Peter Hook and The Light treated a packed Manchester Ritz to some seldom-heard pleasures last week. New Order’s Low-Life and Brotherhood were each given a rare run-out, with the evening beginning with a selection of Joy Division classics, including Atmosphere, She’s Lost Control and Isolation – each as brutally haunting as ever.

Listening to the likes of Thieves Like Us or Bizarre Love Triangle, I was reminded how bass-dependent the sounds of Joy Division and New Order really were/are – more so than on the varying vocal abilities of Curtis or Sumner. And, as The Perfect Kiss was halted half way through to enable the removal of an over-juiced idiot starting fights in the pit, I was also reminded that Hooky doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

Words and images by Chris Payne