New Order have reunited for a pair of shows in October, but it won’t be the lineup that fans are used to.
Bassist Peter Hook will be absent from the crew, which hasn’t played out live in five years. Frontman Bernard Sumner, guitarist Phil Cunningham and drummer Stephen Morris have added Gillian Gilbert back in; this will mark the first time in 10 years the keyboardist performed with the group. Additionally, the bassist from New Order side project Bad Lieutenant — Tom Chapman — will fill Hook’s shoes, says BBC 6.
New Order will perform at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels on Oct. 17 and at La Bataclan in Paris on Oct. 18. The gigs are an effort to raise money for film- and music video-maker Michael Shamberg, who is struggling with an unnamed “debilitating” illness. Shamberg has backed a number of New Order’s clips, including famed “True Faith.”
The electronic/rock act split in 2007 after things with Hook turned nasty. The bassist has used colorful language insulting the remaining members in the past and has even previously threatened legal action should the band continue to use the New Order name. His Twitter response to the news yesterday was decidedly less confrontational: “It’s a shame that, I thought Bad Lieutenant weren’t bad!”