philadelphia, east side club, uSA,
march 4th, 1983
John Lydon
Keith Levene: Guitar
Martin Atkins: Drums
Pete Jones: Bass
Set List:
Blue Water / Where are you? / Annalisa / Religion / Bad Baby
/ Careering / Chant / Mad Max / Attack / Public Image
Notes:
Audio bootleg recorded
Gig Review #1
review by Bruce
Davis, January 2004
© 2004 Fodderstompf.com / Bruce Davis
I
saw PiL at the East Side Club in Philadelphia on March 4, 1983. The
East Side Club was a small punk-rock club in a basement space on Chestnut
Street. The place was packed, and there were a bunch of asshole "punks"
up front who thought the proper etiquette at a PiL show was to spit
on the musicians throughout the concert. Mr. Lydon quickly tired of
this, and spent much of the show hunched down on the side of the stage,
singing out of the range of the spitters. After only about 30 or 40
minutes, though, he got sick of the whole thing, told the crowd "We're
NEVER coming back to Philly again," and stormed off the stage with
the rest of the band.
I was also at the Trenton City Gardens show on October 29, 1982, and the Poughkeepsie, NY show on March 30, 1983. I also interviewed Keith Levene for my college radio station before the Trenton concert, and got a cool autograph from Mr. Lydon -- he signed it "To Bruce, from John Rotten, a true friend!!"
Bruce Davis
Gig Review #2
review by Mr V, February 2004© 2004 Fodderstompf.com / Mr V
About time you guys discovered the philly show. I have followed your site for a little while and agree with your efforts. After reading the 'review' for that particular show, I thought you could use a little help. I was at the show, and blah blah blah...
Saw the band several times, and this and Trenton City may have been the best shows I've seen or heard recorded or live. Short and extremely focussed for a PiL show. Band was incredibly tight, room was claustrophobic, Lydon bickering with the crowd all night, Levene being mercilessly taunted for being a junky -- and the sound they made was pure evil. The songs were played very aggressively. If it is any help, I have heard the show many many times since, and it is a beauty....
Let's see... some highlights... "You silly geezers that keep gobbing, I ain't no f-ing spittoon. You keep carrying on like that and I'm leaving, right? So, my best advice is, if anyone spits, and you're standing around that cunt, bash him one, 'cause he's an animal... Shut up you cunts, you're lucky we're even here."
Music list:
1. Blue Water - Taped version of the single played to a pitch dark room,
then segue into:
2. Where are you? (God this so much better than both studio versions
)
3. Annalisa ( Lydon, unable to get people from streaming and charging
over the small stage, nor to stop spitting, walks off stage at end of
song and announces he's leaving)
4. Religion (Lydon begins to sing this song from somewhere off stage.
Intense, made the crowd go bonkers)
5. Bad Baby (Levene, now being taunted to the brink, seemed to fade
into the wallpaper and almost stop playing. I thought he might start
crying any minute)
6. Careering (All four are incredible on this version. Atkins and Jones
are insane, and Levene drops the synth and picks up the guitar on this
version, and ad-libs something completely new and crackling)
7. Mad Max (Again, so much better than either studio version, Lydon
tries to get the audience to dance. His final summation: "So
much for the sound of Philadelphia. Terrible. Shame on ya!"
)
8. Chant (pure bedlam ensues)
9. Attack ( Fast and hard, Atkins is dominating)
10. Public Image ( Encore - This was anti climatic, band's drugs seemed
to be wearing off )
Hope that helps.
Mr V
JL autograph © Bruce Davis