I did see PIL on that famous away trip to Düsseldorf in 1983 and it was a highly entertaining setting for me back then. I think i also saw them in 1986 at Große Freiheit but had already lost interest given the mu-sick-al direction they took.
And then i did let go and had no interest in that bigmouth anymore, though i did buy his 1993 autobiography. Still, the first single, the first LP and the metal box are precious items for me – and, on top of that – a very cool bootleg of their 1978 December 26th show at the Rainbow is in my collection and has formed my view of the “perfect” PIL sound.
The show was on for a mere 43€ and i would have been for sure a no show had not a mate been calling in and pointed out that with me in tow and 2 people on the guest list under his name he would go. So i was forced and did not expect a lot.
We came as late as possible to dodge the support, had a couple of chats with fellow oldpunks around (in an audience of ~600 and an average age of 51.7) and knew it was an on time kick-off at 21:00. And so it happend.
Yep, and that was Mr. Lydon, behind a music stand, pretending to be a singer. With big gestures and dripping of pathos he tried to wind his voice up and down, back and forth and … some more. His backdrop band was thoroughly missing the dub infused bass of Mr. Jah Wobble and the whirly sound of the guitar of Mr. Keith Levene. Instead we had Mr. Walz on bass, Mr. Old Hippy on the lute. And Mr. Fishnet on drums.
It was dead boring for most of the time, it had some good elements when that dub/guitar thing actually did work and come together and it got interesting when they went on to tear apart a song and put it together in a new fashion, eg. like in “Sod in Heaven” (see below for a short snippet of the start, the song was stretched to what felt like 20 minutes):
The crowd did not move a lot, given age, but largely nodded positively. Some of the disco-stompers (the worst elements to me) indeed got like 5 people in front of the stage going. And that was that. With songs stretched to like 15 minutes they did cover a lot of time, i’ll take they where like 90 Minutes on stage and then two encores.
Some people liked it, i did not like it so much – both for the mu-sick-al delivery but also for the habits of Mr. Lydon: He just continues to act, to play a role – and it does shine through, so it is not even well done. Never mind, what do i expect of someone who lodges in the Hyatt Hamburg and demands a taxi for the 350 meters to the venue? Did i mention that on the music stand there where the words to the songs printed in very large font? Yes it was, yes it was! Would i throw money after him? Nope, hence this was a gift, not really enjoyable.
A surprise was waiting outside, a clever street credibility hunting and grass roots marketing executing young band from Manchester had set up their stage on the walk way just outside the Markthalle and blasted full volume their mix of “Rock, Rap and Punk” – and surprised those leaving the venue.
Quite a number of people stopped right there and listened to them. I am not sure if they would be my kinda music but i sensed that know their stuff and seemed to have fun. Explore them over here. Against PIL they sounded young, fresh and energetic.
And them oldpunks? They had fun at last!
Oldpunks Frosch, Toni, Thomas and Biber plus Nicole enjoying themselves (Markthalle Hamburg, 12.05.2016) (c) gehkacken.de)
And what sound was in me head? Here are two songs from that bootleg, now think yerself!
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