NEW YORK (AP) — It wasn’t the night punk began, but it was close. Almost 50 years ago, the Sex Pistols—then consisting of vocalist Johnny Rotten, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and bassist Glen Matlock—performed at the 100 Club Punk Special in London, a club with a capacity of 140 people, alongside Subway Sect, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and The Clash.
The event marked a change for the movement: the bands would soon bring their underground culture to mainstream culture.
Now, the 2025 version of the Pistols, made up of Jones, Cook, and Matlock accompanied by vocalist Frank Carter (from Gallows, Pure Love, and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes), sit in the same place to discuss their upcoming North American tour. Cook says, “This is where it all really began, all of punk.”
Where will the Pistols play?
This fall, the legendary punk band will embark on their first North American tour since 2003, when they joined with John Lydon (formerly Rotten). The 2025 tour with Carter begins on September 16 at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas, the site of a particularly hostile show for the band when they first toured the United States in 1978.
Jones remembers having “pig hooves and bottles and other things thrown by cowboys”.
It is one of the few dates included in three albums “Live in the U.S.A.”, which documents the band’s 1978 tour: Atlanta, Dallas, and San Francisco. The recording of that last concert will be released on April 25th and captures the show where the band originally decided to break up.
Jones jokes: “We were thinking about breaking up again in San Francisco.”
The 2025 tour is scheduled to conclude on October 16 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. The band will visit Washington; Philadelphia; Brooklyn, New York; Montreal; Toronto; Cleveland; Detroit; Minneapolis; Denver; Seattle; and San Francisco. More tour dates will be announced later.
The pre-sale will take place on April 2nd and 3rd. Tickets will go on sale on April 4th at 10:00 in the morning (local time).
They will perform live in its entirety the band’s only album, “Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols Album” from 1977, as well as other materials.
And why go on tour in the United States and Canada now?
Jones says, “Why not?”
Carter states: “I think everyone needs this band right now. And I definitely think the United States is crying out for a band like the Sex Pistols.”
“At the end of the day, we are living in a very, very difficult time. So people don’t just want to come and be entertained, they want to enjoy,” he continued. “Punk is an energetic music. It’s one where you can go and let off steam and let your hair down, hopefully in a safe way. Fingers crossed, without bottles or pig hooves.”
Carter led the Sex Pistols last year for some dates in the UK. The band says they did not contact Lydon to see if he wanted to participate in this reunion tour.
Jones says, “The last thing he wants is to have anything to do with us right now,” referring to a previous lawsuit between the singer and the band over the use of music in their television series “Pistol.” The judge ruled against Lydon’s opposition.
Jones said, “We wish you all the best.”
Matlock adds: “Good luck to him. I hope he thinks, perhaps, ‘good luck’ to us. He probably won’t. But over the years, John has had all our phone numbers, and I don’t see many missed calls from him.”
Regarding the 2025 tour: fans should not expect the violence of his 1978 tour, but they should anticipate a more polished performance.
Matlock says: “We are a bit older, but we play just as well, if not better. And I think that’s something that has a great deal of confidence that we will bring to the audience there.”
Does this mean there could be new music from the Sex Pistols in the future? Jones says: “It’s still early. Let’s see what happens.”