God Save The Sex Pistols - Brixton Academy, 9th November 2007: Review 2

Set List: Pretty Vacant / Seventeen / No Feelings / New York / Did You No Wrong / Liar / Holidays In The Sun / Submission / Stepping Stone / No Fun / Problems / God Save The Queen / Encore 1: EMI / Anarchy In The UK. Encore 2: Bodies

The second night saw one slight amendment in the set list, with Bodies now closing the show. The crowd were even more rowdy and fired up than the first night. Maybe there were fewer journalists?!

John was wearing a lime green PIL vest over his shirt, Steve stripped off his leather jacket to reveal a black T-shirt, Paul was in a brown T-shirt, and Glen a yellow/green waistcoat.

I cannot, and will not, fault a performance like this in any way. They are like no other band. Again, they were sonically incredible, with a front man who is on fire at the moment.

The crowd themselves have such an important part to play, with John bouncing off the overwhelming response. There were some great moments unique to tonight; John leading the assembled Academy crowd in an impromptu rendition of "I do like to be beside the seaside" before Holidays In The Sun; his intro to Bodies "Has anyone seen my baby?" followed by his remarks at the end of the song, "If abortions worked I wouldn't be here."

No Fun has also gained a new guise these opening nights with Steve and Glen's backing vocals "Two bob, Two bob c***."

What a night. The sound in the Academy seems perfect for the Pistols. Both intense and immense.

30 years since Never Mind The Bollocks..... the Pistols have taken this celebration, grabbed it by the throat and dragged it up to another level.

Film cameras have been present at both nights so far. Fingers crossed for a permanent reminder of this historic reunion.

Oh, and in a few hours the Pistols are playing again!

Review by Phil Singleton

Review number 2 by Dave....

I remember reading in Sounds way back in 1976 that a band called the Sex Pistols were doing an Anarchy tour with a few other bands... how I wanted to go, but being sixteen at the time, and the Pistols playing now where near me I couldn't go.

I grew up with the spirit of the times and of the Sex Pistols inside me, take no bollocks from anyone, say what you mean. go and do the things you want to do.. etc etc... only the people who lived through those times will know what I mean, and yes those traits are still with me.

Anyway I waited till 1996 before I got to see the Pistols for the first time, and have seen them since. Now 2007 is here and what would the Pistols be like.. at least we have the four original members still there.. not many bands can say that after 32 years. So what do I really expect from the Pistols.. yes punk as a movement died out in the late seventies, and yes it did change various attitudes and things in society, but in the big scheme of life, nothing much changed. I still have the same old feelings inside me that I had when the Pistols first started, and those songs still mean a very lot to me.

So here I was outside the Acadamy in Brixton waiting to go inside. Once inside I looked at the merchandise stall, 20 - 25 quid for a t-shirt, do me a favour, they are cheaper on the web...anyway I got my GSTQ t-shirt over 10 years and its still going strong, so I don't need another one. I only managed to get a circle ticket for tonight, so went upto the circle, you can sit where ever you can find a seat, with the stewards saying they will be no standing tonight... anyway I sit through the support band from just around the corner called the Thirst, nothing new or exciting there. 15 minutes before the Pistols came on there was a big chat of Pistols, Pistols!!! excellent stuff.. The sound of 'There will always be an England' comes out of the speakers at 21:30, and on come the Pistols, to a massive reception, everyone except for the front row is standing up in the circle.. everyone sings along to There will always be an England, and then its staright into Pretty Vacant..

I manage to move right down to the second row of the circle and have a brilliant view, all the classics come along one after another, theres no Hawkwinds Silver Machine tonight or any other songs like that. The songs come and go, Stepping Stone sounds brilliant with Steve, Glen and Paul producing a really good tight sound, John introduces No Fun, as "No Fanny tonight, unless we're lucky." No Fun was perhaps the song that didn't work for me on the night, but everything else did. We had Seventeen, No Feelings, New York, Did You Know Wrong, LIAR (dedicated to Malcolm), Holidays, Submission, Stepping Stone, No Fun, Problems, and just before they played God Save the Queen, the back drop of the queen on lots of postage stamps was let down, then it was into God Save the Queen. The whole place errupted. Then they go off, well they are all over 50...and come back for the first encore to do EMI, and an absolutely brilliant version of Anarchy which had the whole place going.

I thought that was going to be it, in some ways it would of been just right to end with Anarchy, and that brilliant version, but they came on one last time to finish off with Bodies, and then they were off. They played for all of 1hr and 10 minutes. Looking back on the gig, the highlights for me was the sound, with Liar, Stepping Stone and Anarchy being played really well, the band seemed so tight, Johnny as always is a great front man, the best there is - especially the way he was today, and he was certainly enjoying it.

The crowd were up for it as well, especially singing an imprmoptu version of "I do love to be beside the seaside." I certainly didn't think they would be as good as they were; of course its not going to be the same as when they started, so all those people hoping to see the spitting snarling Johnny Rotten which the media publiscised 32 years ago, (oh ok he did have a few spits), but you know what I mean, are not going to see that. Those songs are all classics and mean a lot to me, and were so much a part of my growing up period, and something I can always relate to. I am now looking forward to Wednesday, yep I'm going along again, this time I'll be in the stalls down the front.

And from WF.....

Friday the 9th - I WAS THERE!! As I waited for that moment when the boys appeared, I so wanted this night to be something special. I am of an age where you naturally begin to expect crap from every angle, and I wondered if they could really pull it off?! ONLY SEEING MY SON BORN SURPASSED THIS NIGHT.......I FEEL SO HAPPY NOW

Brixton 10th November Review >

Holidays In The Sun 2007 Index