Ten years almost to the day since we last saw them and eight years since their last Paris date in the same venue, Public Image, Ltd. are back at the Paris Trianon in support of their excellent new album End of World. Flanked by the band's longest serving line-up of Lu Edmonds on guitar, Bruce Smith on drums and Scott Firth on bass, John Lydon presented the Parisian audience with a veritable musical compendium of the band's existence, setting the tone with the grandiose and foreboding opener "Penge". For a riveting 90 minutes, the quartet wove together sonic sculptures and unconventional melodies, challenging and captivating the audience.
P.I.L.'s unique ability to engage both the intellect and the body was on full display. Their music, demanding yet irresistibly groovy, had the crowd entranced and dancing. Classics like "This Is Not A Love Song," "Death Disco," and "Flowers Of Romance," along with new tracks like "Car Chase" and "Being Stupid Again," showcased this duality, a testament to the band's enduring appeal.
Shards of dissonant, angular guitars bounce on a blanket of pulsating drums and throbbing bass on top of which John Lydon, a sneer firmly etched upon his face, declaims his tales of anguish, paranoia and anarchy. The ringleader extraordinaire, has been the unyielding force behind the band for an impressive span of nearly forty-five years, steering its course through the wild seas of rebellion and dissent. At once abstract and concrete, the compositions also reveal themselves to be quite emotional, especially the most recent ones, where Lydon seemingly opens up to reveal himself, warts and all, while never losing the confrontational edge that echoes the abrasiveness of his music and lyrics.
The man would probably cringe at the label "rock star", but how else can you qualify a man equally adored and reviled, a man once deemed a danger to society itself, a maverick whose band was poised to become the biggest rock act on the planet and who sabotaged it all to experiment with dub and avant-garde? A master of contradictions, at once drunken buffoon and thought-provoking intellectual? A man who has weathered unfathomable personal tragedies, emerging with challenging and ultimately rewarding music? Face it, Johnny: you're a rock star.
Lydon doesn't shy away from voicing his opinions, inviting the world to listen, whether they agree or not. One thing is certain: beneath the controversies, beyond the legend, and past the pageantry, Lydon ranks among the finest vocal stylists in rock, landing somewhere between Mick Jagger and Alice Cooper.
Similarly, P.I.L. stands as one of the most singular rock bands in existence. Their rebellion, dysfunction, cacophony, and groove, all rooted in a blend of pub, club, and dub cultures, form a mesmerizing amalgamation. A collective of intellectuals, hooligans, artists, philosophers, and more, their music strikes a perfect balance between art, commerce, entertainment, fun, and righteous anger. For as Lydon has long proclaimed, anger is an energy, and last night, in the historic theatre of the Paris red-light district, it coursed through the veins of the band and its fervent followers.
