Johnny Marr and Bernard Sumner took to the stage yesterday (June 16) for a one-song reunion of their former band, Electronic.
The legendary Manchester musicians (Marr of The Smiths, Sumner of Joy Division and New Order) performed their former band’s 1991 single ‘Get the Message’ at Greece’s Release Athens festival.
Marr was in the middle of his solo set when he invited Sumner, who was headlining the festival with New Order, to sing lead on a track which he’s recently included in his solo sets. You can watch fan-shot footage of the performance below.
It’s not the first time the two former bandmates have collaborated during one of Marr’s sets. Sumner joined Marr onstage in 2013 to perform ‘Getting Away With It’ at a New Order-curated event in Cheshire.
Meanwhile, Sumner and his bandmates are marking the 40th anniversary of the release of Joy Division’s seminal debut album ‘Unknown Pleasures’.
Over the weekend the Manchester band arranged for the iconic artwork from the record to be projected onto buildings in their hometown.
A series of films celebrating the record are also being released – and you can watch the first of them here.
The band’s visual coordinator, Warren Jackson, has commissioned 10 new films to be made – one for each track on the album – which will present what is described as a “filmic re-imagining of the music in 2019″.
Working with established artists and directors as well as a host of new filmmakers, the videos will be released over the course of 2019. All will be soundtracked by original Joy Division recordings.