15/11/07


Sex Pistols Experience - Live, Loud and Superb!
The Guildhall, Gloucester. - Friday 5th October 2007
		By Kathryn Courtney-O'Neill
What do I remember about the "Sex Pistols"? They were definitely over the top, out to shock and anarchists. They are also the band I associated the most with being leaders of Punk Rock. They certainly shocked my Gran and I do remember my friend Steve telling me a story that he was singing "Friggin' In The Riggin' " on the top of his voice outside the School classroom waiting for lessons to start and that promptly landed him in detention! Obviously not the teacher's taste in music. And here I am tonight, about to watch a tribute band called "The Sex Pistols Experience" and wondering if they would live up to the originals on stage and convince the audience that they are almost the real thing? Would Kid Vicious be playing guitar or would he leave it unplugged? After all that is what Sid Vicious did in the early days didn't he?
	"Land Of Hope Is Glory" is the opening to an empty stage and then the band members walk on one by one looking mean, moody and rebellious. Kid Vicious shouts at the audience "Right you faggots!" and gives that Sid Vicious trademark snarl and Johnny Rotter is not far behind giving that mad stare into the audience. So we are off to a great start as my sister's jaw drops wide open. They start with "Holidays In The Sun" and Kid really is playing the guitar and looking the part whilst Johnny is prowling around the stage doing all the movements. Fabulous drumming and guitar and the lighting for the show is creative and blending with the sound. This is such a good opening for the show. Then you get the Johnny stance looking into the audience and being modest is not a strong point but arrogance is. "17" also known to some as "Lazy Sod" is the next song and Johnny throws a strop during this only to shout out at the audience "We're f******* good aren't we?!" and the audience start shouting back at him. Talk about audience participation!
By the time they launch into "Dolls (New York)" Johnny is wiping his nose on his shirt sleeve - which he does several times during the show - and Kid Vicious is really getting into it whilst the drummer Paul Crook - who reminded of Kiefer Sutherland in the film 'The Lost Boys' - is going mad with his drum kit and Steve Bones is really rocking with his guitar. We then get abuse from Kid "What the f*'s up with this lot? Is this a mannequin convention?" he shouts and it gets reaction from the crowd as they start the song "No Feelings" and the way Johnny is treating the mic stand something is bound to happen and it does. He broke it! Yep. He couldn't use it for the rest of the show much to the hilarity of the rest of the band "That'll teach you for buying a new f**** microphone stand" says Kid to Johnny!
	This show certainly has lots of energy, almost explosive in some parts and the camaraderie from the band is electric along with their patriotism with Union Jack visible on stage. They emulate the 'Sex Pistols singing' to perfection but boy can they play those guitars and drums. Every song you can feel through the floor and the audience love it all. There's a big group of fans moshing in the centre of the hall and one punk who did have a high mohican, by the end of the gig it was almost flat. The age range was vast. Students who tried to emulate the era to the original fans who were there first time around, some still showing the same fashion sense of the time and how everything was done, well apart from the spitting. In fact I didn't see any spitting.

Johnny's preening his hair and Kid removes his jacket and T-shirt much to the delight of the women in the audience as he continues the show bare chested. Johnny clocks some of the audience and shouts "Is it getting old in here? Did you get your f**** pensioner discounts?" And during one song one fan throws a pound coin on stage only for it to be thrown back into the audience. At one point Kid's rebellious facade slips with a laugh and smile because of some minor slip up on stage but that doesn't matter and he then starts throwing abuse at the audience to wind them up even more and he gets it back ten fold. And then Johnny shouts "Do you want to hear a Cliff Richard song? Well who likes us and who doesn't? There's the exit now f* off!" Songs such as "Pretty Vacant", "Liar!", "E.M.I", "Submission" and a cover of The Who song "Substitute" continue to feed the audience hunger with some fantastic guitar sounds. Apart from the drummer there is a lot of movement and interaction on stage too and Johnny asks advice "Does my hair look alright? I'm a f**** sex god" he shouts and they launch into "Problems" where Steve decides to play guitar behind his head and Kid starts spitting on stage. "Anarchy In The U.K" is the last song Johnny 'sings' dressed in black trousers, white shirt and great waistcoat. He's happy to get the lights on the crowd and hear them 'sing' for a change as they go crazy and he sits or rather crouches on stage to do a spot of 'audience/people watching'. After that he's gone and the opening chords of "Something Else" is met with great cheers. What a performance by Kid. "I'm a better singer than that ***" and "I'm a ***** superstar" after his rendition of "C'mon Everybody". As we are entering the final songs of the show Paul, their drummer takes the lead vocal of "Oh You Pretty Thing" and performs it with great energy and more enthusiasm follows with Kid jumping up and down singing "My Way" with stomping guitar sounds. He then leaves the stage with the rest of the band giving a one finger gesture and that snarl but the audience don't let the 'Sex pistols Experience' get away that easily and the drummer is back on stage for a drum solo. One by one they return and Johnny saunters back on stage looking bad tempered and in 'Rotten mode' "We'll do one number only as this is no fun, here we go" and Kid is giving hand signals to the audience winding them up further and closing the show with the song "No Fun". In a ninety minute or so set they performed twenty-one songs and they were absolutely brilliant! Live, loud and superb! This has to be the ultimate 'Sex Pistols' tribute and the best in the punk genre. Mannerisms, abuse, clothing, performance on stage - although Kid really does play the guitar - must have meant hours of studying. They don't take themselves seriously but really play out the character roles so much so next stop "Sex Pistols - The Musical!" and these are the guys to do it! What a show! What a night! This is one performance I will certainly remember for a long time. It was fun, it was entertaining and we loved it! If there is tribute band I recommend you must see then it is "The Sex Pistols Experience" and I've been an ABBA fan for most of my life! This punk band has left such a lasting impression that I will see them again and again without hesitation. *I couldn't take any photos that night because the floor at The Guildhall vibrates with the music so photos with this review are provided by The Sex Pistols Experience. Thanks for the use of photos guys