Ian Curtis really botched some stuff up when he decided to take his own life. Had he known then that reunion tours would become so trendy, he may have been disinclined to be so depressed as his marriage failed and he suffered from epilepsy. Had things gone better, he may have continued a short and torturous period of defiantly sad music before disappearing into the depths of obscurity. That, my friends, would have been a great story for a reunion tour.

Without Curtis’ untimely death, there may never have been a New Order, and without a New Order there could be no reunion tour for the eighties group. Or, second reunion, as it were. The band initially went on hiatus from 1993ish-1998 when they reunited. New Order then played together until 2006 when Peter Hook left the group, pretty much in a tizzy and declaring the band dead.

According to The Sun, bassist Peter Hook will not be present for the two gigs. This will be the first time New Order has ever played without one of its founding members. The gigs aren’t commencing without reason. Money from the shows will go to pay medical costs for an ill friend of the band, Michael Shamberg, who directed many of New Order’s first videos. If there is any real reason to reunite, it is for a friend, and I say fuck Peter Hook if he can’t manage to pull himself together and put on a smile for two measly nights.

If you don’t mind a New Order lineup sans Hook, you can check the band out October 17 in Brussels or the 18 in Paris where you can watch Tom Chapman take over on bass.