Concert review: Peter Hook and The Light | 06.06.25, The Pageant (with photo gallery)

Photo of Peter Hook by Laura Jerele

Oh, St. Louis, you truly understood the assignment: show up huge for Peter Hook and The Light’s first ever show here. Billed as “an evening with,” Peter Hook knows exactly how to dial in and deliver what his fans have longed to see: a three-hour, two-set evening of Joy Division and New Order music.

The evening was nothing short of perfection, broken strings included because hey, that’s just rock ‘n’ roll. I covered a previous iteration of a Peter Hook and The Light tour in Chicago last year and I can assure you that he delivers 100% on these shows while giving fans the rare opportunity to enjoy the music of Joy Division and New Order live. Hook is a legend as he’s responsible for creating some of the most prolific and influential music of all time. This evening, he played New Order’s classic 2001 album Get Ready in its entirety, track by awesome track, opening the show with “Crystal,” a timeless synthy rock track that is designed to make you dance, and did not let up as they hit ground running.  What’s really great about these tours is the deep cuts get played, and they get played perfectly. A track like “Someone Like You,” which never got much radio play but is forever in fans’ hearts, flooded our ears with thrilling sound. It was a whole mood complete with tons of fog, ethereal lights, and nothing too flashy or contrived. 

Something that makes The Light a very special band is having Hook’s son, Jack, also on bass when he is not touring with the Smashing Pumpkins. Much like his father, his playing is heavy with depth and time, bringing unapologetically bass-forward songs to life with a certain ease. The unique feel these two incredibly talented players have while playing together is something you truly have to experience live. It’s just beyond cool, it’s admirable, and it’s thunderous. Watching the nuance of the father-son dynamic was incredibly moving, with Jack always keenly aware of where his father is, or should be, on stage and, in a subtle way, flanking to the side or to the back as if to give his dad all of the presence that he deserves. The love and admiration are very real; you could even see it in the very understated moments when Jack was briefly offstage and filming his father on his phone. 

Whoever said a bass player cannot also be a frontman has obviously never seen Peter Hook perform. Ever the consummate of both, he has an ease and swagger that is both alluring and at times intimidating, but damn! Does he ever know how to command the crowd with just simply waving his hand in the air! His Mancunian grit and worldly experience collide with his signature low-slung bass, confident air about him ,decked out in cargo shorts and combat boots. Get Ready was played in its entirety, breaking for a short intermission to come back for a second set that dove right into the music that built and defined his early career, Joy Division. He takes great care in performing and singing these songs with great respect for his former bandmate, the late, incomparable Ian Curtis. For most people, hearing these songs played live by a founding member of the band is surreal, myself included. I think that’s what made this concert so special, seeing so many people on the verge of tears, singing, and dancing with their arms in the air, and really giving in to the music that they probably wanted to hear their whole lives played live. “Shadowplay,” “Transmission,” “Disorder.” “Twenty Four Hours.” “New Dawn Fades.” These songs hit us hard—so we sang, we danced…”dance, dance, dance to the radio” became a massive sing-along that echoed really freaking loud, feeling like it was an encore, but it was nowhere near over (again, thank you, St. Louis, for bringing your love for this music tonight).

The set changes with each city they play, and tonight’s setlist featured “Atmosphere,” which is exactly that, a very touching and atmospheric song, and with all the fog and richly hued lights made that feeling of early gritty Manchester tangible. The Light really owns it when they play Joy Division, there’s no two ways about it. They perform it as if all the members wrote this music—not a single member calls it in or does this half-assed. Bringing huge New Order hits towards the end of this set, you could feel the shift and tones ebbing from helplessness to hope with songs like “Ceremony” and going full throttle dance with “Temptation.” Hearing the majority of the crowd singing around and behind me was absolutely fantastic. It reassured me of just how many St. Louisans have killer taste in music! As much as “Age of Consent” is undoubtedly one of the best pop songs ever written, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” is undoubtably one of the BEST SONGS ever written, so it was only fitting that song closes out each show with a massive choral sing along, arms in the air clapping and all while Hooky soaks it all up. And if you disagree with me on that song, well, we’ll just have to take that outside…

Hooky embodies a grounded mindset, you can see how grateful he is to be playing the music he created and he embodies a lot of love for the fans that love it back. Playing these three-hour shows, Hooky kicks it better as a sixty-something-year-old than most twenty-somethings do on their best day. I feel so damn lucky to have seen The Light on several tours, getting to photograph an artist I love and admire this much means so much to me; my photos are a love letter to this music, this night, this city, this legend, his son, his band…and always to the light. | Laura Jerele