This review preempts many others so that it can be posted to the official PiL website.
I actually hadn’t heard of the band PiL before 2010, though I had heard of their main member. Before forming Public Image Limited or PiL, John Lydon was known as Johnny Rotten, the lead singer of the infamous and highly influential British punk band The Sex Pistols. I know of them from music history. Their guitarist, Steve Jones, used to have a radio show on the former Indie 103.1 called Jonesy’s Jukebox. Lydon formed PiL in the late 1970s as the original incarnation of the Sex Pistols broke up. They released some singles and albums in the late 70s, throughout the 80s, and in the early 90s. Their lineup changed frequently but Lydon was always there.
My wife has much more experience with PiL. She and her sister had their greatest hits CD that was released in the early 90s. They had almost seen them live at the Ritz in New York City when they were in high school. At that concert, they saw the three opening bands: Live, Big Audio Dynamite II (BAD II, a band formed by Mick Jones of The Clash) and Blind Melon. All three would become headliner bands in their own right. But my wife and her sister left the concert before the headliner PiL took the stage because the crowd was getting too crazy, moshing and crowd surfing. They watched a bit of their set on the screen in the lobby of the Ritz that froze on John Lydon mooning the crowd.
My wife’s chance to see another PiL show did not come about until early 2010. We heard that they were playing at the Coachella festival and at Club Nokia a few days before. We decided not to go to Coachella because we would have had to purchase tickets for all three days. We weren’t yet sure if we could go to the April 13 Club Nokia show because there was a chance that I would have to travel for work on that day. At the end of March I found out that I didn’t have to travel so we got tickets to see the show from the floor of Club Nokia.
Club Nokia is a fairly new venue in the new entertainment complex L.A. Live that’s in the South Park district of Downtown Los Angeles. It’s a fairly small venue compared to the nearby venues Staple Center that seats 20,000 people, and the 7,100 seat Nokia Theater that’s often confused with Club Nokia (by me at least). It has a capacity of around 2,000 and consists of a floor for standing, a pit for standing closer and private booths on the balcony. We hadn’t been there yet so this was our chance to see it.
On Tuesday, April 13, I met up with my wife after I got off work. Our sister- and brother-in-law who live near L.A. Live allowed us to park in the parking garage for their home. After having dinner at The Farm of Beverly Hills at L.A. Live (see future review), we consulted an L.A. Live directory and found out that Club Nokia is in the same building as The Farm. It’s in the large building on the north end of L.A. Live that also contains the Conga Room, the Lucky Strike Lanes bowling alley, the Grammy Museum, and many restaurants such as Flemings, Rosa Mexicano (a.k.a. the New York Mexican restaurant), Trader Vic’s, and The Yardhouse. On the south side of the building near The Farm are escalators that we took up two flights to get to Club Nokia. We left The Farm at 8:15 pm and got to the club at 8:20 pm. The doors to the show had actually opened at 7:30 pm though the show didn’t actually start until 9:00 pm according to the schedule on the Internet.
While eating dinner we had seen a few people walk by wearing PiL shirts among the many more people going to the Laker game. There were still many people entering Club Nokia when we arrived there. Security consisted of metal scanners and bag searches. Employees then scanned our tickets and we entered the lobby of the venue. I didn’t notice whether they were stilling PiL merch anywhere. My wife saw that they were selling merch. We didn’t know if there would be any opening acts. We did see a notice on the wall saying that the concert was being filmed. Coincidentally, the show my wife attended at the Ritz in NYC was also filmed as part of a BAD II video and she briefly appears in that video as part of the crowd. The Club Nokia lobby seemed very small to me and we soon entered a doorway to the club itself.
It was dark inside with long lights on the ceiling near where it met the wall. These lights would slowly change color from red to blue to purple and other colors. It was a wide space with a long bar in the back and hardwood floor. The stage was opposite the bar past a mid-level partition. In front of it was a pit area cordoned off by ropes. My wife found out that you had to have a special wristband to get inside the pit area. The balcony was above our heads and we couldn’t really see it, though we heard it had private booths. On the stage was a drum kit and above and behind it was the large black and white PiL logo. The bass drum also had the PiL logo on it. The pit was already full of people. There were many on the main club floor and most places along the mid-level partition were taken. We found a place to stand behind the sound engineer’s station. There were some flatscreens mounted on pillars and on the walls to the side of the stage. They showed ads for upcoming acts at Club Nokia such as Crowded House, Denis Leary, a-ha, Level 42, and the Buzzcocks. These screens just turned off during the concert. The canned music was hip hop versions of 80s music such as Salt-n-Pepa and “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson.
The crowd consisted mostly of Caucasian men. There were many Caucasian women as part of couples and groups. We saw one African-American man there later. Everyone looked to be around our age or older. Most people wore black or dark colors. More people entered and the place filled up though it never got uncomfortable crowded outside the pit. I checked out the restroom that was large and new though it also had an attendant expecting a tip. We kept our place behind the sound engineers’ station that had a pretty good view of the stage. Soon some sound engineers arrived on worked on the equipment and the laptops plugged into it. One engineer switched to a screen that had a setlist on it. I could just barely read some of it: 3) This is Not a Love Song, 7) Death Disco, 8) Flowers of Romance, 9) Psychopath, 10) Warrior. The engineer would switch to other screens with graphs and equalizer controls. When he switched back to the setlist screen it showed the song that was playing in larger type in the upper right corner.
At 9:02 the house lights dimmed and red lights shone on stage. Over the speakers we heard an Englishman (John Lydon?) rapping what turned out to be “The Rabbit Song”. We’re not sure if that’s a PiL song or a John Lydon solo song. Then John Lydon himself and the band came out on stage. He looked to be in his 50s, a bit overweight with bleached orange-blond hair that stood straight up on top. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants. The rest of PiL consisted of a guitarist, drummer, and bassist who looked to be in Lydon’s age range or not much younger. In a slightly condescending tone Lydon asked, “Ready for some music? Proper music?” He mentioned that since he lived in L.A. he regarded us as his neighbors and that this was a “family and friends show” to start off the tour. They then went straight into “This is Not a Love Song”, a fast song with Lydon repeating the title in the lyrics many times. He didn’t play any instruments and would dance to the music when not singing. The rest of the band helped sing the chorus. Lydon would sometimes talk during this song (and others), saying things like “Is there anybody there?” and “Oh f---ing no!”
“Before the next song he said it was “swing time for proper PiL.” The song began with loud and heavy guitar. Lydon repeated the lyrics “drive drive drive.” The song was slower than the first one with less of a pop beat and more guitar and drums. Lydon sang in a whiny voice lyrics such as “You left a hole in the back of my head” and said things like “I’m losing my body heat.” He made many wild gestures and trilled his r’s. We later determined that song to be “Poptones”. Before the next song he said it was time to “get groovy” and then said, “Journalists, the exit signs are clearly marked. Record company executives, you can lock yourselves in the toilet.” The bass player switched to keyboard for the next song that began with Lydon singing something like, “When I was born, the doctor didn’t like me.” It also included the line “You didn’t love me” and the repeated line “Tie me to the length of that” that we later determined was the song’s title. At one point he said, “9 pounds, 5 ounces.”
For the next song Lydon sang more slowly. The microphone sounded more like an echo. The song was “Albatross”. It involved a lot more shouting and guitar as purple lights shone on the background. Towards the end he said something like, “Surf’s up, California.” Before the next song he said, “Hello, still there?” The song, “Death Disco” had loud guitar parts and a fast beat. Lydon mostly shouted words that I found unintelligible. I thought he might have sung, “Never in your eyes”. The background changed to green for the next song, “The Flowers of Romance”. It involved more shouting, the guitarist playing a banjo with a bow and the bassist playing a tall, fretless bass. Lydon said, “We’re talking big time f---ing romance.” When they finished the song he said, “Let that eat into your bowels.”
Before the next song Lydon complained, “New club with no aircon! In California! And Johnny in his best polyester!” The song began with acoustic guitar but got louder. The lyrics were more understandable than two songs prior. It was called “Psychopath”. They got faster for the next song, Warrior that had a prominent 8-note beat and lots of angry lyrics and shouting from Lydon: “This is my land”, “We take no prisoners”, “Has America forgotten how to dance?”, “This is Public Image Limited. We take no quarter.” At one point I think he said, “That f---ing bitch Palin should stay in Alaska!” or something like that. Before the next song I think he said, “You’re a great audience for not spitting. The only one who spits is me.” The song also had loud guitar and bass. It made use of feedback and the echo effect on Lydon’s microphone. The chorus had him sing all four letters and the number in the title “USLS1”. It also had the lyrics, “The devil takes care of no one.”
Lydon introduced the next song by asking, “Friends, what are they for?” He went on to say, “They will let you down and you learn to forgive. That has kept me going for 30 years.” They then started playing the song “Disappointed” that had a lot of guitar and bass and the repeated line “What friends are for.” I thought the song was more melodic that the others. Lydon had the audience sing the part “What friends are for!” When they finished, he asked, “Can we take our break now? I’m dying for a piss. I should have worn my incontinence pants. That’s old age for you!”
They left the stage for a few minutes and came back at 10:15 pm. The set list on the sound engineer’s laptop said the next song was called “Religion.” Lydon told us, “You smell like f---ing beef stew.” About the next song he said, “Religion, anybody? We’re all going to hell anyway.” The song began with very loud guitar and the bassist again played the fretless bass. Not long into it Lydon said, “Walter, turn up the bass. We need more bass.” The song was obviously against religion. The stage lights all shone in red as Lydon sang, “He takes your money and you take a lie.” He shouted, “Lock up your children and turn up the bass!” and “This is religion!” The song ended with loud drumming.
The next song was a bit more lighthearted. Called “Bags” on the laptop setlist it had the repeated line “Black rubber bags!” White lights shined in the background. It was a fast song and the guy next to me said it sounded “bumpy”. At one point the drummer sang in a scratchy voice. The next song was faster, louder, and more serious. It was called “Chant” and Lydon got the audience to chant, “F---, war, kill, hate” as the guitars were played quickly. Lydon introduced the next song by saying, “Aw, memories”, the second word being the song’s title. It again had a loud and fast beat. This time red lights shone on the PiL logo and blue lights shone on the rest of the background. Lyrics included “I could be merry” and “I could be wrong.” Lydon tried to get the audience to sing along and asked, “Is that the best you can do?”
The next song was a crowd favorite, the eponymous “Public Image.” It had a friendlier, rocking sound. They finished and left the stage but not before Lydon said in a silly accent “I’ll be back” and “you’re such dummies for electing Arnold.” It was 10:44 pm. The guy next to me asked what I was writing. I said it was for a blog. Initially he didn’t know what that was but understood better when I said it was for the Internet. He asked me how long I had been a fan of PiL. He said he had followed them from the beginning and before that, the Sex Pistols. He looked older than us and I think he spoke with an accent though he may have been just drunk. The woman with him said he was from Europe. It sounded like he was familiar with the concert that my wife attended nearly 20 years ago in New York City.
Loud applause and cheering had been continuous since Lydon and the band left. They returned a few minutes later and Lydon said he wanted to get us all to sing a good old public house drinking song. He then got everyone clapping and they performed the silly song “Sun.” The guitarist played a portable keyboard with a mouthpiece. Partway through Lydon encouraged us to “do the idiot dance.” He looked up and said, “You in the balcony, in the Bob Marley cap. Come on, do the idiot dance! Join the people!” The next song was more serious but also celebratory and anthemic. It was “Rise” that sounded familiar to me when I first heard it on the PiL greatest hits CD. It has the catchy lyrics “I could be wrong. I could be right. I could be black. I could be white.” There was a part where he said he forgot the words and we tried to sing them for him “anger is an energy.” They finished the song and Lydon asked us to do the bit he had forgotten. We tried to shout “Anger is an energy!” but it wasn’t in unison. After several tries we finally got in unison and then the band started playing the song again and Lydon sang his heart out.
After finishing “Rise” for the second time the band played some ghostly music with a lot of echoes. The heavy guitar sounded a bit like The Cure’s songs off their album “Disintegration”. They then started playing a loud and fast song, “Open Up”, with Lydon shouting loudly. This actually wasn’t a PiL song but one originally by Leftfield with Lydon on lead vocals. It was another loud and angry song with lyrics such as “burn, Hollywood, burn” and “tear down Tinseltown”. It had more loud guitar and shouting and was a long song or perhaps they played an extended version. After they finished Lydon introduced his band saying “This is (either Bruce or Scott), he’s shy. This is Lu (the guitarist), he’s not shy”. Lydon then said, “Thank you and good night. May your enemies always be behind you. I intend to lose some weight.” He and the band then left the stage for the final time to loud applause. It was 11:10 pm.
We followed the crowd out of Club Nokia. There were lots of people riding down the escalators and one woman even tried to run down the up escalator to beat the crowd. The Laker game had long since gotten out. We walked back to our car and we were able to drive right out of the parking garage because they had the exit bar up. We got home at 11:57 pm.
The "Public Image” Limited concert did not leave us “Disappointed.”
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
I actually hadn’t heard of the band PiL before 2010, though I had heard of their main member. Before forming Public Image Limited or PiL, John Lydon was known as Johnny Rotten, the lead singer of the infamous and highly influential British punk band The Sex Pistols. I know of them from music history. Their guitarist, Steve Jones, used to have a radio show on the former Indie 103.1 called Jonesy’s Jukebox. Lydon formed PiL in the late 1970s as the original incarnation of the Sex Pistols broke up. They released some singles and albums in the late 70s, throughout the 80s, and in the early 90s. Their lineup changed frequently but Lydon was always there.
My wife has much more experience with PiL. She and her sister had their greatest hits CD that was released in the early 90s. They had almost seen them live at the Ritz in New York City when they were in high school. At that concert, they saw the three opening bands: Live, Big Audio Dynamite II (BAD II, a band formed by Mick Jones of The Clash) and Blind Melon. All three would become headliner bands in their own right. But my wife and her sister left the concert before the headliner PiL took the stage because the crowd was getting too crazy, moshing and crowd surfing. They watched a bit of their set on the screen in the lobby of the Ritz that froze on John Lydon mooning the crowd.
My wife’s chance to see another PiL show did not come about until early 2010. We heard that they were playing at the Coachella festival and at Club Nokia a few days before. We decided not to go to Coachella because we would have had to purchase tickets for all three days. We weren’t yet sure if we could go to the April 13 Club Nokia show because there was a chance that I would have to travel for work on that day. At the end of March I found out that I didn’t have to travel so we got tickets to see the show from the floor of Club Nokia.
Club Nokia is a fairly new venue in the new entertainment complex L.A. Live that’s in the South Park district of Downtown Los Angeles. It’s a fairly small venue compared to the nearby venues Staple Center that seats 20,000 people, and the 7,100 seat Nokia Theater that’s often confused with Club Nokia (by me at least). It has a capacity of around 2,000 and consists of a floor for standing, a pit for standing closer and private booths on the balcony. We hadn’t been there yet so this was our chance to see it.
On Tuesday, April 13, I met up with my wife after I got off work. Our sister- and brother-in-law who live near L.A. Live allowed us to park in the parking garage for their home. After having dinner at The Farm of Beverly Hills at L.A. Live (see future review), we consulted an L.A. Live directory and found out that Club Nokia is in the same building as The Farm. It’s in the large building on the north end of L.A. Live that also contains the Conga Room, the Lucky Strike Lanes bowling alley, the Grammy Museum, and many restaurants such as Flemings, Rosa Mexicano (a.k.a. the New York Mexican restaurant), Trader Vic’s, and The Yardhouse. On the south side of the building near The Farm are escalators that we took up two flights to get to Club Nokia. We left The Farm at 8:15 pm and got to the club at 8:20 pm. The doors to the show had actually opened at 7:30 pm though the show didn’t actually start until 9:00 pm according to the schedule on the Internet.
While eating dinner we had seen a few people walk by wearing PiL shirts among the many more people going to the Laker game. There were still many people entering Club Nokia when we arrived there. Security consisted of metal scanners and bag searches. Employees then scanned our tickets and we entered the lobby of the venue. I didn’t notice whether they were stilling PiL merch anywhere. My wife saw that they were selling merch. We didn’t know if there would be any opening acts. We did see a notice on the wall saying that the concert was being filmed. Coincidentally, the show my wife attended at the Ritz in NYC was also filmed as part of a BAD II video and she briefly appears in that video as part of the crowd. The Club Nokia lobby seemed very small to me and we soon entered a doorway to the club itself.
It was dark inside with long lights on the ceiling near where it met the wall. These lights would slowly change color from red to blue to purple and other colors. It was a wide space with a long bar in the back and hardwood floor. The stage was opposite the bar past a mid-level partition. In front of it was a pit area cordoned off by ropes. My wife found out that you had to have a special wristband to get inside the pit area. The balcony was above our heads and we couldn’t really see it, though we heard it had private booths. On the stage was a drum kit and above and behind it was the large black and white PiL logo. The bass drum also had the PiL logo on it. The pit was already full of people. There were many on the main club floor and most places along the mid-level partition were taken. We found a place to stand behind the sound engineer’s station. There were some flatscreens mounted on pillars and on the walls to the side of the stage. They showed ads for upcoming acts at Club Nokia such as Crowded House, Denis Leary, a-ha, Level 42, and the Buzzcocks. These screens just turned off during the concert. The canned music was hip hop versions of 80s music such as Salt-n-Pepa and “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson.
The crowd consisted mostly of Caucasian men. There were many Caucasian women as part of couples and groups. We saw one African-American man there later. Everyone looked to be around our age or older. Most people wore black or dark colors. More people entered and the place filled up though it never got uncomfortable crowded outside the pit. I checked out the restroom that was large and new though it also had an attendant expecting a tip. We kept our place behind the sound engineers’ station that had a pretty good view of the stage. Soon some sound engineers arrived on worked on the equipment and the laptops plugged into it. One engineer switched to a screen that had a setlist on it. I could just barely read some of it: 3) This is Not a Love Song, 7) Death Disco, 8) Flowers of Romance, 9) Psychopath, 10) Warrior. The engineer would switch to other screens with graphs and equalizer controls. When he switched back to the setlist screen it showed the song that was playing in larger type in the upper right corner.
At 9:02 the house lights dimmed and red lights shone on stage. Over the speakers we heard an Englishman (John Lydon?) rapping what turned out to be “The Rabbit Song”. We’re not sure if that’s a PiL song or a John Lydon solo song. Then John Lydon himself and the band came out on stage. He looked to be in his 50s, a bit overweight with bleached orange-blond hair that stood straight up on top. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants. The rest of PiL consisted of a guitarist, drummer, and bassist who looked to be in Lydon’s age range or not much younger. In a slightly condescending tone Lydon asked, “Ready for some music? Proper music?” He mentioned that since he lived in L.A. he regarded us as his neighbors and that this was a “family and friends show” to start off the tour. They then went straight into “This is Not a Love Song”, a fast song with Lydon repeating the title in the lyrics many times. He didn’t play any instruments and would dance to the music when not singing. The rest of the band helped sing the chorus. Lydon would sometimes talk during this song (and others), saying things like “Is there anybody there?” and “Oh f---ing no!”
“Before the next song he said it was “swing time for proper PiL.” The song began with loud and heavy guitar. Lydon repeated the lyrics “drive drive drive.” The song was slower than the first one with less of a pop beat and more guitar and drums. Lydon sang in a whiny voice lyrics such as “You left a hole in the back of my head” and said things like “I’m losing my body heat.” He made many wild gestures and trilled his r’s. We later determined that song to be “Poptones”. Before the next song he said it was time to “get groovy” and then said, “Journalists, the exit signs are clearly marked. Record company executives, you can lock yourselves in the toilet.” The bass player switched to keyboard for the next song that began with Lydon singing something like, “When I was born, the doctor didn’t like me.” It also included the line “You didn’t love me” and the repeated line “Tie me to the length of that” that we later determined was the song’s title. At one point he said, “9 pounds, 5 ounces.”
For the next song Lydon sang more slowly. The microphone sounded more like an echo. The song was “Albatross”. It involved a lot more shouting and guitar as purple lights shone on the background. Towards the end he said something like, “Surf’s up, California.” Before the next song he said, “Hello, still there?” The song, “Death Disco” had loud guitar parts and a fast beat. Lydon mostly shouted words that I found unintelligible. I thought he might have sung, “Never in your eyes”. The background changed to green for the next song, “The Flowers of Romance”. It involved more shouting, the guitarist playing a banjo with a bow and the bassist playing a tall, fretless bass. Lydon said, “We’re talking big time f---ing romance.” When they finished the song he said, “Let that eat into your bowels.”
Before the next song Lydon complained, “New club with no aircon! In California! And Johnny in his best polyester!” The song began with acoustic guitar but got louder. The lyrics were more understandable than two songs prior. It was called “Psychopath”. They got faster for the next song, Warrior that had a prominent 8-note beat and lots of angry lyrics and shouting from Lydon: “This is my land”, “We take no prisoners”, “Has America forgotten how to dance?”, “This is Public Image Limited. We take no quarter.” At one point I think he said, “That f---ing bitch Palin should stay in Alaska!” or something like that. Before the next song I think he said, “You’re a great audience for not spitting. The only one who spits is me.” The song also had loud guitar and bass. It made use of feedback and the echo effect on Lydon’s microphone. The chorus had him sing all four letters and the number in the title “USLS1”. It also had the lyrics, “The devil takes care of no one.”
Lydon introduced the next song by asking, “Friends, what are they for?” He went on to say, “They will let you down and you learn to forgive. That has kept me going for 30 years.” They then started playing the song “Disappointed” that had a lot of guitar and bass and the repeated line “What friends are for.” I thought the song was more melodic that the others. Lydon had the audience sing the part “What friends are for!” When they finished, he asked, “Can we take our break now? I’m dying for a piss. I should have worn my incontinence pants. That’s old age for you!”
They left the stage for a few minutes and came back at 10:15 pm. The set list on the sound engineer’s laptop said the next song was called “Religion.” Lydon told us, “You smell like f---ing beef stew.” About the next song he said, “Religion, anybody? We’re all going to hell anyway.” The song began with very loud guitar and the bassist again played the fretless bass. Not long into it Lydon said, “Walter, turn up the bass. We need more bass.” The song was obviously against religion. The stage lights all shone in red as Lydon sang, “He takes your money and you take a lie.” He shouted, “Lock up your children and turn up the bass!” and “This is religion!” The song ended with loud drumming.
The next song was a bit more lighthearted. Called “Bags” on the laptop setlist it had the repeated line “Black rubber bags!” White lights shined in the background. It was a fast song and the guy next to me said it sounded “bumpy”. At one point the drummer sang in a scratchy voice. The next song was faster, louder, and more serious. It was called “Chant” and Lydon got the audience to chant, “F---, war, kill, hate” as the guitars were played quickly. Lydon introduced the next song by saying, “Aw, memories”, the second word being the song’s title. It again had a loud and fast beat. This time red lights shone on the PiL logo and blue lights shone on the rest of the background. Lyrics included “I could be merry” and “I could be wrong.” Lydon tried to get the audience to sing along and asked, “Is that the best you can do?”
The next song was a crowd favorite, the eponymous “Public Image.” It had a friendlier, rocking sound. They finished and left the stage but not before Lydon said in a silly accent “I’ll be back” and “you’re such dummies for electing Arnold.” It was 10:44 pm. The guy next to me asked what I was writing. I said it was for a blog. Initially he didn’t know what that was but understood better when I said it was for the Internet. He asked me how long I had been a fan of PiL. He said he had followed them from the beginning and before that, the Sex Pistols. He looked older than us and I think he spoke with an accent though he may have been just drunk. The woman with him said he was from Europe. It sounded like he was familiar with the concert that my wife attended nearly 20 years ago in New York City.
Loud applause and cheering had been continuous since Lydon and the band left. They returned a few minutes later and Lydon said he wanted to get us all to sing a good old public house drinking song. He then got everyone clapping and they performed the silly song “Sun.” The guitarist played a portable keyboard with a mouthpiece. Partway through Lydon encouraged us to “do the idiot dance.” He looked up and said, “You in the balcony, in the Bob Marley cap. Come on, do the idiot dance! Join the people!” The next song was more serious but also celebratory and anthemic. It was “Rise” that sounded familiar to me when I first heard it on the PiL greatest hits CD. It has the catchy lyrics “I could be wrong. I could be right. I could be black. I could be white.” There was a part where he said he forgot the words and we tried to sing them for him “anger is an energy.” They finished the song and Lydon asked us to do the bit he had forgotten. We tried to shout “Anger is an energy!” but it wasn’t in unison. After several tries we finally got in unison and then the band started playing the song again and Lydon sang his heart out.
After finishing “Rise” for the second time the band played some ghostly music with a lot of echoes. The heavy guitar sounded a bit like The Cure’s songs off their album “Disintegration”. They then started playing a loud and fast song, “Open Up”, with Lydon shouting loudly. This actually wasn’t a PiL song but one originally by Leftfield with Lydon on lead vocals. It was another loud and angry song with lyrics such as “burn, Hollywood, burn” and “tear down Tinseltown”. It had more loud guitar and shouting and was a long song or perhaps they played an extended version. After they finished Lydon introduced his band saying “This is (either Bruce or Scott), he’s shy. This is Lu (the guitarist), he’s not shy”. Lydon then said, “Thank you and good night. May your enemies always be behind you. I intend to lose some weight.” He and the band then left the stage for the final time to loud applause. It was 11:10 pm.
We followed the crowd out of Club Nokia. There were lots of people riding down the escalators and one woman even tried to run down the up escalator to beat the crowd. The Laker game had long since gotten out. We walked back to our car and we were able to drive right out of the parking garage because they had the exit bar up. We got home at 11:57 pm.
The "Public Image” Limited concert did not leave us “Disappointed.”
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar.
RSS Feed