John Peel Day Launch
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London SE1

Last Thursday, nearly a year after John Peel's death, the Southwark Cyclists completed a bike ride from Manningtree in Essex to the broadcaster's grave in Suffolk, while virtually every rock venue in the country paid tribute to Peel by dedicating gigs to the memory of a man whose entire being seemed given over to his hunger for exciting new music.

The previous night, the South Bank's Queen Elizabeth Hall hosted a group of bands who read like a typically catholic playlist on Peel's radio show. That meant the Fall playing raggedly next to veteran roots reggae band Misty in Roots, and obscure one-man band Jawbone - knee tambourines, harmonica - following the plaintive reflections of country singer Laura Cantrell.

You also had the chance to witness Delia Smith introducing the Super Furry Animals. Only in Peel's universe would this be possible. 'He was the most uncool man I ever met!' she exclaimed, giggling; the Furries, for their part, turned in a short set blessed by sharp sound production which meant that their often fuggy psychedelic rang clear as a bell.

Passing over the hellish explosion-in-a-cutlery-factory racket produced by Venetian Snares (representing the moment in every Peel show where listeners would switch stations for 10 minutes), this cherishable evening was topped by New Order's decision to play only songs written in their former incarnation, Joy Division.

The band's all-male fan brigade lurched to the front, nearly knocking out Bernard Sumner's teeth in the process. The propulsive beauty of 'Transmission' and 'She's Lost Control' seemed lost on that coterie, but not on the rest of the crowd. It's hard to imagine that Peel would have been impressed by the lairiness down the front, but it's possible he has found a higher calling. As the graffiti on New Order's speakers declared, 'God has a DJ.'