My next few weeks will have me see some of my bucket list bands (hopefully). Rammstein – the band that put me back in touch with German music, Heilung – my personal COVID discovery, and last night, the music that started it all for me – Joy Division. Peter Hook and the Light call their tour “JOY DIVISION: A CELEBRATION” and that’s precisely what the evening turned out to be.
No New Wave band worth their salt would dare play a show in the Twin Cities without bringing out the man most local Gen Xers would save first in an apocalypse – DJ Jake Rudh. As First Avenue filled, he took us back to the age when we were insufferably cool with a well curated playlist.
The set started with a memorable moment when Hooky (as he’s known to his fans) goofed on his part on the melodica during “Your Silent Face” making him break out laughing on stage. The 3 sets of the night would take us from New Order into the past with both Joy Division’s albums each getting their own set. For me seeing the songs that defined my mid teens performed live was a thrill.
The encore brought the big guns and the finale was the song that started it all for me “Love Will Tear Us Apart” it’s been 40+ years since it opened my eyes to the world beyond state ran pop radio in Austria, but it’s still one of the songs that I will turn up the volume for each an every time it comes on
Set 1 – New Order
- Your Silent Face
- Age of Consent
- Everything’s Gone Green
- Procession
- Blue Monday
- Temptation
Set 2 – Unknown Pleasures
- Disorder
- Day of the Lords
- Candidate
- Insight
- New Dawn Fades
- She’s Lost Control
- Shadowplay
- Wilderness
- Interzone
- I Remember Nothing
Set 3 – Closer
- Atrocity Exhibition
- Isolation
- Passover
- Colony
- A Means to an End
- Heart and Soul
- Twenty Four Hours
- The Eternal
- Decades
Encore:
- Atmosphere- Joy Division
- Ceremony – New Order
- Transmission – Joy Division
- Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
