UNKNOWN PLEASURES

A busy week with two shows scheduled, two late nights out and too little sleep.  The first night was spent at the Bluebird Theater with the Overcasters and Peter Hook and the Light.

The Overcasters started off the show, just as good as I remembered them a short while ago at the Hi-Dive.  The Westword review said this about their performance:

Overcasters were clearly from the same lineage as Joy Division, especially through the post-punk bands with more creative guitar ideas in the early to late '80s, but with more psychedelic edges. While not short on brooding atmospheres, such as in "The Kiss of Sister Ray," Overcasters once again exorcised melancholy feelings by making its songs burn through the dead weight of a heavy heart rather than dwell on getting stuck in low points. Guitarist John Nichols often had a look of concerned bewilderment, as though he'd just realized his power as a musician for the first time. The set ended with a newer number where the dynamics are centered around the release of tension after a dense and insistent percussion build.

Read it here:
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2011/09/peter_hook_and_the_light_at_the_bluebird_september_19_2011.php

Download the show here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=EDZA9RDW

The Joy Division co-founder and former New Order bassist, Peter Hook, came to Denver with his new band the Light to perform the Joy Division  first album Unknown Pleasures in its entirety.

It was said about their performance:

Peter Hook & the Light came on stage after an introduction in the form of "Trans-Europe Express," by Kraftwerk. With little in the way of further introduction, the band went straight into the driving "No Love Lost," and from the beginning, those guys erased any ideas that this show might not be up to snuff. "Leaders of Men," "Glass" and "Digital" followed in quick succession, and Hook, while not possessing a voice with the same character as Ian Curtis, pulled off the nuances of the vocals that did justice to the spirit of the original songs.

Hook and the band played Unknown Pleasures straight through -- starting, of course, with "Disorder," and for a second it seemed so odd, like actually getting to see a latter-day incarnation of Joy Division. This was partly because guitarist Nat Wason really did have his parts down, and he played with a precision and intensity that was at times unnerving -- because even when he did depart from the original songs in any way, he seemed to do so with a perfect understanding of the essence of the song and interpreted what needed to be done, like he was somehow channeling a young Bernard Sumner. The absolute master of his instrument was consistently awe-inspiring, because he absolutely, truly seemed to be infused with the spirit of what Joy Division was all about.

In bed by 1:30, up by 5.

Read the whole review here:
http://blogs.westword.com/backbeat/2011/09/peter_hook_and_the_light_at_the_bluebird_september_19_2011.php

 Download their show here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TJSACNP2