Punk Rock Spotlight – PiL (Review)

Public Image Limited (PIL) – End Of World (2023)

In concert, the guy’s pretty disgusting!
But I love him as an artist, whatever he does.
As in the Sex Pistols days, he spits on the floor, blows his nose on the floor and makes cleaning up a concert stage a bit more difficult. Since the loss of his wife, he doesn’t really seem to care about anything any more. And yet, he remains a pillar of Punk. Without the scandals of the Sex Pistols, the musical movement, an offshoot of Rock’n’Roll, would not have been so famous.

John Lydon, who no longer goes by John Rotten, although it still suits him just as well, is still in top form on stage. His humour and provocation are intact. He continues to make people laugh, with his facial expressions, his grimaces or when he puts on his glasses to read the lyrics, which are now difficult to remember. Indeed, he does his concerts standing in front of a lectern containing the lyrics of the concert. The letters are written bigger these days, so he doesn’t have to put on glasses every time.

Johnny doesn’t care whether people like him or not.
He didn’t hesitate to criticise the Clash and the Ramones at times in his life.
He must also have lost fans by announcing that he was a Trumpist. To say that Trump “is the most punk president” is one way of looking at things. If it’s based on the early days of punk when it was just absolute I-don’t-care and “I’ll do what I want (but not necessarily with my hair looking like a wig on my orange face)!”, then, yes, we can say that he’s the most punk president ever.

Well…
At least he never criticised an artist like Kate Bush. That would have been rather unwelcome.

P.I.L.’s current trio of musicians is exceptional. It’s a great fusion of people and music. They’ve been together for a while now and they’ve mastered the post-punk/reggae mix to perfection. Their latest album didn’t disappoint at all.

As for Lydon, he knows how to play with his voice, with the different timbres it can have. Screaming, soft or spoken, it’s also very interesting to compare his early vocals with his current voice. It’s just as enjoyable to hear the old songs with the sound of his voice today.

The live versions are excellent and really stand out from the album versions.

It was a pleasure to see this legendary band twice in my life.