Sex Pistols (Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock) Feat. Frank Carter

On the afternoon of his first appearance onstage with the Sex Pistols, last summer at Bush Hall, Frank Carter’s peaceful afternoon stroll on the streets of Shepherd’s Bush was interrupted by a stranger sat outside a pub. “Big shoes,” the man shouted; nothing more, nothing less. “That’s all he said,” Carter reports. “And I just replied ‘thanks for noticing’, and off I walked. But I thought, ‘Fucking hell, we’ve not even played one note yet’. At that point I felt like I was melting. I realised I had to get my shit together here.” As if the matter was ever in doubt, hours later, he did just that. The stranger’s assertion that anyone stepping up to the microphone with the band who terrorised a nation faces one of the tallest orders in rock and roll – make no mistake, filling big shoes requires big cojones – overlooked the fact that he was speaking to one of the few singers, and perhaps even the <> singer, capable of handling the job. Over the course of three boisterously received concerts staged to raise funds for the imperilled Bush Hall, this most famous and infamous of acts was born anew with energy, power, and the fiercest of joy. Never mind that the current iteration trades under the name the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter, with immediate effect, the band became a fist. Such was its success, in fact, that this short series of concerts has blossomed into a busy diary. This year, Carter and the Pistols – drummer Paul Cook, guitarist Steve Jones and bassist Glen Matlock – are set to perform in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the United States of America, mainland Europe, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. They’ll headline halls and appear at festivals. In March, the group will top the bill at a Teenage Cancer Trust concert at the Royal Albert Hall, of all places. Much more of this and they’ll be playing at Buckingham Palace. For anyone who might be wondering, they’re doing these things because, in 2025, the Pistols are sensational once more. And they’re doing it…