Ode to Joy

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More About

• Ian Curtis
• Joy Division
• Manchester (England)
• Punk Rock
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

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Thirty years ago, on May 18, 1980, radio DJ John Peel announced, “Bad news, lads. Ian Curtis of Joy Division has just died.” Curtis, just 23 years old, hanged himself in his kitchen, days before beginning a U.S. tour with the Buzzcocks. Months later, the band’s posthumously released “Love Will Tear Us Apart” topped UK charts, and its bass-driven minimalism still resonates in music du jour.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Curtis’s death, his former bandmate, bassist Pete Hook, will perform their entire debut album, Unknown Pleasures, and air previously unseen concert footage at the former Factory Records building in Manchester, England. Sounds. Freaking. Awesome. But we live in Miami, not Manchester, so we’ll have to settle for Control: A Tribute to Ian Curtis at our English-style watering hole, Churchill’s Pub.

Control’s promoter, Ian Michael, says he’s been an Ian Curtis devotee ever since he heard him choke out “3,5,0,1,2,5 GO!” on Warsaw. This Tuesday, he has booked local artists Daysleeper, Xela Zaid, DJ Dracula’s Daughter, DJ Nayra, and Armada!, who share his adoration for the postpunk poet and for Joy Division’s bleak, brooding beauty.
Tue., May 18, 8 p.m., 2010