'CAN YOU IDIOTS DANCE?'

They are late coming on. I'm stuck pressed against the railing watching indifferently as a 21 year-old with a mohawk hits on two scantily-clad 15 year-old girls who had come to the club to dance but found out there was a concert going on that evening. Boy, were they in for a surprise. As I waited, they deferred their attention from their hopelessly horny suitor to me, 'What kind of music is this?' 'IT'S ROCK AND ROLL,' the mohawked dunce answered. 'No,' I said flatly, 'PiL are definitely NOT rock and roll.' I turned back to an actually WORTHWHILE conversation led by a gentleman who, like me, had had significant knowledge of Johnny 'Rotten' Lydon's work. There were definitely DECENT people at this gig, I can admit that; however, as the night would progress, I'd find this harder and harder to believe.

Before entering the venue, I had the good fortune of meeting and having a satisfyingly in-depth conversation with Mr. Lu Edmonds, multi-instrumentalist who had been part of one of PiL's most (daresay I) commercially fruitful lineups. To call Edmonds a backing musician or even a guitarist is a great understatement. After witnessing the textures that he would conjure into being that evening -- along with fellow musicians Bruce Smith and Scott Firth -- WITH (not FOR) John Lydon, it is my firm stance that anyone with half an auditory nerve for digesting passionate sound can realize upon listening INSTANTLY why PiL are so vital to music as a past, present, and future. Mr. Edmonds and I discussed his current project with fellow strings-players Justin Adams and Ben Mandelson -- a multi-culturally-flavored platter of sound dubbed Les Triaboliques. He seemed surprised that I had heard of his other group, which is always a shame. The work that Les Triaboliques are doing is VASTLY significant; like PiL, though, because it is deemed 'different' by "purveyors" of popular music, not quite enough people are willing to turn an ear. I suppose this is the reason "square-pegs-in-round-holes" like myself exist. Isn't that what friends are for?

The next time I see Lu Edmonds, he is onstage clutching one of his arsenal of exotic stringed-instruments, looking on with a degree of anticipation very much proportionate to my own at his current employer, Mr. John Lydon. Yes, Public Image Limited is a COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY, not a BAND. And sporting the suit-jacket-clad physique of a strong, sea-faring Irishman in his early 50s, pale, scrawny Johnny Rotten of the early Sex Pistols days is all grown-up, and Mr. Lydon means no-nonsense business. He makes this clear, opening PiL's 2010 set with the recognizable -- yet, thoroughly updated and never more explosive -- "THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG." With indescribably powerful (yet not unwieldy) poptones, Lydon is inside free enterprise. There is no doubt that the band is playing PiL songs -- but the sound is far from hackneyed jaunts down memory lane that so many reunion tours tend to be. The music is brand new, arrangements fiddled-with and restructured by extremely skilled musicians have borne the fruit that has been so often PiL's repertoire -- UNIQUE SOUND. The most important part of this tour is that the songs played do NOT sound like the songs on record. The aspect of improvisation that made PiL (in)famous to begin with is carried on in this breath-taking new incarnation.

Despite the stifling growth of the humidity, the audience responds in gratitude...most often to the "signature songs." Oh, Pittsburgh. So much to answer for. Hopefully Mr. Lydon was at least able to see one wild-eyed, bespectacled maniac shouting the lyrics of the lesser-known "USLS1," "BAGS," and the Lydon solo material "PSYCHOPATH" and "SUN" right back at him. He'd fucking better have.

Which brings me to a vital point: Pittsburgh, don't try to out-punk Johnny Rotten. You WILL die trying. I noticed that the fool who screamt, "FUCK YOU, JOHNNY!" was also the one who started the mindless mosh that ensued during the encore "PUBLIC IMAGE." Rapidly becoming a reluctant participant in the violence, I was fortunate enough to manage a punch to the stupid offender. You don't stick two fingers up to your friends. And as John has been reiterating at several venues on the current tour, 'John and the boys are your FRIENDS.' Wow. That's just...NOT the current state of the music industry. Thank god for PiL...

...or perhaps not. Scott Firth's electric stand-up bass begins it's ever-brooding climb through the decibels as "RELIGION" ensues. Skin is LITERALLY given the feeling of crawling by the power put out by that bass. And just when you think your heart is about to stop? Lydon drones into the microphone to the sound engineer, beckoning for more bass in a poignantly biblical fashion: 'And he said, 'LET THERE BE BASS,' and behold, THERE WAS BASS.' "RELIGION" received a more deafening response from the audience, surprisingly enough, along with the 1989 single "WARRIOR," a response which I wasn't expecting. Then again, "WARRIOR" does include the defiant chorus that very much can be used to describe John Lydon as an individual: 'I'LL NEVER SURRENDER.' What I can say in response to Johnny Rotten -- today, a day after one of the most enlightening experiences I'm sure I'll ever have -- is, 'Please, never do.' Thank you for a night that cannot be fully expressed with words. Heaven knows, growing up and living here, I've never had many of those. Isn't THAT what friends are for?