Earlier this week BBC 6 Music announced that New Order was playing its first shows since 2006. Proceeds from the performances will benefit artist and film producer Michael Shamberg, who has struggled with a debilitating illness since 2005. Shamberg produced several of the New Order’s music videos including “True Faith,” “Touched By The Hand Of God” and “Regret.”

BBC 6 Music noted that Hook, who left the band in 2007, would not be involved in the shows.

On Friday Hook posted the following statement about the shows on his website:

“I first I heard about this on Monday and it has taken me completely by surprise! Everyone knows that NEW ORDER without PETER HOOK is like QUEEN without FREDDIE MERCURY, U2 without THE EDGE, SOOTY without SWEEP!

“On a more serious note, I do not understand the decision THE OTHER THREE have taken. I wish they had approached me first. I do not agree with the methods they have used and feel it would have been courteous and professional to have spoken to me in advance of the announcements. It is very sad.”

In July 2007 New Order’s Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris issued a statement saying that the band had not split up, despite Hook’s decision not to work with the group anymore. Hook responded with a post on his MySpace blog that has since been removed.    

“This group has split up! You are no more New Order than I am!” Hook wrote, according to NME.com. “You may have two thirds, but don’t assume you have the rights to do anything ‘New Order-ey’, because you don’t. … See you in court!”

The New Order benefit shows take place Oct. 17 in Brussels, Belgium, at Ancienne Belgique, and Oct. 18 in Paris at Le Bataclan.

BBC 6 Music reports that the lineup will include Sumner on vocals and guitar, Morris on drums, Phil Cunningham on guitar and keyboard, Tom Chapman on bass, and Gillian Gilbert on keyboard and guitar. Gilbert, who is married to Morris, last performed with New Order in 2001.

Click here for Peter Hook’s website.