Two living legends in the world of goth and post-punk, The Sisters of Mercy and Peter Hook with his band The Light, will perform on October 24th in Centennial Hall in Wrocław. As promoter wROCKfest.pl rightly points out, the term 'living legend' should not be used lightly.  However, these groups literally changed the independent music scene in the early 80s and, some 40 years later, they are continuing to function in its legacy.

The Sisters Of Mercy, together with groups like The Cure, The Smiths, Bauhaus and Joy Division, defined the 80s in both music and alternative culture in a broad sense. Founded in 1980 in Leeds, UK, the debut album, First and Last and Always, has been referred to as 'a pillar of gothic culture' and a landmark release in the genre. After two follow-up releases and a number of legal disputes with their record label EastWest (a Time Warner subsidiary) in the mid-nineties, the band has not recorded any new material, though they continue to function as a touring act. Talks of a fourth album have existed since 2002, though amazingly this highly-influential band has kept its fans holding on.

Bassist of the iconic Joy Division and New Order, Peter Hook's unique playing style and songwriting skills were an integral part of both. Forming Joy Division in 1976, a group that only lasted 4 years, the group's impact on goth and post-punk was far more profound than their aforementioned peers and co-headliners. The melancholic tones of their two albums Unknown Pleasures and Closer, although initially of cult popularity, was hugely influential on contemporaries such as U2 and The Cure and later on Nirvana and the Washington grunge scene. More recently, acts such as Interpol, Bloc Party and Editors have very much taken a page out of the Joy Division bible. Following the unexpected and tragic suicide of Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis in 1980, Hook and the remainder of the group dispersed and quickly started collaborating again as New Order, an equally-influential band in electronic music. Since 2010, Peter Hook has been bringing New Order and Joy Division albums back to life by playing them in their entirety on tour with his band Peter Hook & the Light. It's been 40 years since Ian Curtis' took his own life and the concert of Peter Hook & The Light in Wrocław will be dedicated to the memory of his absent friend.

These bands were originally billed as part of the line-up for the 3 Days in May 2020 festival.  Due to Coronavirus Pandemic and event restrictions in Poland, the groups have therefore rescheduled this new concert it to October 24th.