Days after returning to the 100 Club more than 50 years on from their debut at the intimate London venue, The Sex Pistols performed to thousands of fans at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.
Their gig at the 300-capacity Oxford Street venue saw the Pistols play under the name Spots, which stands for Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly, which the band first used in the late 1970s to book shows when the group’s gigs were being shut down by police, after reports of violence.
But despite once being public enemy number one, on Monday night the band graced one of the capital’s most regal venues.
The group delighted the audience with raucous renditions of tracks such as Pretty Vacant, God Save The Queen and Holidays In The Sun, with Rattlesnakes lead singer Frank Carter standing in for Johnny Rotten, real name John Lydon.
Carter has been performing with the group since guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock reunited in 2024 for a series of shows at Bush Hall.
It comes after Lydon fought a high-profile court battle against the rest of the band in a bid to stop their songs being used in a Disney+ series of their story, called Pistol.
Dressed in black, with bassist Matlock draping a flag of Queens Park Rangers – the football team he supports, over his amp, the group also treated fans to their cover of The Stooges’ 1969 proto punk classic No Fun, which was played regularly in the band’s early sets.
They also played post-Lydon single Silly Thing, and in the encore paid tribute to late bass player Sid Vicious with a cover of My Way, which appeared in the film The Great Rock ‘N’ Roll Swindle and featured on his solo album Sid Sings.
The group will now embark on a world tour performing in countries including Japan, Australia and Brazil.
The show was the first in a series of gigs in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust with performances from singer James Arthur on Wednesday, The Who on Thursday and The Corrs on Friday.
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