Last Friday night Peter Hook and the Light made their first ever stop in St. Louis at The Pageant. The legendary bassist from Joy Division and New Order fame played a two set show consisting of the New Order album Get Ready in its entirety along with second set that was a Joy Division/New Order greatest hits set along with the Monaco song ‘What Do You Want From Me?’.

Peter Hook is a man with a mission. That mission is to play every song that he has ever recorded live. The night started out with the New Order album Get Ready. During the opening song ‘Crystal‘ Hooky broke a string and while it was being replaced that band continued on into track two ‘60 Miles an Hour‘. During the song Hook gave a few glances to his son and fellow bassist Jack Bates as drummer Paul Kehoe, guitarist David Potts, and keyboardist Martin Rebelski continued on with ‘60 Miles an Hour‘. After finishing the song Hook asked the crowd if they wanted to hear it again with the crowd cheering loudly. The rest of the set went off without a hitch.

After a short intermission the band returned for their second set. Hook announced to the crowd that this song was one of Ian’s favorites as he was able to play guitar on it and that it was to bad can’t be with us tonight but I imagine him up there strapping up and playing along before kicking into the Joy Division song ‘Incubation‘. Joy Division holds a special place in my memories. I would roam around downtown St. Louis doing street photography while listening to Interpol’s Our Love to Admire, 65daysofstatic’s Fall of Math and Joy Division’s Closer. So hearing the songs ‘Isolation‘ and ‘Twenty Four Hours‘ brought back many memories of walking across Eads Bridge into St. Louis and then roaming the streets taking pictures for hours at a time. Nearing an end to the Joy Division portion of the second set Hook said that it’s been 45 years since Ian left us and I don’t know about you guys but I still fucking miss him. This one’s for him. Before playing the haunting and iconic song ‘Atmosphere‘. A few songs into the New Order portion of the set Hook broke his second string of the night during ‘Age of Consent’. He told the crowd that breaking two strings in one night is a record for him. Nearing the end of the night and fearing that he could break yet another string he said looking to the sky “Ian if your up there don’t let me break a string on this one” before the New Order song ‘Temptation‘. The night was closed out with the iconic Joy Division song ‘Love Will Tear us Apart‘ with just about everyone in the packed Pageant singing along to every word.