Like any longtime PiL fan,
I've always wondered how this line-up remains so underrated. (How many
people realize that John McGeoch played guitar for six years –
as long as his predecessor, Keith Levene). If you caught this incarnation
of the band, you couldn't miss how much these guys seemed to enjoy playing
together.
So, naturally, when I heard
of the “Monsters of Alternative Rock” tour – which
sandwiched PiL between the Sugarcubes, and those arch-merchants of gloom,
New Order – I snapped up a ticket. I was working on my father's
construction jobs, to raise money for a trip to London; needless to
say, I said, “Sorry, Dad, I'm taking the day off!”
The locale coincided with
the greening of alternative music. Poplar Creek is one of these outdoor
suburban enormodomes -- with their never-ending major roads and lookalike
strip malls -- so all the usual minuses applied. I can recall the gate
gargoyles confiscating bug sprays from people (among other absurdities).
But, even in this “cattle
call” type of setting, the band found ways of transcending it:
in Lydon's case, that meant wearing a yellow baggy suit, and doing his
best to bait the crowd: “For Chicago, we're awfully fuckin' quiet...
don't be shy, it's only little old Johnny!”
The setlist proved more equal
than I'd expected, with the natural emphasis on the latest album, '9',
rounded out by a smattering of the classics; “Rise,” the
almost-hit in America, got one of the night's biggest reactions, as
did “Public Image,” the song that started it all. The manic
energy projected by PiL certainly made for a contrast with the Sugarcubes'
quirkiness, and New Order's onstage non-charisma.
Ralph Heibutzki |