Peter Hook

Tonight

10pm, Solas

Musical pioneer Peter Hook was pivotal to many of the greatest moments in British music over the past 30 years, so the New Order bassist's DJ set in Central tonight will be a modern history lesson no fan or musicologist should miss.

Hook has just written a book about his career in the music business, which will be published this summer in conjunction with a Hacienda Classics album on the Ministry of Sound label and a Hacienda world tour. It should be some read.

He started out in the late 70s with Joy Division, the cult English post-punk band whose singer Ian Curtis hanged himself and was the subject of the recent bio-pic Control. The band morphed into New Order, which 25 years ago released the seminal electronic track Blue Monday, Britain's biggest-selling 12-inch single that changed the face of British music.

New Order's success enabled them to fund the Hacienda, the notorious club that was home to the late 80s Madchester scene that spawned Happy Mondays and Stone Roses, and DJs such as Mike Pickering, who helped launch rave culture in Britain.

Hook, who only took up DJing a couple of years ago when he turned 50, draws on all those experiences when behind the decks, with a record bag - or more likely laptop - of indie-fused dance tracks stretching back to dance music's Summer of Love in 1988 and beyond. His style is a mash-up of tracks that are all about the music rather than DJ tricks or seamless mixing.

While reports of whether New Order have terminally split or not have yet to be clarified, Hook is certainly enjoying the freedom of DJing. He decided to take up spinning only after being cajoled by Primal Scream's Mani (Gary Mounfield), who took him to a gig in Barcelona. 'He didn't care what record was on, or if he even had a record on. I thought, I could do that and get paid for it,' Hook revealed last time he appeared in Hong Kong. Hook, who is on an Asian tour, is being brought to Hong Kong by DJ Nipper to launch a new series of events called the DJ Sessions, which will feature an eclectic mix of members of bands from around the world. For students of British pop, playing hooky is not an option.

LG/F, The Centrium, 60 Wyndham St, HK$250 in advance from Solas, HK$300. Inquiries: 2973 6281