Public Image Ltd brings 50 some years of punk rock energy to Nashville

Nearly 50 years after helping ignite the original punk rock explosion, John Lydon is still making noise, still provoking reactions, and still doing things on his own terms. On Friday, October 9th, the artist formerly known as Johnny Rotten brought Public Image Ltd (PiL) to Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl for an evening that traced the more adventurous, confrontational, and downright strange corners of his musical legacy.

For anyone expecting a nostalgic trip through the Sex Pistols‘ songbook, PiL has never been that kind of band. Formed in 1978 following the Pistols’ implosion, Public Image Ltd became Lydon’s vehicle for dismantling punk rock almost as quickly as he’d helped invent it. Over 11 studio albums later, the group’s explored everything from dub reggae and dissonant post-punk to funk, dance music, industrial textures, and experimental rock. It’s a catalog full of brilliant ideas, bizarre detours, and the occasional head-scratcher.

But then, predictability has never been one of Lydon’s selling points.

Lydon himself remains one of rock’s most fascinating contradictions. Once the face of British anti-establishment youth culture, he’s spent recent years generating headlines for political positions that have confounded portions of his original fan base. Depending on your perspective, he’s either remained defiantly counter-culture or become the very sort of establishment figure punk once railed against. Either way, he’s never seemed particularly concerned about winning anyone’s approval. And perhaps that’s what makes Public Image Ltd still worth paying attention to.

Opening the evening was southern California’s Plague Vendor, delivering a loud, blues-soaked blast of garage punk. I had the pleasure of interviewing the band many years ago in Austin, Texas before they played one of the most high-energy shows I have ever seen. Frontman Brandon Blaine reminds me a lot of Iggy Pop the way he throws himself into the band’s aggressive sound. The highlights of their set came in the form of “The New Comedown” and “I only speak in friction” — two of my favorite songs of theirs. This band absolutely rocks and, having not heard much from them over the last few years, it felt good to see them touring again rather than playing primarily on the west coast.

Plague Vendor was the perfect opening act.

John Lydon — the band’s sole remaining original member — was joined by guitarist Lu Edmonds, bassist Scott Firth, and drummer Mark Roberts. Together, they are a reminder of why PiL remains such an influential force in alternative music. Not to sound ‘ageist’, but even for being a bunch of men in the later years of their lives, they absolutely rocked… harder than most bands half their age. 

Opening with “Home”, the band worked through material spanning their extensive catalog. Lydon’s unmistakable nasal sneer and angst-ridden vibrato remains his defining features although Edmonds’ swirling, effects-heavy guitar work proved equally compelling.

“This Is Not a Love Song” brought the band’s danceable side forward, while “Poptones” and “Death Disco” recalled the darker, more atmospheric experimentation of 1979’s Metal Box. Those songs alone illustrate PiL’s considerable influence on everyone from Fugazi to LCD Soundsystem.

As the set sadly moved toward its conclusion, the song “Rise/Religion” reminded me and the rest of the audience that “Anger is an energy”, a fitting statement from a band who has spent nearly five decades turning frustration into music. Public Image Ltd. may no longer be revolutionizing punk rock the way they used to, but to see them still playing hard was something I will never forget. With Plague Vendor providing the reckless energy and PiL supplying the restless imagination, Nashville got a reminder that punk’s greatest legacy isn’t necessarily rebellion itself, but the freedom to make something unexpected out of it.

Photography by Chasten Bugge

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