This one was a long time coming folks. As a youth, a tender Freshman in High School, I was introduced to the Sex Pistols and it was one of those musical events that absolutely changed my life. I had already been turned onto College Radio by that time, but the Pistols’ Never Mind the Bollocks album was unlike anything I’d ever heard in my life and I was forever changed.
Unfortunately for me, the year was 1982 and the Pistols had already imploded and were no more…
A year later I came into possession of a book titled The British Invasion: From the First Wave to the New Wave by Nicholas Schaffer (thanks Dad!) and it was there that I discovered Johnny Rotten of Sex Pistols fame had shed his Rotten moniker, gone back to his given name of John Lydon and started a new band by the name of Public Image Limited. Naturally, I was thrilled, and I set out to find their records. Ha!
Now keep in mind, this was way before the interwebs. The days of record stores like Music Land and Rainbow records and of course Tower Records. And we also had a great used record store in town in an old converted house called Streetlight Records that specialized in punk and New Wave records, European imports and the like, and it STILL took me TWO YEARS to get my hands on the Public Image Limited debut record!
And let me tell you, it was NOT what I expected! Nonetheless, I took my time absorbing it and came to appreciate it in a totally different way than the Pistols’ album.
Over the years I was there for every subsequent album release, and I grew to love the “band” – really a constantly revolving cast of characters – including Steve Vai at one point – with Mr. Lydon at the helm. And the records just kept getting better and better over the years.
But, for whatever reason, I was never able to see them on stage. So they became one of those bucket list bands for me and honestly I never thought I’d get the opportunity as Mr. Lydon hit 70 years old this year and subsequently just went through the passing of his long time wife Nora. The odds seemed insurmountable.
But much to my surprise I caught wind of a new tour coming this year and the minute I confirmed it was true I snatched up tickets. And here I am!
The Rio Theater was a new venue for me, not only my first visit, but the first I’d even heard of it! Which is weird considering I live only about 20 miles from Santa Cruz and come over the hill all the time… But it’s a cool venue, an old converted movie theater, which still has a bunch of seats, for which my old, worn out knees were grateful! The staff was super friendly – generally a given in Santa Cruz, but nice nonetheless. The crowd was a good mix – LOTS of old heads like myself, but a smattering of many generations altogether. Lots of Doc Martens, lots of old punk band T- shirts…my kinda people! Then again, most of the crowd was surprisingly “normal” looking. I suppose growing up in the 70s and 80s in the punk scene, if we’ve made it this far, we’ve got nothing else to prove and can leave the leather jackets at home.
The opening band was Plague Vendor from LA. They are kind of throwback punk band, with a bit of a modernized sound. Not really my thing, but I would have loved them when I was 16… What I will say though is their guitarist was great. He was ripping it up on a hollow body guitar through a tube amp, so for me he automatically gets bonus points! And their frontman was really giving it his all. He was a bit of Iggy Pop mixed with Lux Interior from the Cramps, with the occasional James Brown dance moves thrown in for good measure. He was definitely there to put on a good show for the audience. So, overall, I’d say they were pretty good for what they were, it just wasn’t my kinda jam.
When it came to the main event I wasn’t sure what to expect. I figured it would be awesome or a train wreck quite honestly.
Well, the jury is in, and let me tell you they were AWESOME! The band was really sparse – guitar, bass and drums (though both the guitarist and bassist played some keyboards here and there), and they just killed it! They played songs from every era, even pulling out World Destruction, the dance club staple that John did with Afrika Bambaattaa back in the late 80s, and it was absolutely fantastic. Honestly, I had kinda forgotten just how deep their discography goes. They covered a lot of ground and didn’t miss a beat the entire time. That band was on fire! They played a number of their “hits” (LOL) and some deep cuts and just really wowed me quite honestly.
Then John did something I’ve NEVER seen in a live show – he told us he was going to take a smoke break! “Gimme three minutes, and I’ll be right back” he said! He even flashed a pack of Marlboro Reds, just so we’d know he was serious. Only in California!
After the smoke break the band came back on, he thanked the audience for their patience, then promptly tore into the song Public Image. What a re-entry! Truly it was their encore, but it was different, I’ll tell ya that!
If I’m being completely honest, there were a number of songs I was hoping they’d play that they didn’t. But overall I really couldn’t have asked for more. They absolutely surpassed any expectations I might have had going in and I left on the kind of musical “high” that frankly is a bit rare these days.
And I not only got to discover a new venue but I got to cross a band off my bucket list that frankly I never thought I’d have the chance to see. An absolute win for the Boring Old Man!
Thank you Mr. Lydon and much thanks to your stellar band, I took me well over 40 years to see you, but it was undoubtedly worth the wait! I wish you continued success on the rest of your tour.
And to my readers, thank you for stopping by!
The Boring Old Man 