New Order to play in the US

I am so looking forward to New Order's tour this fall! No surprise that Peter Hook -- whose new book, "Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division," will be published in October -- will not be part of this reunion. His friendship with the others dissolved years ago and in response to Hook and his own band playing Joy Division cover gigs, New Order's Bernard Sumner told the Guardian, ""We've spent all our life as an outfit with principles and ideals and what Peter has done goes against everything we've stood for. He thought Joy Division were depressing." Hooky's response? "If I'd asked him for permission, they'd have told me to fuck off anyway." And when New Order reunited last year, Hook posted the following on his site: "Everyone knows New Order without Peter Hook is like Queen without Freddie Mercury, U2 without The Edge, Sooty without Sweep!" Oh well, I'm just glad Gillian Gilbert is back in the band!

• [Mitchell Glaser]

  “U2 without The Edge”? Oh, brother. Would anybody notice? Now, Queen without Freddie Mercury would be a whole different ballgame. And I say that while acknowledging the fact that Queen is the only band where all four members wrote songs that hit #1 on the charts.

  • [joe blough]

    not sure what you’re on about – edge’s guitar sound is pretty integral to U2, and hooky also has a very distinctive style. maybe he should have said “the who without entwistle” because we’d all notice that too.

    • [Cowicide]

      Weird, we said the same thing at about the same, exact time.  So… it must be true. ^-^

  • [Cowicide]

    “U2 without The Edge”? Oh, brother. Would anybody notice?

    I would.  Edge is one of the few guitarists out there that has a distinctive style people can recognize fairly easily.

• [EH]

  Huh, I would have guessed that Hook was kicked out for being a shitty DJ.

  • [robert feller]

    Maybe a shitty DJ but his bass lines WERE and ARE the success of New Order as much as any other variable…

• [Rob Jordan]

  Yikes! Has it really been 19 years since I saw New Order and The The in Chicago? (We were late and missed 808 State.)

  • [David Pescovitz]

    I’m telling ya… Last I saw them was in 1989 with PiL and Sugarcubes…

    • [Cowicide]

      Sigh, I loved the Sugarcubes.

    • [joe blough]

       man that must have been some show. i think i saw NO in 1987 from the hill behind the greek theater in berkeley.

• [Navin_Johnson]

  Gotta agree with him, he’s an essential part of their formula, in fact probably my favorite element of New Order. :(

• [MileHighBroheem]

  Hook wrote a very interesting book about The Hacienda, their famed club in Manchester back in the day.  It was called The Hacienda or How Not to Run a Club.

  Having read it, I can see why the band isn’t together no more. Kind of sad but then again, how many people can sustain a working relationship for 30 years or whatever?

• [joe blough]

  well, despite my reservations about NO-hook, i did buy tickets this morning.

• [Mike Westereng]

  The first time I heard that True Faith I was speeding, windows down, a hilly country road on a summer night. It still evokes the same great feeling every time I hear that song

• [Incipient Madness]

   No Hooky, no go. Peter Hook was a driving force who cannot be replaced. I would see this NO tour only if they had Geddy Lee subbing for Hook. I’d love to see Geddy prove that his pluck and smear bass style is more awesome than anything Hook dreamed of.

  Now if Hook reformed Monaco and toured today, I’d buy tickets. Monaco was awesome.

• [Rebecca Fleet]

  New Order is notoriously terrible live.  I always get a kick out of this version of temptation which is full of lots of guitar flubs, but the best being around the 5:00 mark where Sumner just can’t seem to find the 3rd chord of the progression, but that doesn’t stop him from going for it full steam ahead each time until he finally figures it out.  http://mp3lemon.org/song/399344/New%20Order%20-%2002%20-%20Temptation

• [malindrome]

  Love that song so much, but WOW is that video terrible!  What were they thinking?  It’s like they wanted to have a contest with “Ashes to Ashes”-era David Bowie to see who could create the worst video for the most awesome song …

  • [Chentzilla]

    Instantly recognizable, though. I just had to see that stop frame for the music to start playing in my head.

• [toyg]

  What is it with Manchester bands and their egos? Smiths: acrimonious split. Oasis: acrimonious split. Stone Roses: acrimonious split. New Order: acrimonious split — and just before the end of their career! Happy Mondays: not much of a band to begin with, so doesn’t count.

  I wonder how much of this is due to Tony Wilson passing away, re-opening the self-celebratory “Madchester” can of worms.

• [siloxane]

  Ah, crap. Six US dates, none near me — I hope they add more shows. Although the absence of Hooky is disappointing, I’d still love to see this show.

• [Brian Blank]

  10:00 am tomorrow morning, tickets go on sale for their show in Chicago. I’ve already got 2 alarms set to remind me. I’ve been a New Order fan since 1983 and have never had the chance to see them live. Even though I love Peter Hook and am disappointed that he won’t be with them, it’s great that Bernard, Gillian, and Stephen will be touring the US and coming to Chicago! 

  And for those who say that Peter Hook is unimportant to New Order’s sound, I respectfully say you have no idea what you’re talking about. Peter Hook used the same technique pioneered by the band Wire by using the bass to play melody, and moving the keyboards into the traditional role played on bass — thus giving New Order much of their distinctive sound.