biggest musical icons to suicide.)

This is probably the most jam-packed show I've ever seen at the Showbox. And those fans were really enthusiastic, yelling out requests for songs by Revenge and Monaco, as well as songs by the two core bands. But, nothing doing. After playing "Love Will Tear Us Apart," the band took its bows. Hook took off his t-shirt and threw it to the crowd, and said good night and God bless. No encore. Just as well; after two SRO shows in three days, our feet were tired.

SETLIST:
Your Silent Face
Hurt
Touched By the Hand of God
Ceremony
Everything's Gone Green
Temptation
Blue Monday
Confusion
Thieves Like Us
The Perfect Kiss
Sub-culture
Shellshock
State of the Nation
Bizarre Love Triangle
True Faith
[intermission]
No Love Lost
Isolation
New Dawn Fades
Disorder
Warsaw
Leaders of Men
Digital
Auto-suggestion
Transmission
She's Lost Control
Shadowplay
Incubation
Dead Souls
Atmosphere
Love Will Tear Us Apart

Good writeup. I saw them a couple of years ago doing 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Closer in it's entirety with a few New Order songs. Add in a couple of interludes between albums and an encore and you have 2 1/2 hours. That's a lot of standing. I'm not even counting the opener. I think that's enough for me. Though I would be tempted if Hook did play some of his other bands songs. I don't understand why he stays with just JD and New Order.

> I don't understand why he stays with just JD and New Order.

He probably knows that those two bands provide his true legacy. Or else he figures that those two catalogues of music will draw more of a crowd than songs by Revenge or Monaco ... let alone selections by Freebass, Ad Infinitum or Hooky & Pottsy. They might make good change-ups or surprises, but a whole evening of their music would draw head-scratching from all but his most devoted fans.