BRIXTON O2 ACADEMY
21st December, 2009.
We got there early, which meant we could examine the bands merchandise without
elbowing and shoving people out the way who are stood for 5 minutes before deciding
they don’t fancy spending £20 on a t-shirt with the classic PiL ‘logo.’ I did the same.
The down side of an early arrival at the Brixton Academy is the steep price of a watery
pint, and the intolerable ‘drum & bass’ crap churned out to ‘warm us up’ - I feared this
may be a repeat of 1994’s shows. There was no support band – Public Image Limited
announced the onset of their set by playing (over the PA system) Lydon’s solo effort
'the Rabbit Song' from his (not-so-recent) Best Of British £notes.
As it finishes, PiL crash into a slower version of 'Public Image. The
sound, as usual for the Brixton Academy, is impressive: the drums
are big and crisp; the guitar sounded like Levene had probably
wanted it to in his hey-day (throttled and stretched); the bass… just
monstrous; and the vocals, well, we’ll come to that. They immediately
enter a series of tracks from ‘Metal Box’, including 'Careering', 'The
Suit' and 'Poptones.'
We are treated to 'This Is Not A Love Song', 'Tie Me To The Length
Of That' (a personal favourite from that era), 'Four Enclosed Walls'
and 'Flowers Of Romance' – all performed with the impression that
Lydon and the band really were giving their best to reproduce a
sound that replicating the way each track was supposed to have
sounded when played live while it was ‘still hot off the press’ rather
than pumped out to fund whatever project/s he has currently up his
sleeve/s. There are occasional Lydon-esque quips and comments:
telling us "next year he’ll be doing adverts for Copella Apple
Juice" (his ‘mouth wash’ of the evening); how much he loves ‘his’
England before launching into 'Warrior' and 'Disappointed'; then he
tells us they’re about to get all trippy before doing the oddly-selected
'U.S..L.S.' There’s other surprises: they play 'Psycho’s Path' and
'Sun' (apparently a favourite with British hooligan’s abroad) though
these are the sum total of tracks we hear from the period after Metal
Box - apart from the encore.
'Death Disco' left him asking us to give him a moment (presumably to
recover his composure) as “that one means something to me” and
we’re treated to 'Memories' and a condensed 'Albatross.' An
instrument change allowed the bass player to arm himself with an
electronic looking version of a double bass while a small lecture was given with the obvious intent of alerting us to brace ourselves for 'Religion.' As that classic bass
riff started Lydon droned repeatedly “more bass” and then throughout almost as if part of the mantra-like verse/s: “You pray to the God of a bitch, MORE BASS,
spelt backwards…” The bass had been superb and thunderous all evening, but these demands for incremental bass calibration (I suspect more to convince the
crowd that more bass than possible/credible is being delivered) created a diaphragm-thumping wall which made it not so difficult to believe the recent sensationalist
newspaper headlines about some 18 year old kid who died up the road at a night-club from excessive bass. 'Religion' was crowned with a frenetic romp through
'Annalisa.'
Toward the end my wife had nipped down the front, and returned to tell me the band “are really working hard up there: he’s singing better than I thought he
would” at which I was surprised as this is most definitely not her type of musical gravy. Just then John Lydon walked off challenging the crowd “to make some
noise ‘cos we’ve worked fuckin’ hard up here tonight.” How ironic: I had worked hard to get the money together to fund the £39.50 ‘+ handling charges’ tickets
(each) I’d had to pay. We wait at the end of a 2 hour set for their encore.
The band duly returned to play 'Rise' which was received with much enthusiasm, though I thought the guitar was woeful. I was left wondering what the band would do
as a finale… 'Open Up” was not on my list of suspects, and this was delivered as a good ole’ punk effort at a suitably quicker (but not stupidly so) pace. Then they
departed with 'The Rabbit Song' over the PA again.
Trudging back to the warmth of Brixton London Underground station, I reflected on my experience: I’d expected Lydon to use his voice in a similar way to the last
time I saw PiL in 1994; with that wailing/warbling, over-the-top trademark style (much as he has done in the past with Sex Pistols reunions), but tonight his vocals
could well have been from 1979. John Lydon’s hopping, strutting, mutated posing synonymous with his persona was there, but the effort less self-ridiculing, as if he
had been on a 100% commitment mission to the music rather than his image. Lydon had told us earlier many people could not make the show because of the
weather so we were to be sure to pass on to them their tickets would be valid for either the Tuesday or Wednesday nights shows at The Electric Ballroom in
Camden Town. Expensive and crowded, yes, but a sell-out? I didn’t think so. I’d considered going to one of these extra shows as well when they were announced,
but with Paul McCartney playing the next night to a “capacity 23,000 crowd” at the O2 Arena [ the Dome] and tickets starting a mere £10 more than PiL, I decided
I’d worked hard enough myself. I also figured it better to let something brilliant be remembered as such than have it fade in front of my eyes.
Magotty Anne - (London/NZ)
21st December, 2009.
We got there early, which meant we could examine the bands merchandise without
elbowing and shoving people out the way who are stood for 5 minutes before deciding
they don’t fancy spending £20 on a t-shirt with the classic PiL ‘logo.’ I did the same.
The down side of an early arrival at the Brixton Academy is the steep price of a watery
pint, and the intolerable ‘drum & bass’ crap churned out to ‘warm us up’ - I feared this
may be a repeat of 1994’s shows. There was no support band – Public Image Limited
announced the onset of their set by playing (over the PA system) Lydon’s solo effort
'the Rabbit Song' from his (not-so-recent) Best Of British £notes.
As it finishes, PiL crash into a slower version of 'Public Image. The
sound, as usual for the Brixton Academy, is impressive: the drums
are big and crisp; the guitar sounded like Levene had probably
wanted it to in his hey-day (throttled and stretched); the bass… just
monstrous; and the vocals, well, we’ll come to that. They immediately
enter a series of tracks from ‘Metal Box’, including 'Careering', 'The
Suit' and 'Poptones.'
We are treated to 'This Is Not A Love Song', 'Tie Me To The Length
Of That' (a personal favourite from that era), 'Four Enclosed Walls'
and 'Flowers Of Romance' – all performed with the impression that
Lydon and the band really were giving their best to reproduce a
sound that replicating the way each track was supposed to have
sounded when played live while it was ‘still hot off the press’ rather
than pumped out to fund whatever project/s he has currently up his
sleeve/s. There are occasional Lydon-esque quips and comments:
telling us "next year he’ll be doing adverts for Copella Apple
Juice" (his ‘mouth wash’ of the evening); how much he loves ‘his’
England before launching into 'Warrior' and 'Disappointed'; then he
tells us they’re about to get all trippy before doing the oddly-selected
'U.S..L.S.' There’s other surprises: they play 'Psycho’s Path' and
'Sun' (apparently a favourite with British hooligan’s abroad) though
these are the sum total of tracks we hear from the period after Metal
Box - apart from the encore.
'Death Disco' left him asking us to give him a moment (presumably to
recover his composure) as “that one means something to me” and
we’re treated to 'Memories' and a condensed 'Albatross.' An
instrument change allowed the bass player to arm himself with an
electronic looking version of a double bass while a small lecture was given with the obvious intent of alerting us to brace ourselves for 'Religion.' As that classic bass
riff started Lydon droned repeatedly “more bass” and then throughout almost as if part of the mantra-like verse/s: “You pray to the God of a bitch, MORE BASS,
spelt backwards…” The bass had been superb and thunderous all evening, but these demands for incremental bass calibration (I suspect more to convince the
crowd that more bass than possible/credible is being delivered) created a diaphragm-thumping wall which made it not so difficult to believe the recent sensationalist
newspaper headlines about some 18 year old kid who died up the road at a night-club from excessive bass. 'Religion' was crowned with a frenetic romp through
'Annalisa.'
Toward the end my wife had nipped down the front, and returned to tell me the band “are really working hard up there: he’s singing better than I thought he
would” at which I was surprised as this is most definitely not her type of musical gravy. Just then John Lydon walked off challenging the crowd “to make some
noise ‘cos we’ve worked fuckin’ hard up here tonight.” How ironic: I had worked hard to get the money together to fund the £39.50 ‘+ handling charges’ tickets
(each) I’d had to pay. We wait at the end of a 2 hour set for their encore.
The band duly returned to play 'Rise' which was received with much enthusiasm, though I thought the guitar was woeful. I was left wondering what the band would do
as a finale… 'Open Up” was not on my list of suspects, and this was delivered as a good ole’ punk effort at a suitably quicker (but not stupidly so) pace. Then they
departed with 'The Rabbit Song' over the PA again.
Trudging back to the warmth of Brixton London Underground station, I reflected on my experience: I’d expected Lydon to use his voice in a similar way to the last
time I saw PiL in 1994; with that wailing/warbling, over-the-top trademark style (much as he has done in the past with Sex Pistols reunions), but tonight his vocals
could well have been from 1979. John Lydon’s hopping, strutting, mutated posing synonymous with his persona was there, but the effort less self-ridiculing, as if he
had been on a 100% commitment mission to the music rather than his image. Lydon had told us earlier many people could not make the show because of the
weather so we were to be sure to pass on to them their tickets would be valid for either the Tuesday or Wednesday nights shows at The Electric Ballroom in
Camden Town. Expensive and crowded, yes, but a sell-out? I didn’t think so. I’d considered going to one of these extra shows as well when they were announced,
but with Paul McCartney playing the next night to a “capacity 23,000 crowd” at the O2 Arena [ the Dome] and tickets starting a mere £10 more than PiL, I decided
I’d worked hard enough myself. I also figured it better to let something brilliant be remembered as such than have it fade in front of my eyes.
Magotty Anne - (London/NZ)
John butters up punk crowd
No middle-aged spread for singer
02 Academy, Birmingham
December 15th 2009
If Paul Weller is the Modfather, then surely John Lydon is the elder statesman of punk. The former Sex Pistols
frontman later went on to form PiL - Public Image Limited. Fans in the West Midlands got a rare chance to
see and hear tracks from one of music's real survivors.
Even though he is now 52, and perhaps better known for advertising Countrylife butter, Lydon has lost none of
his vitriol, spewing caustic comments at a crowd that seemed to consist primarily of ageing punks.
And they lapped up every moment of a two-hour extravaganza.
Opening with the eponyymous 'Public Image', the audience began to trawl John and co's back cataalogue.
Lydon paused after the first number to adjust his baggy trousers. "All that butter and I'm still losing weight",
he quipped.
Paul Naylor - (Express & Star, Wolverhampton)
No middle-aged spread for singer
02 Academy, Birmingham
December 15th 2009
If Paul Weller is the Modfather, then surely John Lydon is the elder statesman of punk. The former Sex Pistols
frontman later went on to form PiL - Public Image Limited. Fans in the West Midlands got a rare chance to
see and hear tracks from one of music's real survivors.
Even though he is now 52, and perhaps better known for advertising Countrylife butter, Lydon has lost none of
his vitriol, spewing caustic comments at a crowd that seemed to consist primarily of ageing punks.
And they lapped up every moment of a two-hour extravaganza.
Opening with the eponyymous 'Public Image', the audience began to trawl John and co's back cataalogue.
Lydon paused after the first number to adjust his baggy trousers. "All that butter and I'm still losing weight",
he quipped.
Paul Naylor - (Express & Star, Wolverhampton)