Peter Hook Invites ‘Hero’ Mark Lanegan On Stage To Perform Joy Division’s ‘Atmosphere’

Former Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook just settled a long-running legal dispute with the remaining members of those groups that was related to use of the band names. Now that that’s behind him, he’s free to focus on his current group, Peter Hook and the Light, which is primarily a touring band that’s known (controversially) for performing Joy Division and New Order albums live in their entirety.

The group was performing at The Roundhouse in London, England on Monday night, and when it came to the encore, Hook invited former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan to sing lead on a cover of Joy Division’s “Atmosphere,” a 1980 non-album single. Lanegan, known for his deep voice, was a natural choice to fulfill the vocal duties of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, especially considering that he employs a similar-sounding post-punk style on his solo album (credited as Mark Lanegan Band) from earlier this year, Gargoyle, on songs like “Beehive.”

“One of the great things about this job is that I get to play with my heroes,” Hook said before introducing Lanegan. “I want to dedicate this song to Ian Curtis and to sing it tonight we have Mark Lanegan.” After the show, Lanegan wrote on Twitter, “Thank you Peter Hook, Jack Bates and co. for having me sing with you tonight in London. Words can’t express what a righteous experience it was. Cross that one off my list of dream gigs.”

Watch the performance of “Atmosphere” above, and they also played Joy Division’s “Dead Souls,” so check that out below.