Notes:
This show marks a turning point for PiL. After the gig Martin Atkins
speaks to a representative of Elektra Records who tells him in no uncertain
terms that the just released 'This What You Want…' album is already
considered "dead", and the company will not fund further touring in
the US on the back of it. Instead Atkins is asked what will be next
for PiL. Atkins: "Elektra Records had lots of ideas for the 'new
direction'... I just had to leave, it was very, very depressing... Things
were so bad that I said, look I'll still do Australia and Japan but
things are so bad I'm leaving the band."
The change of direction is
already underway; support at this gig comes from Afrika Bambaataa, who
has just recorded a new "punk-funk" single with John Lydon,
and Bill Laswell, set for release in December. |
|  Why
did I go? Why not? Nostalgia is sick thing only when it turns to obsession.
Not knowing what to expect, I arrived and found my seat beneath the
huge, imposing PiL sign hanging, over the stage. Dry ice began to pour
out, finally and music... but no band. Just the ominous 'Order Of Death'
floating out of the fog. This deliberately created atmosphere of pure
tension was broken by John Lydon, in stripy pyjamas no less, poking
out his head with a daft grin.
At first I sat unmoved -
the mostly new songs sounded quite mediocre. But the playful Lydon was
amazing to watch: a whining, wailing gnome, sprinting about the stage
and making all manner of comic faces. Females of all kinds did their
best to smooch poor Johnny to death. The man has a mystique the size
of China, a real entertainer in the truest sense of the word.
Things slowly but surely
started to heat up when 'Religion' burst out with a mighty SLAP!, followed
by 'Annalisa', where that new Canuck guitarist went insane, raking and
slashing at his guitar. All the real tuff punks began quivering in their
combat boots, and then... Could it be?? Yes, it was 'Bodies' thrashed-out,
noisy, fun as all hell. Then on through more past classics the new bard
showing their mettle on 'Memories', 'Public Image', drummer Martin Atkins
in particular showing he really has some talent. And then they came
to 'Anarchy', a rambunctious blast. Cheap nostalgia yes, but I enjoyed
it nonetheless. For a few brief minutes, time was suspended and it was
1977 again, and the name was "Rotten", and the crowd went
nuts.
On what was their last song,
'The Flowers of Romance', people began joining Lydon on stage, swaying
to the hypnotic Arabic trance drone until he was swallowed in a sea
of heaving bodies .
Earlier he'd remarked (to the band), "They love me , they love
all of us". Well I didn't love you John, but I left with a
smile on my face.
Greg
Fasolino |
