When John Lydon exited the Sex Pistols, leaving behind his old moniker, few people expected that he would also be leaving behind the brash, visceral rawness of first generation punk to become a prime mover in the burgeoning musical explorations of post-punk. The difference between Never Mind the Bollocks and First Issue was tremendous and had to be shocking to those who saw the former Mr. Rotten as the poster boy for that simple, yet caustic music with which he first found his way into the public eye.
Seeing PiL in 2010, featuring Lydon, longtime members Lu Edmonds and Bruce Smith (who both date back to 1987’s Happy?) and relative newcomer, bassist/keyboardist Scott Firth, and touring the US for the first time in over a decade, offered no such surprises. As always Lydon has surrounded himself with a top-notch band and, though he’s clearly older, is still an animated frontman, more performance artist than simply vocalist. In fact, seeing him live makes it quite clear that, amidst rhythms dark and dirgey or upbeat and bright, he has raised bad dancing to an art form. They covered the “hits,” with the notable exception of “Seattle,” as well as old favorites with a set list that was far from random. In fact, it looks to be pretty much the same at every stop.
The show was fairly predictable, with Lydon taking a few moments to spew his typical venom to the delight of the crowd. While attacks on Republicans and religion may once have seemed daring, they are common fare these days. What once may have challenged people to think has become simply (and sadly) a crowd pleaser. To boot, the encore, a sketchy endeavor anyway, was pretty obvious, including both “Public Image” and “Rise,” two of their best known tracks. Of course, that’s not a show killer, but I expected more from a band who had always seemed to play by its own (or Lydon’s own) rules.
That being said, playing to the expected wasn’t an entirely bad thing. The performance was strong. Despite expressing such a clichéd position today, “Religion” still managed to sting my Catholic heart as it always has. “This Is Not a Love Song” was as effective a reaction to empty pop as ever. I suppose it’s safe to say that what is expected from Lydon isn’t always quite so easy to swallow. I just wish there had been some fresh challenges rather the same ones he might have presented three decades ago.
There’s no doubt that this was trip down memory lane. It just happened to be the dark, twisting paths of 80s post-punk. With effects-heavy recordings, PiL’s music seems like it would be difficult to translate into a live setting, but the band was tight and they really captured the best of what they accomplished in the studio without taking the edge out of their performance. Whether traveling the Eastern-tinged dirge of “Flowers of Romance” or the dance-oriented pop of “Warriors,” PiL showed themselves equally adept at all they’d ever done, but nothing was new or unexpected.
