Recap Public Image Ltd. at the Pabst Theater

Nobody argued when John Lydon referred to himself as “the true voice of rebellion” during the reunited Public Image Ltd.’s performance at the Pabst Theater on Friday. Sure, the 54-year old punk icon now spits into a bucket instead of on his audience, and gushes over what a delight it is “to see so many smiling faces in the crowd.” But his massive parachute pants, bleach-blonde spikes, and convulsing howl help him maintain a brilliantly crude presence. “It’s been awhile, but it’s fucking worth it,” shouted Lydon, after wailing his way over the punching groove of set-opener “This Is Not A Love Song.”

Lydon’s backing band contained zero original members, but the highly polished hired hands included guitarist Lu Edmonds (from The Mekons) and drummer Bruce Smith (from The Slits and The Pop Group), who had joined the band for a bit in the ’80s before jumping ship. What they lacked in “classic line-up” familiarity they made up for in chops. When Edmonds wasn’t shifting between various guitars, he colored in tunes like “Psychopath” and “Warrior” by plucking away at an electric saz, a three-stringed instrument commonly used in Turkish folk music. For the tribal thump of “Flowers Of Romance,” Edmonds sent out screeching drones by bowing what looked like a 12-string banjo as Lydon wiggled his menacing squawk by chopping at his throat with his hand. The repetitive basslines of Scott Firth held Smith’s bouncing rhythms in a sonic headlock, especially while trudging through groovier gems like “Death Disco” and “Memories.”

Between songs, much of Lydon’s stage banter seemed like an attempt to justify the absence of founding members like Jah Wobble and Keith Levene by constantly yelling things like “this is the best Public Image Ltd.!” or “this is the only Public Image Ltd.!”  Lydon also got defensive over synth-heavy tunes like “Warrior” and “Disappointed” from 1989’s 9, ranting that “any fucker can make stupid noises and shout at you all night.” I can appreciate that sentiment, but I still wish that the sleepy “Warrior” could have been swapped out with more songs from 1981’s The Flowers Of Romance.

During proper set-closer “Religion” (which was naturally prefaced by a rant about the pope being a Nazi pedophile), Lydon kept asking for the bass to be turned up until a nasty burning smell began to creep out of the crackling subwoofers. However, the house speakers still sounded fine when the band re-emerged with a fist-pumping encore in the form of “Public Image.”

“What you wanted was never made clear/Behind the image was ignorance and fear/You hide behind this public machine/Still follow the same old scheme,” Lydon howled as he made ridiculous, grimacing faces at random concertgoers. PiL wrapped up its encore set with “Rise” and a rendition of “Open Up,” Lydon’s 1993 collaboration with Leftfield. Afterward, the influential singer thanked the crowd and a few final words: “May the road rise with you and your enemies always be behind you.”