Unknown Pleasures & Closer - A Joy Division Celebration

Following last weeks announcement that Peter Hook & The Light will play Closer at the Studio in Auckland on Friday 20th April, Solid Entertainment are delighted to announce that the Joy Division bassist will perform both the Unknown Pleasures album and Closer at Bodega in Wellington.

The Unknown Pleasures 30th Anniversary Tour in 2010 was a sell-out success in most cities (including Auckland) but was not performed in Wellington. In a decision sure to thrill those who want to celebrate and share again in the music of Joy Division, Wellington will now get the chance to see both Unknown Pleasures and the Closer performances. Auckland is one show only, and is a Closer show.

Peter Hook & The Light play
Unknown Pleasures on Wednesday 18 April 2012 @ Bodega, Wellington
Closer on Thursday 19 April 2012 @ Bodega, Wellington
Closer on Friday 20 April 2012 @ Studio, Auckland

An opportunity to hear both of Joy Division’s seminal albums played in full plus other classic non-album tracks. Two of the greatest albums ever released from a band regarded as one of the most formidable and influential in musical history.

Joy Division’s debut album Unknown Pleasures was released in 1979 in a black and white sleeve. An album and an artwork that is now about as iconic as it gets. The music was produced in collaboration with Martin Hannet, the artwork conceived alongside Peter Saville. It was released by Tony Wilson at Factory Records in Manchester. Joy Division and the people they worked with, created and shaped a defining moment in time and a whole cultural movement that still influences and resonates today.

Unknown Pleasures was a landmark release and changed everything.
New Dawn Fades, She’s Lost Control, Disorder, Insight, Shadowplay and Interzone are song titles to send chills down your spine and joy into your heart.

Although the band was to last only three and a half years with the tragic suicide of Joy Division lead singer, Ian Curtis in May 1980, the Martin Hannett produced seminal second and final album Closer was released two months later, becoming an instant classic across fans and critics.

The release of Closer came as a bitter-sweet comfort to fans around the world and the album has come to be seen by many as Joy Divisions’ finest work. "Closer is even more austere, more claustrophobic, more inventive, more beautiful, and more haunting than its predecessor. It's also Joy Division's start-to-finish masterpiece, a flawless encapsulation of everything the group sought to achieve. 10 / 10." (Pitchfork Media)

A stunning beautiful and emotive work Closer is considered an across the board five star, ten out of ten album.

Spawning the landmark tracks ‘Twenty Four Hours’, ‘Isolation’, ‘Heart And Soul’ and the haunting finale ‘Decades’, the album reached #6 on the UK Albums Chart in an era when such music rarely appeared on mainstream charts, and claimed the #1 slot as NME Album of the Year.

Since then, Closer has received numerous accolades: it was ranked #10 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1980s, #72 on NME's 100 Greatest British Albums Ever and in 2006 was ranked #8 in Q Magazine’s list of Best Albums of the '80s.

Peter Hook is a founding member of two of the most significant bands in popular musical history – Joy Division and New Order – and a legend in his own right. His 2010 Unknown Pleasures tour was a huge sell-out success - Hooky, The Light and the music of Joy Division was received with open arms by grateful fans who, 30 years on, still hold this phenomenal contribution to musical history close to their hearts.

As bleak as it is beautiful Closer is as relevant now as it was on its release.
Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic Joy Division experience, live.

Tickets on sale:
Wellington: Thursday 19th January, 9am
Auckland: On Sale Now

Event listed by solidentertainment

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