Many thought that, with what happened to the Singer-songwriter and Public Image Limited's bandleader John Lydon back few years ago, with the British Punk/Rock icon losing his wife and his best friend and manager John Rambo in the space of few months, the British collective P.I.L. might have very unlikely be touring again, or even considering to write a new record.
Rather fortunately though, the proverbial resilience and emotional strength of Lydon managed to overcome those terrible personal losses, with the British artist embarking a long solo Spoken Word tour that started almost two years ago and brought Lydon throughout the whole of the UK, with more dates to follow, planned for this fall.
That Spoken Word tour must have been the greatest catalyst and the right sparkle that ignited the desire for Lydon to re-group together Public Image Limited, taking the band on tour throughout the UK and several European countries, while writing a new album on the go, an album that, according to Lydon's close sources, should start to take shape in the next couple of weeks, before P.I.L. will continue their current tour called, aptly, This Is Not The Last Tour, on July 19th.
Bluebird Reviews had the opportunity to attend one of the This Is Not The Last Tour dates at Portsmouth Guildhall, in the south of the UK, where Public Image Limited shone, as a collective, at their very best.
With a new drummer, Mark Roberts, replacing the legendary longstanding P.I.L. previous drummer Bruce Smith (who left for personal reasons), the sound, the power and the dynamism of Public Image Ltd remains unscathed and somehow, through the arrival of new blood in the P.I.L.'s line-up, raising even the overall energy level of Public Image Limited's sound on stage of a couple of notches.
Photo by Gio Pilato
Whilst John Lydon's personality and charisma, both as a singer and the band's frontman are, undoubtedly, the main propeller for P.I.L.'s sound, it's also true that, without the unbelievable level of class, musicianship and talent brought by Lu Edmonds on guitar and Scott Firth on bass, the highly impressive wall of sound erupting from the stage tonight, at Portsmouth Guildhall, couldn't have been achievable.
In the 95 minutes of tonight's show, Lydon and his Band Of Brothers demonstrated to be in superb shape. The crowd could sense immediately that this is going to be a special night of music right from the start, with P.I.L. kicking off the show with a highly exuberant and uptempo delivery of Home, quickly followed by an equally exceptional version of Know Now, from the band's 2015 album called What The World Needs Now...
In an impressive setlist that bounces back and fore in the band's catalogue, it's incredible to realize how much songs like Poptones, This Is Not A Love Song, Death Disco, Flowers Of Romance and Warrior, among others, still resonate to thousands of music lovers and Public Image Ltd fans present not only here tonight in Portsmouth, but also across the world.
With the Public Image Limited not willing to slow down the intensity of the performance, there is even space tonight for a song rarely performed on the current tour, called Corporate (still from the What The World Needs Now... album), where lyrics like "..this world you now live in, it is your own prison.
It is the poison in your own soul, you made this all on your own..." are so dramatically and sadly factual, especially when hearing World News on a daily basis.
Lydon senses, after an hour of collective joy, that it's time to raise the game still another notch, tonight; after songs like Warrior and Shoom elevated even further the sonic bar of the band and the participation level of the enthusiastic crowd present here tonight in Portsmouth, P.I.L.'s anthem Public Image sees the crowd starting bouncing in unison all around the venue, with Lydon, Edmonds, Firth and Roberts visibly happy of the crowd's response to one of P.I.L. most recognisable songs of their vast repertoire.
After a (literal) 3-minutes cigarette break announced by Lydon, the band returns on stage welcomed by a huge roar, with the British collective inviting the crowd to join them first on an authentic dance feast, through the Leftfield cover of Open Up, quickly followed by two scorching hot rocking performances respectively of Rise and a medley of Annalisa and Chant, to close a very memorable evening of music.
Whoever doubted that Public Image Limited could gradually lose musical ground, after so many successful years in the music industry, they better think again; Public Image Limited are stronger than ever and they are here to stay.
Setlist:
Home - Know How - Corporate - World Destruction- This Is Not A Love Song - Poptones - Death Disco - Flowers Of Romance - The Body - Warrior - Shoom - Public Image.
Encores:
Open Up - Rise - Annalisa/Chant
