God Save The Sex Pistols - Birmingham Apollo, 11th June & Isle Of Wight, 14th June 2008, Joint Review 2

Birmingham

The excitement was exhilarating - no support - just simply the Pistols! The place was tiny - the feeling of '77 was in the air! I got front row and the bruises across my ribs were proof of that! When Rotten came on the place was electric and everyone ecstatic! This was everything I imagined the Pistols to be - the best Pistols gig I've ever seen. They really suit small venues the best and this gig proved it. 'Baghdad was a blast?' - I think Birmingham Academy was a bigger blast! If you were there you knew it! Simply the best band in the world playing their best gig ever!

Isle Of Wight

Like Phil, we then headed down to the Isle of Wight - and I agree with Phil's review - it was far better than Finsbury which seemed a bit theatrical. However, IOW was the real thing - The Pistols at their best.

Again I was front row, but I was one of the broad shaven headed guys mentioned by Phil who had to be pulled out of the crowd as the crush was crazy! The crowd were going mad and the gig was amazing ...

Pictured right: Safety Officers tend to fan on a stretcher in the pit.

For me, it had to be Birmingham as the best Pistols gig ever due to it being such a small venue with real fans only and being only feet away from the band.

But a close second was IOW - far exceeding expectations and reaching a wider audience than Finsbury Park or Pheonix Festival.

If you missed this tour due to apathy about the band then you really missed out on something special. We did not - we were there! God save the Sex Pistols!!!!

As a final point of commitment to the band I actually travelled from Thailand just for these gigs thanks to modern technology and online booking systems!! Be nice to hear if anyone travelled further to see the band?

Review by Neal Bambridge (Bambi), Koh Phangan, Thailand

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