Brighton in the summer; it wouldn't have made as great an LP title as Paris Au Printemps, but we go with what we've got here. I have a spare ticket, my wife brokers a deal that for a day out shopping in Brighton, and a meal - she will accompany me on my seemingly endless quest to see Public Image Limited. Who better to allow into my PIL sanctum than the girl that has suffered my endless playing, talking, travelling, ok I admit, obsession with this band that give me so much love and frustration. Just like a second wife then?

It takes approximately 5 minutes into the shopping before my mind starts to wander... it dawns on me that barring two festival gigs I am not attending, this is possibly the last PIL show this year, as they head of the other side of the pond as they did all those years ago. Also, this could be the last ever PIL gig, what, if anything would 2013 bring?...a 35 year anniversary of 1st Issue?...another new LP?...or that's it...gone...this time possibly for ever?

The day goes by in a blur of memories of just why I am here in the first place, and before I know it I am in the venue sipping a diet coke...yeah, I got to drive too...it's packed...with a capitol P...and did I mention it was summer, the hottest day of the year so far...it was hot as well...with a capitol H... my fears are making me sweat more than the heat, what if the four enclosed walls come crashing down around me? Am I really falling out of love?

On they come, Lydon looks with that special stare of his, these days born more out of aged eyes than rotten attitude, spying a bloke down the front with a massive mohican he politely informs the punk that 'it's going to get really hot in here tonight and if he wouldn't mind swinging his head from side to side his hair would fan us all cool'. I snigger, they launch into This is not a Love Song, I smile, I am happy. As they go through the set all the day's memories of the last 30 odd years marry themselves to the songs...

Love Song, with its great video of Lydon rolling about in a big car, the cabaret PIL that accompanied him on the first real proper UK tour.

Albatross and my dad's face as I was allowed to play my birthday present of Second Edition on the music centre in the front room.

Disappointed and Warrior, so underrated as singles and released in so many different formats it took me ages to collect every version.

Flowers of Romance. That bike ride into town after school, in the pissing rain to buy it on its day of release, then going round my mates on the way home, dripping wet to play it, again and again...

Death Disco. The day I picked up the 7" in Woolworths and the record itself fell out the bottom of the sleeve (you may remember the cover was printed 'upside down') and rolled through the record isle.

Bags...from Album, that I bought on cassette from Virgin records in Sloane Square and played loud on my walkman as I strolled down Kings Road to World's End cos it seemed the right thing to do.

The day I realised that U.S.L.S 1 was really 'useless one' and what the song was really about.

Chant. The arguments I had with school friends over what the chant actually was...love war fear hate/mob more fiddle wait/love more kill mate...I still don't really know.

Rise...oh Rise. Suddenly everyone had heard of my favourite band, they were massive, I went on many dates, met many people, I got to watch the sound check at the Poole Arts Centre...that same day Mr Lydon gave me a can of beer...'for being a fan'...

...and Religion from the 1st Issue LP I bought in Richmond. Going ice skating with my mum and brother on the school holiday, spent my entire holiday money on it, my mum was furious... Tonight we get the music stop mid song, and Lydon carries on, it's like we get Religion parts 1 and 2...a stunning song, it's loud, and the doors above this venue have patterned glass in them...'Stained glass windows keep the cold outside' as the venue, the band and Lydon sweat for us...and maybe a little bit, for me.

Also included throughout the set are the usual selection of songs from the latest, and pretty good to be fair 'This is PIL', then it's a storming Open Up...and they are gone, maybe forever. The last time I would ever see Public Image Limited? I had a lot of time to reflect today, and I reflect forward as my wife falls asleep in the car and I drive through the back roads back home...

Whatever has happened and whatever will happen with this band Public Image Limited, they have been a major part of my life, I will never forget them and the times they have given me, which hopefully isn't over yet. However if this is to be the last ever PIL gig then I am glad I was there, because in all honesty, it was, without an argument the greatest band the world has ever seen, perform the greatest gig I have ever seen them play. All my memories of this band, 99% of which are very fond ones, I pack into a little box in my brain to chose to open at any time I wish... my happy place if you will... and that box? Well of course it's a metal one.  

Review by Martin Doubtfire