The venue has a significant backstory: the Sex Pistols had a chaotic performance there during their short-lived American tour in January 1978. In conjunction with the tour news, the Dallas concert was also released today on limited-edition white vinyl as Live in the U.S.A. 1978.
It is part of a special edition colored vinyl collection (red, white and blue, of course) before the trio is made available in a three-CD set and for digital download in April. Other concerts in the collection include Atlanta’s Great South East Music Hall (the red vinyl was released Feb. 28) and San Francisco’s Winterland Ballroom (the blue vinyl is arriving April 25).
Sex Pistols returned to the 100 Club last Friday March 2 , almost 50 years after their legendary 1976 residency at the venue, for an incendiary secret warm-up show for Monday’s Teenage Cancer Trust show at the Royal Albert Hall.
There was anticipation on Oxford Street in London as The Sex Pistols rocked the 100 Club for the first time in more than half a century, playing classic tunes for a crowd of creaking punks, Irish Times reports.
In a hot and sweaty venue, which harkened back to the band’s glory days, they darted on stage like squaddies on a march, to roars from the audience. They were celebrated by stars and superfans such as Noel Gallagher, Bobby Gillespie and the Jam frontman, Paul Weller.
Band members in attendance included the guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock, minus John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, who unsuccessfully tried to block the band using songs in a Disney+ series about their story, called Pistol.
The former Gallows and Rattlesnakes lead singer Frank Carter filled in for Rotten as he has done since Jones, Cook and Matlock reunited in 2024 for a series of shows at Bush Hall.
The quartet opened with Holidays in the Sun, which was met by clouds of beer mist unleashed from flying plastic cups as a sea of hands reached up towards the musicians. After the Pistols performed a version of New York, Carter asked the crowd: “How many of you lot were here the first time?” After a roar from the crowd, he shouted: “It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be here with these legends tonight.” He then joked: “Right, who wants to call it there?”
Jones then launched into the strings of Pretty Vacant. The crowd was reaching fever pitch. Then, Bodies sent them over the top, singing “I’m not an animal” from the chorus in unison. Matlock and Jones shared a microphone to belt out the lyrics while Carter scaled the top of the 100 Club.
God Save The Queen, a song which prompted major controversy on its release during Queen Elizabeth II’s silver jubilee in 1977, transported the older audience members back to their younger days as they bopped like they were in their 20s again.
