Hello,

Alright then- £27 to see John Lydon's real band and first love, PiL. Although he may say that he uses some of the money from the 'Country Life' adverts to fund the band's activities, for a lot of fans it doesn't sit well seeing J.L. wearing plus-fours and taking the money. Is he really trying to have his cake and eat it?

That's by-the-by as the four piece band stride out to healthy cheers from the 1200 punters who are a mixed bunch of students, ageing punks and the plain curious. J.L. was in a good mood from the off, teasing the people of Preston,
"Welcome one and all to DePreston...well, it may well be by the time we've finished...a-ha-hah-hah-ha!", before launching into 'Public Image'.

His voice is surprisingly strong and as ever he takes care with his unique enunciation and delivery: he must have sung his songs hundreds of times but he will not ring the performance in. Self-medication was evident as he worked his way through half a bottle of brandy and several bottles of water over the following two non-stop hours. Old school work ethic.

I knew most of the tunes that followed and was delighted to hear 'Acid Drops' from the last PiL album: I was one of the few that did know it, hah-hah! Certainly the most affecting number was 'Death Disco', which was originally written when J.L's mother was terminally ill with cancer. Last night he said that seeing his step-daughter Ariane die last year cut him-up badly, but then everyone in the audience had had stuff like that happen to them, so let's get cut-up together. No snide comments or piss-taking. At all.

A special mention goes to the guitarist, Lu Edmonds who coaxed some magical stuff out of what looked like a big mandolin! He was aided by Bruce Smith on the drums and Scott Firth on bass who were solid enough. It goes without saying that the back catalogue requires the use of backing tapes and effects, all of which blended in seamlessly.

The crowd were not as full-on as they might have been which lead J.L. to comically ponder,
"You're a funny bunch, aren't you? You like to stare a lot...which is fine as it shows there's something going on upstairs, hah-hah! Come on...don't be afraid...I'm your Uncle Johnny and I won't hurt you!".
All good fun, but towards the end of the show some tool threw a pint of beer that did partially cover it's intended target mid-song which meant two sentence's worth of swearing at the culprit whilst the band played on.
J.L. dealt with it well: after the song was over he said that we're all friends here so why disrespect your fellows, and if you want to throw stuff then you should get down to the Houses Of Parliament. After an apology from the eejit then we really were all friends again and into the home straight with 'Rise' and finally 'Open Up'.

Just as with Iggy and The Stooges shows last year when a few people were heard moaning on the way into the venue about him for taking the advertising money and yet no-one said anything like that on the way out such was the intensity of the gig, so it went last night. Go and see them if you can.



















Cheers,

Simon.

Thanks for the review

Terrific review Simon. Thanks. He played Acid Drops! Damn! I'm jealous. I went to the four London dates, last year and the year before, hoping he'd do that and FFF.

They've rejigged the setlist a little haven't they? I've read that they're doing Home, Ease and Order of Death as well.

Another fine review Simon. Hope to see you in London soon for that pint.

Hi S.D.,

Yeah, me too. Not too sure when I'll south of 53 degrees though...maybe July for Blockheads shows early on. Need more money and more time off (runs and ducks for cover having just had 5 weeks away!).

Hi Nikolai & HR77,

Certainly I recall 'Home' last night. I would have loved a few more from 'That What Is Not': I still air that album regularly because frankly, it is a @#$%& brilliant racket, hah-hah!

Cheers,

Simon.

I just preordered Saturday's Isle of Wight sets for PiL and the Stooges at concertlive.co.uk.