This show opened this year's week of shows raising money for Teenage Cancer Trust and sold out very quickly indeed, we managed to get tickets in the nosebleeds with a view from the side of the stage that gave this evening a different perspective to where I would normally be while watching bands play.
By the time we got in The Molotovs were already on and as we took our rather precarious seats they launched into there cover of Suffragette City that seemed to strip all the sleaze and danger out of it, No Time To Talk had a sort of Jam style edge to it with the bassist Issey doing everything she could to drive it on.
Come On Now is the sort of song that should have had a good sing along edge to it, but Matthew didn't try to get us singing along, before they closed with Today's Gonna Be Our Day that felt like they were living every word of it while moving all over the stage at the Royal Albert Hall.
Next on were the hotly tipped Kid Kapichi whose opening salvo Artillery had plenty of energy, Jack Wilson declaimed the words, they had a slightly dubby punk edge, Let's Get To Work is what we expected them to do and with the odd nod to the punkier end of Ruts DC that's exactly what they did. 999 was full on aggro punk full of Fight Fight Fight chants and guitar splinters up for a ruck.
Can EU Hear Me was the bands Brexit anthem, pointing out the errors of abandoning fruitful alliances for no good reason. Jack then dedicated Rob The Supermarket to his friend Pete the Greek who died recently for this ram raid of an energetic tune.
They then brought on the bands special guests Dumb Bhoys Fishing Club to rap on New England the expanded frontline made them sound more like Beastie Boys this was a real highlight of the bands set.
Get Down was the bands song for the Alexa generation, while they try not to set the tech off, before they set off the bands own Sirens to close the set with Smash The Gaff that had plenty of energy and I'd like to see them again when I am at ground level with them.
During the break they brought some of the beneficiaries of the great work the Teenage Cancer Trust does to thank us and to also try to raise some more money all donations on the night were being match funded by the gigs main sponsor Aldi supermarkets, they showed a short film and allowed the kids to get a selfie with the packed hall.
Then it was time for the main event the Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter on Vocals, Glen Matlock on Bass, Paul Cook on Drums and Steve Jones on Guitar who came onstage to a symphonic version of God Save The Queen before launching into Holidays In The Sun and they sounded ferocious, with new boy Frank Carter totally owning the stage and nailing the vocals, as I expected he would.
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Frank welcomed us all and thanked Mark Powell for making the suit he was wearing, looking very dapper, before they went into Seventeen it was bouncy and full of teen angst. New York may have a good sneer to it but for my money is nowhere near as good as The Heartbreakers reply London Boys.
By now it was time for Frank to get closer to the audience and he started Pretty Vacant standing on the barrier at the front of the audience and by the time Steve Jones took his short solo Frank was crowd surfing while singing, he stayed surfing for most of Bodies with the whole Albert Hall singing along with him as Paul Cooks drums drove things on.
With Frank back on stage he instructed everyone to open up the pit like he would at Gallows gigs, so they could play there version of The Professionals classic Silly Thing while the pit was about the front third of the standing area, Glen Matlock came to the front of the stage for a proper gander at it, while never letting up on that bassline. Liar was full of bile and hate with so many liars they could be singing about currently.
No Fun was played as ballsy as they could get it with Steve Jones playing his nastiest guitar solo of the night. Frank then thanked the rest of the band for helping him to realize that you could escape from places like Hemel Hempstead and other Satellite towns as they raged against suburban stagnation. No Feelings flew by at a more super charged pace, Problems was all about Steve Jones guitar freakout and Frank goading the audience on, before they closed with the super bitter and twisted EMI the classic label slag off.
Of course they came back for an encore that allowed Frank to lead the Royal Albert hall in a sing along to Frank Sinatra's most punk tune My Way that had the slow first verse, with Glen and Steve sitting at the front of the drum riser playing before the speeded up rampage second verse, it was great riotous fun before they closed the show with a total stomp through Anarchy In The UK, Frank dived back into the pit and everyone sang along, it was a great close to a really great set, that perfectly answered the question, should they perform without Johnny no mates, well on form like this the answer is a 100% affirmative that they are totally worth seeing.
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