John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd is coming back to the Roadmender

Feeling musically empty? There’s a PiL for that!

It’s taken a while, but John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd (PiL) will be back on the Roadmender stage this summer.

Nine years since the band last played the venue to a sell-out crowd and they will be doing it all over again on July 31, as part of their This Is Not The Last Tour, tour.

Lydon formed the post-punk originators after fronting the Sex Pistols, guiding the band from their debut album in ‘78, through to ‘92 when they began what would be a long hiatus.

Breaking the silence in 2009, they have since issued a trio of prime releases, This is PiL in 2012, the essential What The World Needs Now…, in 2015, and 2023s End of World.

Speaking with me before that last ‘fampton show, John said: I really love playing these small venues, I really do, and I love bringing people back into that live performance thing without which there would be no future in music.

“Up close and personal – it’s a church without the religious bit.

“You need to see eyeball to eyeball, and I don’t write these lyrics mindlessly, they are all about real things and if I can see that the experience is being understood and shared by the people in the audience, that is my achievement…”
And PiL fans are a loyal breed.

“Intensely loyal,” he agreed. “ They know I won’t let them down. I am a man of my word and that’s that. I have a set of values…”

PiL play the Roadmender on Thursday, July 31. Tickets are on sale at theroadmender.com