Sex Pistols Experience

The Sex Pistol Experience expertly and authentically awoke 50 plus year old ex punks from their accountancy day jobs and respectable family lives, and propelled them 33 years in the past to relive their glorious 'orrible youth. Balding middle-aged men found enough strands to spike up in a statement to their musically anarchic hay-day. And some of them found an energy within that may have laid dormant for decades. They were seventeen again, pogo-ing to the tight, raw, snarling rock 'n’ roll of their yester-heroes. The younger members of the audience were as enthusiastic as their elders - age was no barrier to having a riotously good time.

Leeds’ own Clash tributers Rebel Truce warmed the crowd with an exciting early years set that began with the explosive Give 'em Enough Rope album opener, Safe European Home, and ended with Clash City Rockers. In between they belted out suitably charged versions including Career Opportunities, Stay Free, and London’s Burning. Brand New Cadillac aside, they avoided venturing beyond the first two albums to capture a sense of time and place.

The anticipation and excitement was bubbling to the point where punters were convincing themselves that it really was 1977 and the real Sex Pistols were preparing to grace the stage (it’s amazing what beer and a little imagination can do). And when the Experience finally appeared, and spat straight into Pretty Vacant, if i’d been sitting on a stool I would’ve fallen straight off it. I was completely transfixed by Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious, or should I say, Johnny Rotter and Kid Vicious. Even if they’d sounded nothing like their alter egos, their highly believable look and mannerisms would’ve won me over. But to a man (including Paul Crook on drums and Steve Bones on guitar) they were musically bang on the filthy lucre. Rotter was physically twisted, obnoxious, edgy and wild eyed, and Vicious was all lip curling, pouting, cocky stance and low hung bass. The only unauthentic part of the latter’s performance was that he could actually play his instrument. Rotter toyed with the crowd like a manic madman, adding extra tension to the uncanny performance. One moment berating them for being too quiet, then reeling them in with a sympathetic tribute to the recently departed Malcolm MacLaren.

Rotter, Vicious, Crook and Bones blasted through the classics - No Feeling, Holiday in the Sun, Liar, EMI, Problems, God Save the Queen and Anarchy in the UK, before exiting the stage for a breather and costume change. And it turned out to be more than a costume change - it was a complete band change! The Sex Pistols became Public Image Ltd and launched into This Is Not A Love Song. Rotter became Lydon, draped in a large shouldered grey checked suit, Vicious traded his scowl for a Jah Wobble groove, and Steve Bones introduced Keith Levene, the original PIL guitarist, on board for the last few songs. As a showstopper, it would have been more effective at a PIL tribute night. But Levene has a worthy enough pedigree (he was also in an early Clash line up) to justify his encore appearance. The 50 plus year old ex punks may have preferred to hit the cool Oxford Street air with the Pistols rather than PIL ringing in their ears, but no one was complaining – we had just been entertained by surely one of the country’s finest tribute acts.