Tag: John Lydon

Public Image Ltd. announce new U.S. tour dates.

Photo: Paul Heartfield

John Lydon’s iconoclastic band, Public Image Ltd (PiL) have just announced new dates for 2027 in Chicago, Omaha, Kansas City, and Indianapolis. Currently on the first leg of their North American tour, billed as ‘This Is Not…The Last Tour’, these are their first shows here in 8 years, and have included stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, Detroit, Toronto, Boston, and other major cities, concluding October 9th in Nashville. Plague Vendor are special guests on all dates, and tickets are available from the venues and via the PiL website.

This year’s tour follows the momentum gained in 2025, when the band played a string of shows and festival appearances in the UK and Europe. Following the passing of his wife, Nora, and lifelong friend and manager, John Rambo Stevens, both in 2023, Lydon thought he might retire from touring. However, he was overwhelmed by the response, love, and support of fans and this year is an important one for the band.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Lydon said: “I think live Public Image is a ferocious band,” And, he adds, he still gets a blast out of performing. “I feel fear, torment, anxiety, self-doubt, all of those things before I actually get onstage. But then once onstage, you drop all the ego and all of that trepidation — there’s a nice word — and you pile into it and you find that that’s where you truly belong.”

A new live album, ‘Alive’, recorded during last year’s tour, is available via A Way With Media, and the band are working on an album of new material for release in 2027.

After fronting the Sex Pistols, John Lydon formed post-punk originators Public Image Ltd (PiL). Widely regarded as one of the most innovative bands of all time, their music and vision earned them 5 UK Top 20 Singles and 5 UK Top 20 Albums.

With a shifting line-up and unique sound – fusing rock, dance, folk, pop and dub – Lydon guided the band from their debut album ‘First Issue’ in 1978 through to 1992’s ‘That What Is Not’, before a 17-year hiatus.

Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009, touring extensively and releasing three critically acclaimed albums, ‘This is PiL’ (2012), ‘What The World Needs Now…’ (2015) and ‘End of World’ (2023).

Following the departure of long-serving drummer Bruce Smith at the end of 2023, his replacement, Mark Roberts, joins John Lydon (vocals), Lu Edmonds (guitar) and Scott Firth (bass).

2027 tour dates:

February 12 – Chicago, IL – Vic Theatre JUST ANNOUNCED

February 13 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown JUST ANNOUNCED

February 15 – Kansas City, MO – The Truman JUST ANNOUNCED

February 17 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Grand At The Complex

February 18 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre

February 20 – Oklahoma City, OK – Tower Theatre

February 21 – San Antonio, TX – Aztec Theatre

February 23 – Austin, TX – Mohawk

February 24 – Dallas, TX – Echo Lounge & Music Hall

February 25 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall

February 27 – March 6 – New Orleans, LA – The 80’s Cruise 2027

March 8 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live

March 9 – Fort Myers, FL – The Ranch

March 10 – Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Live

March 12 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live

March 13 – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL – Ponte Vedra Concert Hall

March 14 – Charlotte, NC – The Underground

March 16 – Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom

March 17 – Lexington, KY – Manchester Music Hall

March 19 – St. Louis, MO – The Sovereign

March 20 – Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue JUST ANNOUNCED

March 21 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s

March 23 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall

March 24 – Cleveland, OH – Globe Iron

w/ special guests Plague Vendor on all dates

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Jo Murray.]

Rewind Review: Public Image Ltd. – This Is What You Want…This Is What You Get (1984)

The fourth album by Public Image Ltd., This Is What You Want…This Is What You Get, came out in the Year of Orwell – 1984. The world was in the middle of the Cold War and people were wondering which side was going to first heat it up. It was the “me decade” here in the U.S. for Wall Street tycoons who were grabbing all the wealth they could while the rest of us were waiting on Trickle Down Economics to make our lives easier. Spoiler alert: We’re still waiting.

John Lydon and guitarist Keith Levene were working on the album and had an early mix, entitled Commercial Zone, completed. Levene took it to Virgin Records, but Lydon abandoned the project and re-recorded all of it to create This Is What You Want…This Is What You Get.

It starts with the buzzy “Bad Life,” which was the first single off the record. It mixes funky bass with cool horn blasts as Lydon sings, “This machine is on the move. Looking out for number one.” It’s a nice shove at 1980’s yuppies stepping on others to get what they want. The title of the album is repeated over electric drum beats toward the end of the track (and throughout the album).

“This Is Not a Love Song” was Lydon’s poke at people who kept asking him, “Why don’t you write a love song?” He write a brassy jam that mostly repeats the title and ended up being one of his biggest hits. “Happy to have and not to have not. Big business is very wise. I’m crossing over into the enterprise,” he sings, telling all of us that he could take the money and run if he wanted.

Louis Bernardi‘s bass on “Solitaire” is downright nasty. You could easily slap it onto a funk record and it wouldn’t sound out of place. “Tie Me to the Length of That” is a reference to Lydon’s birth, even referencing the doctor who slapped him when he was born. It crawls around the room like a creepy goblin. The horn section echoes from the background like some sort of distant warning.

“The Pardon” has Lydon calling people out for being resistant to change. The beat is a weird tribal jam that is hard to describe but one that sinks into your head. “Where Are You?” is barely controlled chaos as Lydon searches for…someone. I’m still not sure whom.

“1981” is a post-punk classic with Lydon ranting about everything he could see was going to go wrong in the decade and how he figured it might be best to leave England for a while. The drums are sharp, the baritone sax angry, the cymbals sizzling, and the lyrics biting: “I could be desperate. I could be brave…I want everything in 1981.”

The album’s title is repeated again at the beginning of the last track – “The Order of Death” – killer drum beats back dark piano chords. The guitar chords are like something out of a Ridley Scott film score. It’s a cool ending to a cool record, and somewhat of a forgotten post-punk classic.

Keep your mind open.

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