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Has Peter Hook been Freebassing too much? Yes Hooky you are probably the most influential bass player in rock music of the last thirty years. And yes, you were in the hugely influential Joy Division during their brief career and then continued with the remaining members in New Order off and on until an acrimonious falling out with Bernard Sumner in 2007. However your other bands, which include Revenge, Monaco and Freebass have been a bit hit and miss and your DJing skills have also been called into question.

But you are cashing in your remaining and ever dwindling credibility with your new project Peter Hook and Friends (formerly Peter Hook and The Light) which is now touring Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures “Don’t Look Back” style — playing all the songs sequentially from classic albums.

From the press release

To commemorate the 30th Anniversary of Joy Divisions’ seminal debut album
Unknown Pleasures, founding member Peter Hook and Friends will perform the album in its entirety in Australia for the first time.  The epic show will include live performances of all of the songs from the album including “She’s Lost Control”, “New Dawn Fade”s and “Disorder”.  Audiences will also be treated to performances of other early Joy Division tracks, as well as the classic non-album singles “Transmission” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart”.

Should be just like 1979, right? Except for a) the lead singer of Joy Division, Ian Curtis, is of course no longer with us, b) Unknown Pleasures is the lesser album in Joy Division’s slender canon and c) the two other remaining members of Joy Division aren’t involved. Also who exactly are the “and Friends”? If a recent Manchester show is any indication they could include Rowetta from the Happy Mondays and his son, Jack, also on bass.

Whether the enterprise will be a day of the lords or an atrocity exhibition we’re actually kind of curious and will be seeing the carnival when it roles into town on:

Friday September 24. Melbourne. Palais Theatre
Saturday September 25. Sydney. Enmore Theatre
Monday September 27. Brisbane. Tivoli Theatre

Tickets from redanttouring.com and Ticketek 132 849 or Ticketek.com.au on sale July 2.