Peter Hook & The Light play Toronto 25 years to the day since Get Ready’s release

Halfway through Peter Hook & The Light’s Toronto set at History, just a few dates into their 22-date North American tour performing New Order’s 2001 album Get Ready in its entirety, before a second set of seminal Joy Division and New Order songs, “Hooky” told the packed crowd the evening was significant.

“Today, to the day, 25 years ago, it was released,” said the bassist and singer, making him “feel very old,” he jokes. 

 “I’m absolutely honoured that it was our best-selling LP in Canada and America. So, with that in mind, we’re gonna play a song that’s not off the LP. That just shows how fucking ornery we are,” he joked. “This is off the next album, Waiting for the Sirens’ Call, because we’re going to be playing it soon, so this is ‘Krafty.’”

By soon, he was referring to the next tour. Since 2010, when he performed Joy Division’s 1979 debut album, Unknown Pleasures, front to back for a commemorative charity concert, he has been working his way through Joy Division and New Order catalogues: Joy Division’s Closer (1980) and Still (1981), then New Order’s Movement (1981), Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Low-Life (1985), Brotherhood (1986), Substance (1987), Technique (1989), Republic (1993), and now Get Ready.

It was fun to see fans in the crowd wearing the identical “Hooky” T-shirt, with only the year changing — a kind of travelling souvenir marking each tour on his ongoing journey through the catalogues.

Released in 2001, Get Ready reached No. 6 on the U.K. album chart and No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard electronic albums chart. It produced singles including “Crystal,” “Someone Like You” and “60 Miles an Hour,” and was dedicated to Rob Gretton, the manager of both Joy Division and New Order, who died in 1999.

The first half of History’s show opened as Get Ready does, with “Crystal,” and moved through “60 Miles an Hour,” “Turn My Way,” “Vicious Streak,” “Primitive Notion,” “Slow Jam,” “Rock the Shack,” “Someone Like You,” “Close Range” and “Run Wild.” Hook flipped through a booklet of songs on a stand in front of his microphone stand, as he worked his way through the night’s set list. Now 70, he wore knee-length shorts and a Joy Division Permanent compilation T-shirt that said “Hate” on the back, an homage to Curtis’ donkey jacket.

The Light — featuring Hook’s son Jack Bates on bass, Paul Kehoe on drums, David Potts on guitar and Martin Rebelski on multiple keyboards and synths — delivered the album with “Pottsy,” as he is often called, helping out on lead vocals on several songs.

They closed the first set with “Here to Stay,” from the film 24 Hour Party People, then walked off without telling the crowd that they’d be back. The crowd must have known it was just a short break because no one left.

Then a guy, whose connection to Hook was initially unclear — he’s Hook’s friend, George King, a Superior Court of Ontario judge  — came on the stage at the end of intermission to bring the band back out.

 “I have a very important question for the crowd, which is why the lights are on. I need an honest answer to this question. How many of you had tickets 16,896 days ago to see a gig here in Toronto at the Edge?” he asked to cheers. “Ah, it couldn’t have been that many. How many? Be honest. How many?

“A guy backstage who was gonna be at that gig — and he’s gonna be out in a minute — unfortunately, he was sitting in his flat in Manchester, one week to the day after the band that was gonna define — in fact, did define — post-punk music was shattered by the tragic death, one week earlier, of Ian Curtis.

“And so it is that since then, this man has been back many times to Toronto. I saw him for the first time in 1981, with New Order. Now, what’s significant about tonight? He’s back in Toronto for the first time as an inducted member to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” he said to cheers, before introducing the band members by name and asking for a “big Maple Leaf welcome” for them. 

Joy Division and New Order will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, including late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, and members of both bands: Hook, Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and New Order’s Gillian Gilbert. Hook had a falling out with his bandmates in 2007 after what he considered was their final tour — turns out it was not; the band has been touring since 2011, and Hook has, as noted, been performing the songs from both bands too.

The Joy Division/New Order portion opened with “Atmosphere,” which Hook dedicated to “a wonderful woman; she actually helped us write a song. That song was ‘Paradise,’ and I truly hope that Dolly ends up in paradise,” he said. The character in the 1986 song is named Jolene. But Hook didn’t play that song. Instead, he chose “Atmosphere,” which he concluded with, “Rest in peace, Dolly.”

That was followed by Joy Division classics including “Digital,” “Interzone,” “Disorder,” “The Only Mistake,” “New Dawn Fades,” “She’s Lost Control,” “Shadowplay” and “Transmission.”

“The Only Mistake” was a particularly rare treat. Hook noted that it was the first time he had performed the song since 2015 and dedicated it a superfan in the front row.

From there, the set moved through New Order favourites including “Dreams Never End,” “Love Vigilantes,” “Ceremony,” “Vanishing Point,” “Temptation,” “True Faith” and “Blue Monday,” with “What Do You Want From Me?” the lone pick from Hook’s post-New Order band, Monaco, that he had formed with Potts and Kehoe.  The night ended with two star tracks: New Order’s “Blue Monday” and Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” 

The trim 70-year-old then, like a rock star who doesn’t act “very old,” took off his “Hate” T-shirt and tossed it into the crowd, and like