O2 Edinburgh
Thursday 21st September
Four stars
“’Ello!” hams John Lydon, returning to the stage after he and the rest of Public Image Ltd have ploughed through a glorious rewind as far back as 1979’s Metal Box record alongside songs from their recently released End of World album. By Lydon’s account, the gap since their last one has been “eight years of fucking misery for all of us.”
Sporting a long coat and ornate vintage tie, Lydon looks and sounds every inch the music hall Dadaist provocateur. With lyrics perched on a music stand, he unleashes his guttural declamations over bassist Scott Firth and drummer Bruce Smith’s pounding rhythms and guitarist Lu Edmonds’ torrent of jaggy metal shards.
Having set the scene with album opener, Penge, a backhanded guide to the South East London suburb of the song’s title, the dub echo bass and drums of Albatross, from Metal Box, is a spacey and still startling sounding creation. Similarly, the kneejerk snarl of new record’s Being Stupid Again segues into Peptones’ queasy swirl, as Edmonds makes Keith Levene’s original guitar patterns his own.
On Death Disco, Lydon howls like a wounded bird of prey. Part showman, part grumpy old man, throughout a thrilling Flowers of Romance, his voice is laced with undisguised venom. “Memories,” he deadpans, introducing the song of the same name, “we’ve all got ‘em. Let’s see if I can remember them.”
Lydon’s patter is a treat. There are digs against “socialist council bins,” and, on Shoom, which ends the main set, a mass sing-along of “Fuck off” is aimed at Lydon’s former Sex Pistols comrades, Steve Jones and Paul Cook.
For the encore, Lydon’s “Ello!’”, of course gives way to PiL’s self-titled theme song. A dark Open Up follows, with a triumphal Rise provoking a mass chorus of ‘Anger is an energy’. “We will never let you down,” Lydon declares as a parting shot. He means it, man.
The List, October 2023
ends
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