John
Lydon:
The Palace, Hollywood, CA, USA
13th August, 1997
Psycho's
Path North American Tour 1997
John Lydon
Martin Lydon: Synthesizer
Deror Margalith: Synthesizer
Otis Hays: Drums
Set List:
sun / armies / another way / take me / psycho's path / tie me
to the length of that / rise / dog / public image / careering /
under the house / stump / grave ride / a no and a yes / dis-ho
Notes:
This is one of the few Psycho's Path's tour dates which were
played. The beginning of the tour was cancelled after disputes with drummer
Robert Williams. The remainder of the dates then eventually collapsed
due to Virgin Records non-promotion, lack of interest, and insufficient
financial backing. See the JohnLydon.Com 'Psycho's
Path' Mini-Site for more info.
Audio bootleg recorded
Gig Review
review by Dino
Everett, November 1997 (First published F&F4)
© 1997 Fodderstompf.com / Dino Everett
The
line up the night I saw them was as follows: John Lydon - Vocals / Martin
Lydon - Synthesizer / Deror Margalith - Synthesizer / Otis Hays - Drums.
I would imagine this line up will continue throughout the rest of the tour. John had just acquired this drummer a few days before the show, and had cancelled the previous shows because of the firing of the original drummer Robert Williams. Behind the band they had a screen running images all throughout the show, nothing more than patterns and computer generated stuff. The merchandise, or should I say the two items for sale, were two T- shirts: (1) The cover of Psycho's Path CD on the front, and a list of tour cities on the back (originally 32 in all), (2) The cover artwork of 'PP' only in the blue and black that's in the background (one-sided). Both shirts were $20 and had the collar and the sleeves pre-ripped out.
I purchased my ticket early for this show, which was announced prior to the release of the solo CD in the States. I kept checking the papers to see the ad say "Sold Out" as with the Sex Pistols, but it never did. I arrived at the venue at the 8pm starting time listed on the ticket, but was informed that he would not go until 10pm and judging from the disco music I heard from inside I thought, "I can't endure this alone". You see, none of my friends would go see the 'John Lydon Show'. They all went to the Sex Pistols reunions with me. So I left for a while. It's weird I see so many kids wearing Sex Pistols T-shirts and I'll go up to them and talk to them about the band, and you can tell that they really don't even listen to them. The kids nowadays like them because they are a symbol of what once was (almost as if there is a punk checklist of likes and dislikes). They don't go home and listen to the Sex Pistols and definitely don't listen to PiL. At this point PiL has become an evil by-product of the eighties, just like The Banshees and The Damned... "Why would you listen to that rubbish" friends say... You see if you put Johnny Rotten on the bill people go because at this point they feel they have to... You put on John Lydon and most folks can't be bothered... Same guy... Same anger... Same genius... It's sad but true... But isn't this why John Lydon (Rotten) came to be in the first place? The public are sheep.
Anyway
on to the show... I went in and went to the bar... I was by myself remember,
so I had time to kill and you look busy with a drink in your hand, or
maybe the beer just helps pass the time away. There was a small fight
right before the show started, which was far more exciting than the
music the DJ's were playing. The crowd was around 300, the place was
only half full. Finally the house music stopped and they started playing
something that sounded like intro music with the faint sound of John's
voice (I haven't confirmed this yet, but I think it was John). The screen
started showing images and then John came out looking more fit than
the Pistols shows and without the silly haircut (it was back to the
short spiky blondish red from the 'Commercial Zone' era).
I have to admit the version of 'Rise', I really enjoyed but I flat out hated the version of 'Public Image'. The other PiL songs translated well albeit not very different, and the songs from the CD all sounded great, the music lends itself to a live sound much better than on the CD. I sort of half liked the CD, but loved the show. The other interesting part was the lack of breaks between songs, they would run one right into the other until he got to the old stuff. I had to take a bathroom break during 'Public Image'. One of the most amazing things was that the crowd seemed there to see him! John Lydon solo, there were no screams for "Anarchy" or "Play some Pistols stuff", and although the PiL songs got a great response I wouldn't say it was more than for the solo stuff. These people (myself included) enjoyed this show. John still had the anger, as displayed by his constant complaints about Virgin's lack of support. And he put on a good show. Afterwards he even came out and signed autographs and posed for pictures with Nora.
Dino Everett
Psycho's Path North America 1997
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