Joy Division were 'Manchester post-punk poets' - Hook

It is 35 years since the death of Ian Curtis, front man of the Salford post-punk band Joy Division.

The band garnered international critical acclaim with the release of their debut album Unknown Pleasures in 1979, but was dissolved following Curtis’s suicide at the age of just 23 in 1980.

To mark the occasion, ex-Joy Division bassist Peter Hook, who went on to form New Order with Bernard Sumner, is performing a one-off homecoming concert on Monday at Christ Church in Macclesfield.

Peter Hook and The Light will play Joy Division’s entire back catalogue at the venue, close to the Talbot Pub where the band used to rehearse - with all profits going to the Royal Epilepsy Society.

"We were the Manchester post-punk poets," Hook told Today of the band's acclaim.

“Ian was a fantastic lyricist and a wonderful, wonderful front man… an inspiration to people, especially at an age when they’re looking for something in life.”