Mentioned seeing Public Image Ltd in Oslo back in June and being blown away with the quality of the band and the gig. Not seen or heard of PiL since their Album (1986) album and had the tracks from that and Metal Box (1979) as MP3’s on and off over the years. Apart from that like most people I’d been treated to the odd glimpse of John Lydon on I’m a Celeb … and on the Country Life Butter ad, and never really occurred to me that Johnny was still seriously in the music biz.
As I blogged at the time my expectations were pretty low, so the contrast between those and the reality was marked. Really impressed with Johnny’s delivery, professional and passionate, and the current PiL band is remarkably good – the best PiL ever Johnny says. New members since 2009: Lu Edmonds on assorted 6-stringed instruments and keyboard / synth – marvellous sounds including great renditions of the older PiL favourites; Bruce Smith on drums – no band ever worked without a strong drummer and most recent member Scott Firth bassist, including electric fretless stand-up bass plus assorted keyboard / synth – more than a rhythm section.
He / they won a MoJo lifetime achievement award in July, presented by Hawkwind’s Dave Brock. Johnny is happy and the band are writing and producing new material. Looking forward to the product and more live gigs.