The Sex Pistols at The Aragon Ballroom on 08/29/03

We started the summer with a trip to Chicago for The Dictators, we might
as well end it with another road trip. This time for The Sex Pistols. Road
trips are always an adventure if you do them right and this was no exception.
We saw everything from a guy being arrested on the Metro to the riverdance on
crack! 

The Reverand Horton Heat opened the show. I was looking forward to seeing
them, having caught them at least once before this. However they just
didn't seem up to it for some reason. The sound was a bit muddy. It looked
like they were playing their hearts out, but it just didn't come off that
way. I'll compliment the awesome suit he was wearing though.

Next was Dropkick Murphy's. They started with about a half dozen 
bagpippers walking out and playing. The band then joined in. That was
very cool. At points they had another guy come out playing, acoustic guitar,
recorder, accordian, and electric mandolin. He really added to the overall
feel of some of the songs. The bagpippers joined in on various songs. They
also had a female vocalist who was very good. The fun part though was the
five or six girls who came out and did the Irish Jig. They really did look
like the riverdance on crack. Jigging that hard and fast to the Murphys music
had to be a challenge. It was very cool.

Finally the stage was all but cleared. Just a couple of guitar amps, a bass
cabinet and drum kit. The Sex Pistols walked out to a huge barrage of applause,
water cups being thrown, and just about every other reaction you could imagine. 
They just plugged in and started tearing up the joint with one legendary song
after another. Johnny actually had a book with him that he set on his monitor,
we assumed it was the lyric. He did actually screw up on at least one song. He
called it "The book of war." Steve Jones was milking his guitar for everything it
was worth. He spent a lot of time with his back to the audience and his guitar
right in the speaker cabinet trying to get the right amount of feedback on
certain parts. He looked in pretty good shape, must be all that soccer. Glen
was Glen, he played his parts perfect, sounded good and threw in his backing
vocals when needed. Paul, however, was amazing. His drumming was all over the
place. He was always solid, but he seemed a bit more driven or something this
time. Overall they proved that they should be as legendary as they are. If they
are milking it for the money, more power to them! They deserve it.