And what a band they are. Holidays In The Sun, Seventeen, New York (in which Frank’s excision of the word f****t, as heard on the original lyric, proves that, in the 21st century, some things are beyond the pale even for the Sex Pistols) and Pretty Vacant comprise the opening throw, in that order. God Save The Queen – or King as it’s sung tonight – emerges at the midway point of the 65-minute set. No Feelings and EMI – ’we are ruled by none, never, ever, ever’ – lay in wait.
Purposeful and poised, the older musicians play with the kind of freedom that lay at their fingertips until the very moment Steve Jones upended the world by swearing up a storm live on teatime television in autumn 1976. After this, the Pistols in their original form were toast. The cost of becoming the group who terrorised a nation, and who changed music forever, was that they were no longer able to roll as a rock band, punk or otherwise, must. They were wanted men, persecuted men. Not any more, though. With the help of a singer untethered from self-consciousness and a burdensome reputation, almost half a century later, the most glorious sight in a beautiful music hall in west London, is of a band, at last, regaining its liberty.
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