SEX
PISTOLS
Club Lafayette, Wolverhampton, UK 21/12/77. By Peter Don't CareThe
club was still filling when Satan's Rats the support
group hit the stage. They were a mixture of high energy
pop and new wave, very energetic and a good warm up for
the audience. As Satan's Rats left the stage, the club
atmosphere grew increasingly intense as the time wore on
and everybody anticipated what was about to follow. You
have to remember the Pistols at this stage in their
career were the number one band [and banned] in the land. They were headline news
everywhere. Only a few days
previous Johnny Rotten was on the front page of the Daily
Mirror cos he pulled out the earlier date booked for
tonight's performance cos he had a cold!!! If Johnny had
gone to the dentist he would've made the papers!!! It was
now getting uncomfortably packed. There were even queues
for the toilets of this small club, what held about
400-500 tops. And it was ten deep at both upstairs and
downstairs bars. Everyone seemed to have had the same idea, stock up now while you can before 'they' come
on. Cos
no-one wanted to miss the notorious freakshow when it
hits town! There were all walks of life in here
tonight....the fans, the curious and the twisted all
wanting a glimpse of something extraordinary. The DJ kept
on saying "after this next record the Sex Pistols
will appear live on stage". This went on for at least
3 spins of the Stranglers ,the Clash and Eddie And The
Hot Rods or some other band. While all this was going on
people were crowding around the stage area vying for position. The stagedoor kept on swinging open and shut as
roadies made final adjustments to the gear and everytime
it opened for a brief second you could see Johnny Rotten
drinking from a can laughing. I asked the DJ one more time
when they were really coming on and he said 'he didn't
know what the hold-up was!"
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smack on the stroke of midnight the white stage lights
went up and they just walked on unannounced. The crowd
went wild as Johnny sneered "Hello
Wolverhampton" as they careered straight into 'God
Save The Queen'. What other song could they start with?
There was pandemonium everywhere rebounding all around
the club and the seething masses were swaying like a
football crowd....You could see the glassyness in
Johnny's laserbeam eye and seeing the Pistols in the
flesh lived up to the what I had expected and more....
Johnny Rotten an arms length away scrutinises the crowd
with a demented stare as he informs us there is "no future, no future for you!".
He is decked out with a
smattering of talcum powder rubbed into his dirty yellow
spiky barnet and covering the shoulders of his black suit
jacket....His baggy blue tartan bondage strides were
rounded off with a pair of the brightest red brothel
creepers you've ever seen. It took a few seconds before
the shellshock opening had sunk in. You've got to remember
this was the real thing ! The band we had read about, heard about this was the
Pistols!!! The group were
sipping lager from packs of cans littering the amps and
floor of the stage. And with no time to hang around it
signalled the next number 'I Wanna Be Me' which got Sid
pogoing with his bass going all over the shop. Yeah....before he then decided on having a gobbing
match with one of the punters. Sid dressed in his black
leather and Levi's was leering over at the crowd not
concentrating quite so much on his beloved bass playing
as he should've but it was all done in a joking banter. And Sid was first to remonstrate with the bouncers
as they moved in, causing a slight scuffle and ejected his
unfortunate sparring partner from the club. Not the first
and by no means the last to see the street lights
prematurely tonight. Whilst all this was going on I
noticed Sid's bird the 'Nauseating Nancy' was standing at
the back of the stage leaning against the back wall next
to the little door that leads to the tiny dressing room. She was
drinking, smoking and chewing gum, watching
Sid all the time with her arms folded. |
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| Halfway
through 'Seventeen' and Johnny's mic-stand topples over
amid the confusion of mic-lead and Johnny's energy. It
falls straight into the no-mans land of scaffold bars and
debris between the baying crowd and the public enemy
number one. John resumes singing with no stand
to throw around while Rodent scurries over from stage
left behind Sid's amp and recovers it. He crouches down in
front of John trying not to get soaked by the various
beer and gob ridden missiles hitting the stage at regular intervals.
John laughs! And declares "This ain't the
Wolverhampton I used to know!" 'New York' is up next and
there certainly ain't no imitations on stage tonight!
This is the real thing! To see them perform no more than
3ft away (which is still something I will never get over)
is something else, larger than life. Whatever you read
about em in the papers they were so much better and
probably worse! 'EMI' blasts out at us with Steve Jones
shouting the chorus in his wideboy cockney accent, as he
rips out those powerchords on his infamous white Gibson. He seems to love every minute of this performance
as he lurches around in his leather and tatty black
creepers but does he care? does he fuck! As the set
progresses in what seems like the blink of an eye the
grinding chords of 'Submission' welcomes in a barrage of
objects from all corners of the audience. Anything from jumpers,
scarves, shirts, hats and bits of rubbish with
quickly scrawled messages on like 'FUCK OFF!' and other
friendly gestures hit the expanse of the 18 ft stage. 'Bodies' steams in next and really gets an over
active response from the crowd. At the climax Johnny
gathers up a lot of this new stagewear he's acquired into
a pile in his arms and cradles em in his jacket like you
would a baby laughing with glee as he yelps
"mommmmeeeeeeah!" There is a minute or so pause
as the stage is now inundated with jumble sale attire. Johnny starts trying on various items as Paul Cook
starts pounding the intro to 'Holidays In The Sun'. You
can hardly see Paul behind his black drumkit but you can
certainly hear him. He only stops to have a drink or two
or to wipe the perspiration from his face. Good old
Cooky(ha ha ha). All through 'Holidays...' Johnny Rotten
is trying on his new gear and throwing it off for more
obnoxious stuff. In the end he sticks with what he's got on, wise move! He kicks a few of the cast off jumpers into
the bass drum and mutters "them'll do for
after". He then announces "this next uns gonna
be our new single" just as Steve Jones rings out the
sinister chords to 'Belsen Was A Gas'. Me or anyone else
could barely make this new song out as John was prancing
from one side of the stage to the other "ha
ha-ing" as he went. He seemed to get off on this one
nearly as much as 'God Save The Queen'. But just before
'No Feelings' gets despatched, a pint glass was thrown
from the audience, it just missed Paul Cook's drumkit by
inches and shattered on impact against the wall at the
back of the stage. John sarcastically threw a gauntlet
down by announcing "Whoever threw that, would they
like to make their presence felt up here now!" The
crowd cheered! Paul Cook didn't seem disturbed, he was
probably used to such happenings with this band. And he
knew it wasn't really meant for him anyway! The Pistols
trod a very dangerous path looking back on it now. They
caused some wild reactions everywhere they went good and
bad! Wolverhampton at this tine was full of nutters and a
nasty place to be. |
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| But It was soon back to
the business of the night with a more inflamed 'No
Feelings'. As Mr Rotten gave us a dose of stage theatrics
by pretending to hang himself from the lighting rig above
his head (by wrapping the mic lead around his neck!) A
few of us stuck our hands out ,mine included. and we got
the shake the hand of the geezer who was supposedly the
devil incarnate. This might sound stupid now but at the
time was something fucking out of this world!!! I was
proud to be here at this particular moment in time and
shake hands with the Anti-Christ! One kid dropped his
cigarettes after offering John a fag and he couldn't
reach them. Johnny bent down and handed the packet back to
the kid! Was this the Johnny Rotten portrayed in the
papers!? On the side of the stage there were a few snaps
of cameras going off. I noticed one Japanese photographer
getting some great shots. I always wondered where they
ended up? What I'd give to see them now!!! Back to the gig. Sid had draped his leather over the amps by now
revealing four or five nasty cuts to his chest, self
inflicted of course! The familiar chords of 'Pretty
Vacant' ring out the pa system. This is played brilliantly
by Jonesey who had dispelled all the myths about not
playing well. Cos they played brilliantly on every number
tonight!! And whipped the crowd up into a frenzy. As a
hoarse Johnny Rotten screamed down the mic "and we
don't carreee!!!" There was no way I was vacating my
position now stuck behind this big fat punkette who kept
elbowing me in the stomach all night! She was soon just a
mild irritation as the powerchords of everyone's
favourite 'Anarchy' erupted out the PA system. We'd been
waiting all night for this one and it came blaring into
our eardrums "Right nowwwww!!!" In the mass of
sweat and body heat the club erupts for what seemed like
the biggest earthquake of the night. I take a glance
around the club amid the furore and everyone and I mean
everyone upstairs and downstair, barstaff, security you
name it, the whole fucking club is transfixed to the
stage! Long haired students, yobs, punks, straights you name
it they all know this one. And it's being sung from
everyone's lips. I dunno where he gets it from but Johnny
is moving around like a madman, jerking and falling over. Then before I can take it all in the lights go
out!!! And the last I see is Paul Cooks back disappearing
through small blue the dressing room door. They were gone
and there was no encore!!!! As I slowly stagger out the
club in the pissing rain I didn't care. I was already
soaked with sweat and adrenaline and my ears are still
ringing! I knew I'd just been present at something
special. Little did I know at the time I had just
witnessed a musical phenomena and had encountered the
best sixty minutes I will probably ever have in my entire
life!! It's one of those sights and experiences that
remains with ya for the rest of your natural! SEX PISTOLS
WON'T PLAY!...THEY SURE FUCKING DID TONIGHT! Peter Don't
Care |
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