Pete Paphides at the Brixton Academy
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In 1996, at their 20-year reunion, the Sex Pistols came up with the ruse of playing Abba’s Dancing Queen over the P.A. system before they appeared on stage. The rationale was simple. The reformed group would come on halfway through a record that embodied the sorry state of pop at the time of the Pistols’ ascent, thus reminding the throng just how sorely they had been needed. The problem was that, with the tribal divisions of punk long forgotten, the plan backfired somewhat. On hearing the Abba song, everyone started dancing.
Eleven years later - this time celebrating the 30th anniversary of their landmark album Never Mind the Bollocks . . . – the group’s original lineup, Glen Matlock, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and John Lydon, took no such chances. After an hour of relentlessly dull rave music a chorus of jeers turned into cheers as Lydon, dressed as some sort of deranged gamekeeper, paced the stage seemingly inspecting the mostly male, mostly middle-aged crowd. Before jetting in from their base in Los Angeles, Lydon claimed that the group had accrued a mere three hours of rehearsal time. If the titanic opening detonation of Pretty Vacant was anything to go by, three hours was about right for a band who, even at their brief, nihilistic zenith, sounded like they might fall apart at any minute.
That they’re all way better musicians than they were back then meant that the garage cacophony of Liar and I’m a Lazy Sod placed them closer to, say, Metallica than their old selves. But as the evening progressed, Lydon’s beady-eyed persona seemed like the only thing that distinguished middling tracks such as No Feelings and Did You No Wrong from each other.
Inevitably, he couldn’t resist having a pop at his archenemy – the Pistols’ ex-manager Malcolm McLaren. Hours after it was announced that McLaren would be featuring on the new series of I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here! Lydon declared, “See? Didn’t I tell you about that arsehole?” Quite how McLaren’s involvement in the show differed from Lydon’s two years previously wasn’t explained.
But neither was it a point that the legions of ex-punks felt compelled to dwell on. The more blithely Lydon paraded, the more bored Jones seemed to look. The latter briefly amused himself by segueing from (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone to Eye of the Tiger – a set text to a seasoned L.A. sessioneer such as him – before the show climaxed with the inevitable duo of insurrectionary jukebox perennials. For God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the UK, a surge of energy from the stage was more than matched by a surge of balding, beery humanity from the back. No surprises there – which was more than you could say for a concluding rendition of Belsen Was a Gas – one of two postLydon Pistols tunes that originally featured the Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs on vocals. Lydon performed it the only way he knew how. In a splenetic, spitting drizzle of gurning invective. It made you wonder how they had had the temerity to replace him.
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Get your facts right,"Belsen Was A Gas" was played by the Pistols ages before the ronnie biggs version !
Stephen, Nottingham,
I saw them in 1996 at the Phoenix Festival and they were far better, the gig on Wednesday 14th was ok, but I was expecting a bit more from the ageing pistols.. They are such a great band, but there was something missing....
John, London,
Great gig! Best of the year (2nd best: Bloc Party). I came over from Germany to celebrate the heroes of stubborn individuality and enjoyed myself enormously. What power and energy, amazing. On the flight back I proudly wore my oversized Tour-T-Shirt (no small size available unfortunately...) and was asked at German passport control by the middle-aged officer: "What slogan is that on your T-shirt?" I showed him and he smiled ...lost in memories?!
Christine , Hamburg, Germany
they should sack the sound guy at brixton.it was just a big wall of sound.very poor.0 out of 10!
ian, buckingham,
There's no Pistols track called "I'm a lazy sod". "Seveteen" though does feature this lyric.
Wom, London,
The Monday show was superb both musically and visually. They are one of a kind. Lydonâs voice got better as the show progressed possibly due to the half jack of whisky and can of lager he was drinking. Gone are the ridiculous haircuts and tasteless clothes of previous comeback and back are the blond spikes of 76 and white shirts and waist coats. Steve Jones had that real potent Bollocks sound and he did some real tasty licks. The songs really grooved. They played the whole of Bollocks plus âDid You No Wrongâ, âNo Funâ and âSteppin Stoneâ. The group is so English with the St George flags over the amps, the old music hall intro tape, the football chant backing vocals and the âI would like to be beside the seasideâ intro to Holidays. The gig had a good natured football vibe with crowd singing straight off the terraces. Lydon interestingly walks a thin line that retains the edge of yore without being nasty and the touches of vaudeville are just on the right side of buffoon.
Michael, London, UK
Fantastic show,sound spot on.... band as tight as a ducks ****.
sarah, Midlands, UK
chris and Karen -
I rather think you are both missing the point. The inclusion of the detail about balding 'middle-aged men' was really an observation that a Sex Pistols is now more Irony in the Uk than it is anarchy. The Sex Pistols were supposed to represent youthful dissidence, madness, incomprehensibility...etc. There was a time when you simply couldn't imagine middle-aged men going to see them perform - now the Pistols couldn't have a gig without their faithful 40 and 50-somethings. How pathetic it is to see Lydon still desperately clinging to his former aesthetic and presenting it as authentic and unchanging. How pathetic that the Pistols think playing an hour of rave music somehow indicates their relevance. Pete Paphides is quite right to point this out. On the other hand, as different as Led Zep/ Take That/ Beach Boys are, the presence of middle-aged men at their gigs back in their hey-day would not have been particularly unusual - and it is not unusual now.
Gabriel Casey, Belfast,
A brilliant night. I'm 22 and there's no one like the Pistols for my generation, I'm happy I've got to see them.
Tom Green, North Lincolnshire,
Apart from the other errors pointed out so far, Belson Was A Gas wasn't post Lydon. He sang this during the last American Tour in 1978 - this review shows some remarkable research skills!
Dan Ritchie, Lancaster,
Belsen Was a Gas was "not" post pistols. The Biggs version was secondary to the origional Rotten version. Check your facts before you pass coment!
Les, London,
Hey I was there AND I still have my hair!
Alan, Spalding, UK
once again a guy with leather patches on his elbows tries to understand something way beyond his understanding and fails.go back to take that and led zeppelin, i suppose there wont be any bald middle aged men present, where do these reviewers come from? womens weekly perhaps!
chris, bedford, england
There was less 'balding middle aged men' there last night than there was for Brian Wlison but that's never mentioned when you review the Beach Boy is it!
Karen, London,