There is something analogous between rock & roll and Peter Pan, and this could be considered in the setting of Peter Hook celebrating the legacy of Joy Division and his musical beginnings in that band.
I haven't quite worked it all out given the dichotomy of his perennial Peter Pan role and that of his namesake archenemy in this analogy, although it could be said that he is the captain of this ship – Joy Division: A Celebration.What originally started as a one-off live performance over ten years ago has developed into an ongoing project with long-term collaborators Paul Kehoe and David Potts on drums and guitar respectively.
Both have worked with Hooky over 30 years and have been members of his New Order side-projects since the early '90s, Revenge and Monaco.
The former may not have gained the recognition and success of the latter, Monaco being somewhat closer in sound to later New Order perhaps partly due to David Potts and Bernard Sumner's vocal similarities.
Hooky's son Jack Bates is subbing in the family tradition of trademark low-slung bass and looks like he could be in a heavy metal band dressed in black with his long, sweat-drenched hair.
Since their last appearance in Adelaide in 2017, they have been joined on synthesisers by Martin Rebelski – an unofficial member of Doves.
The introductory set of New Order material acts as a warm-up exercise, starting with the pleasant mid-period song 'Thieves Like Us' before a step back to the classic second album ('Power, Corruption & Lies') with the downbeat 'Leave Me Alone'.
The idea that Hooky is concentrating just on his early career is contradicted when there is a surprising jump forward for the next three songs, on which David Potts takes a greater vocal lead, first with Balearic beats influenced 'Vanishing Point' from 'Technique' before later period singles 'Regret' and 'Crystal'.
To close this first set, Hooky asks: "What day is it? Oh, yeah – Sunday, when a man's mind turns to temptation." Early classic single 'Temptation' sets the scene for a party vibe as Hooky swings his bass around like it's an extension of his body, playing at 'Duelling Banjos' speed and the audience shouts the "up down turn around" chorus back at the band.
After this opening salvo, the band's return is soundtracked by the early influencing Kraftwerk track 'Trans Europe Expres'. For this set of Joy Division's debut album 'Unknown Pleasures', it is easier to accept Hooky's deeper, gravelly vocals as a replacement for those of the departed Ian Curtis; although on 'Disorder', he growls like he's in need of a throat lozenge.
Playing an album in entirety allows for lesser known material to be heard in the intended sequence and context. This doesn't just mean that you are hearing a straight performance of the album though, as there is often some degree of a transformation that occurs in the live setting.
'Day Of Lords' could be doom metal, while 'Candidate' is an abstract soundscape, and during 'Interzone' Hooky gives a punk-rockabilly vocal as though he is speaking in tongues.
There are only a few, brief audience interactions with Hooky keeping to the programme while enjoying playing the aforementioned Peter Pan role.
Throughout the evening (27 November), there is the occasional illusion of intimacy, as he makes eye contact with individuals and winks and breaks the fourth wall; such as while playing side of stage, he nods and acknowledges one of the security staff who was trying to be discrete beside him and later putting his arm around another member of the security staff.
The third set consists of the final official Joy Division album; 'Closer' builds to a satisfying climax with the segue of 'Heart And Soul' into 'Twenty Four Hours', and then the pairing of the funereal 'The Eternal' and 'Decades' seeming prophetic in retrospect given that Ian Curtis later took his own life.
For these final songs of the album, you are transfixed by the band and almost forget the audience around you. Hooky exchanges bass for melodica in the closing portion of 'Decades' and his contribution by playing this toy-like instrument is a contrast within the song before he leaves to let the band play the song out.
As an encore, the band return with Hooky commenting that it has been a bad week with the passing of Keith Levene and Wilko Johnson, and dedicates the appropriate wake soundtrack 'Atmosphere' to the latter.
This is followed with the somewhat uplifting 'Ceremony'. After an extraneous, sounding out of place 'Transmission', the perhaps obligatory 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' ends the evening and is a misconstrued party anthem with the audience singing the chorus back to the band.
In his final moments on stage, Hooky holds his bass aloft like a sacrificial kill. He takes off his shirt like he has completed a kind of rite of passage and gives it to a kid down front like some passing of the baton to perhaps the next generation of lost boys.
