Sex Pistols Announce First Manchester Show In 30 Years
The Sex Pistols inspired a musical revolution in Manchester in the late '70s - and now they're returning.
The legendary punk band have announced their first Manchester show in 30 years, a gig at the M.E.N. Arena on November 17. It will be their only show outside London this year.
The band announced last week they would reform for a single gig at south London's 4,900-capacity Brixton Academy on November 8 to mark the 30th anniversary of their seminal album Never Mind the Bollocks.
Due to overwhelming demand after the one-off show sold out in 10 minutes, the reformed group added three more nights in London, and one in Manchester.
Their initial career only lasted a few short years, with four singles and one studio album.
But its impact on music and culture was immense, especially in Manchester after a series of gigs in 1976.
Their debut at the Lesser Free Trade Hall on June 4 that year is recognised as one of the most influential of all time - 'nothing short of an epiphany' according to the late music mogul Tony Wilson.
According to records, only 32 people were in the crowd but like Wilson many of them would go on to shape Manchester's music scene over the next decade.
Watching the Pistols that night were Morrissey, Mark E. Smith from The Fall, Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook of Joy Division and later New Order, and the show's promoters (the) Buzzcocks.
Wilson booked the band on his Granada TV show So It Goes for their first ever TV appearance and they returned later in that sweltering summer to play another gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall on July 20.
The M.E.N. show on November 17 will be the original punks' first appearance in the city since their gig at Electric Circus in December 1976.
Bassist Glen Matlock left the band in 1975, replaced by Sid Vicious, who died of a heroin overdose in 1979.
Glen returns for the current tour, forming the original line up with John Lydon, Steve Jones and Paul Cook.
Photo and material: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
