Concert Review: Unknown Pleasures Live

Peter Hook says the Unknown Pleasures Live shows are a celebration of Ian Curtis' life. Photo / Supplied

Peter Hook has got a lot of flak for what he's doing at the moment. Even his friend and sometime musical collaborator, Mani Mountfield, formerly of the Stone Roses, has hit out at him. He accused Hook of dragging his old band mate Ian Curtis's cadaver round the world for his own financial gain by playing Joy Division's classic 1979 debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in its entirety, as well as some of the band's other big songs.

Hook has been resolute about his reasoning for the Unknown Pleasures Live shows: they are a celebration of Curtis's life 30 years after he committed suicide. And while there are hints of a tribute and covers band performance to tonight's show (the first of two sold-out concerts), the big difference is that Hook wrote all these songs so why can't he play them again?

But it's a bold and ambitious move to attempt to bring post punk's most influential album to life without Joy Division's iconic lead singer and former members Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner (whom Hook was in New Order with until three years ago).

So how does Hooky get on? Well, he's got the posturing ego to pull it off-and he does okay.

It's not so much about how the music sounds, because at times it is explosive, and during a towering New Dawn Fades it transports you back more than 30 years. Well, kind of. The big question is how does Hook go emulating Curtis, whose droll voice had a haunting power and intense riveting beauty to it.

Again, he's not bad, at times conjuring up a penetrating Curtis drone (during the relentless groove of Lost Control), other times sounding more like the ghost of Jim Morrison than his old mate (on Glass), and then other times like plain old Peter Hook the throaty, hollering geezer (like on the bash and crash version of Interzone).

Judging by live recordings and film footage from the time, Joy Division were a far more vicious and raw band in concert than they were on record (with producer Martin Hannett injecting Unknown Pleasures with a particularly heightened subtlety and intrigue).

However, during tonight's pent up and rowdy warm up before they get into Unknown Pleasures, it verges on pub rock-meets-karaoke Guitar Hero night with Hooky. Thankfully, when the doomed and slugging Day of the Lords kicks in (with the mantra "Where will it end?" ringing out) they nail the eerie yet loud and visceral sonic presence you would have expected from Joy Division.

Unless you were very lucky, there wasn't much chance to see the band the first time round during their brief four year existence from 1976 to 1980. So this is as close as most were likely to get to the real thing which is why there are plenty of nostalgic group hugs, bouncing around, and sing-a-longs as they rip into Transmission and Love Will Tear Us Apart in the encore.

So while it's not exactly moving and powerful, it's a great nostalgia trip down at the local pub.