Public Image Limited (PiL)
7th August 2025 – Cheltenham Town Hall
John Lydon will always be synonymous with the Sex Pistols, despite them only recording one album. But his real musical career came with the iconoclastic Public Image Limited (PiL), the, quite literally, post-punk band he formed in 1978 and has fronted for many of the last 45 year since. PiL have had a turbulent time, with a changing line up and after the death of a close friend and his wife in 2023 Lydon almost called time on the band. Thankfully he was brough back from the edge by the outpouring of love and support from fans and earlier this year launched the massive “This Is Not The Last Tour”.
Tonight’s show, at the rock ‘n’ nirvana that is Cheltenham Town Hall, sees the band coming towards the end of their tour and firing on all cylinders as a result. Launching onto the stage Lydon sneers and swaggers, of course he has nothing to prove and is trying to imitate no-one. He is the original punk icon with plenty of charisma and attitude of his own. Front-men, like Liam Gallagher, owe so much to Lydon whose PiL are not always given the dues they deserve. Over the next 90mins the band treat us to their masterful fusion of rock, dance, pop and dub blended into a sound that can only be described as Pil.
The band open with thumping versions of ‘Home’ and ‘Know How’, though it would be fair to say the entire set is thumping with the bass and drums taking prominent position in the sound. Lydon is quick to tease the crowd with his ‘welcome to Milton Keynes’ dig but for the most part is light on his between song banter, bar a few sharp digs at the revised ‘karaoke’ Sex Pistols show – “they didn’t even write any songs”. Despite an able and settled band, the magnificent guitarist Lu Edmonds has been with them for over fifteen years, it is hard to look beyond Lydon as the frontman. He rarely moves far from his microphone stand but such is his charisma that his constant facial contortions keep all eyes firmly fixed on him.
‘This Is Not A Love Song’ is performed as an angry guitar driven assault before the pace is slowed for ‘Poptones’ and ‘Death Disco’, both sounding menacing with an angular aggressive guitar sound underpinning both. ‘Shoom’, the closing track from the bands fantastic 2015 What the World Needs Now album, must be a contender for the most swear-words in a single song and the audience are keen to join in with a “fuck off” chorus.
The main set closes with a ferocious version of ‘Public Image’ which leaves no room for compromise. Begging permission from the audience for a “3 minute cigarette break” the band leave the stage but the audience know the big numbers are yet to come. They return with a stunning version of ‘Open Up’, his early 90’s hit single with dancemakers Leftfield. Like the original the sound is frenetic, the bass throbbing as Lydon snarls his way through the “burn Hollywood burn” chorus. This is followed by a powerhouse version of ‘Rise’. As an encore, both are nothing short of magnificent, but whilst many artists would be happy to leave the audience on a high like this Lydon has other ideas. He follows the hits with a brief medley of some of the bands earliest and most industrial sounding tracks just to make sure the audience leave without thinking Lydon has gone soft.
Almost fifty years since he burst into our lives, and infamously our TV’s, Lydon is still an utter legend, an entertainer but one with opinions and views which are his and his alone – he doesn’t need to follow social trends, he is a social trend. The tour name promises this wont be their last tour, you better hope that is truth ‘cos everyone needs to see PiL at least once in their lives.
By: Dave Roberts