THE Manchester music scene of the late 70s and early 80s is without a doubt one of the most iconic when it comes to the development British post punk and alternative music.

One of the bands at the forefront of the movement was Joy Division, who achieved legendary cult status despite only releasing two albums before the tragic suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis at the age of 23.

The band that formed from the disintegration of Joy Division, New Order, impacted synth-based rock music in a way which had not been seen before in England.

Now, fans of Joy Division and New Order in Middlewich will finally get the opportunity to see iconic songs such as ‘She’s Lost Control’, ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ and ‘Blue Monday’ as Peter Hook and the Light bring the music of Joy Division and New Order to Middlewich FAB Festival.

Peter spoke to The Guardian about the event and his career before and since Peter Hook and The Light played their first shows in 2010.

Peter said: “I’m really looking forward to the festival, it should be really nice.

“When you’re touring the world, you can take places in England for granted.

“It will be a pleasure to perform to New Order and Joy Division fans in Middlewich.

“I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do, which is to bring these songs to audiences which never got the chance to see Joy Division live.

“When we were a band we played very little live and with New Order we didn’t really play Joy Division songs at shows because majority rules and if you weren’t happy with it you just had to go with it.”

“Not playing those songs live is like owning a Costco without ever opening it.”

One of the main divisive issues during Peter’s time in New Order was whether they should be playing Joy Division songs.

Peter described how Bernard and the rest of band had changed their position in recent years.

“The ironic thing is, since I’ve been touring with the Light, they’ve started adding Joy Division songs into their sets,” he said.

“I have always loved the physicality of playing live and it’s great being able to do the songs I want to do without compromising.”

Peter Hook and the Light formed because he wanted to celebrate Joy Division’s music on the 30th anniversary of the death of Ian Curtis.

It was Bobby Gillespie, front man of Primal Scream, who suggested playing the records in full to Peter, as at the time he was planning on doing the same with ‘Screamadelica’.

“We played our first show at one of the clubs I owned called Factory in Manchester and the backlash from Joy Division fans was quite extreme, people thought it was indecent.”

The shows did become very popular though and they have toured the world on numerous occasions since, which is something Peter believes Ian would be very proud of.

“Ian was very ambitious and one of his main goals was to take Joy Division around the world and perform in places like Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

“For one reason or another whether it be epilepsy or depression, we never got the opportunity to do that.”

Performing the Joy Division songs at first was a challenge for Peter.

He did not plan on being the singer in his new band but after a fairly negative reaction to the singers who first appeared, he decided, with the help of Happy Mondays' Rowetta Idah, to take on the role himself.

“It is more comfortable filling Bernard’s shoes than Ian’s, because, you know, Ian’s are pretty big shoes to fill,” said Peter, discussing the difference between performing Joy Division songs and New Order songs.

“I want to do these songs proper justice, and after playing these tracks all across the world I feel like I’ve done that.”

Hook also enjoyed a career as a touring DJ with some help from Clint Boon, from Inspiral Carpets, and Mani, from The Stone Roses.

“When I first started DJing, I would play songs that I knew would empty the dancefloor, it was Clint Boon and Mani who eventually asked me ‘what are you doing?’

“Maybe it was punk mindedness still in me which you can get away with that when you’re 19 but after that I stopped trying to annoy the audience and I thought to myself ‘why am I being arrogant?’

“You need to look after your audience especially when mine has lasted for 30 to 40 years.

“I loved the DJ sets, there’s a lot of work to it but getting paid to play your own records is nice and being able to play other people’s songs is brilliant.”

With Middlewich FAB Festival coinciding with the start of the World Cup, Peter revealed that unfortunately there will be no cameo from former Liverpool and England winger John Barnes for ‘World in Motion’.

Peter said: “We had a show in Manchester and my son worked really hard trying to contact John about performing that song with us.

“He agreed to do it and we were all looking forward to it, then we saw the announcement that he was on Celebrity Big Brother at the time.

“We’d still like to perform with him, but he won’t be with us on Friday.”

Performing before Peter Hook and the Light on Friday, June 15 are Deja Vega, The Mysterines and Pale Rider.