Venue:
The Festival Grounds at PA Centre, Ottawa, ON
Date: 20/09/2026
Ok it’s not really the Sex Pistols, hence the inverted commas, officially “Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter”, however 3 original members making a 75% hit rate which certainly beats many veteran bands that are still out there. It was at the “City Folk” festival, yeah first band you think of when you hear folk festival is the Sex Pistols 😉 Like the Jazz and Blues festivals that also take place here in the summer the name means very little. I went to all of these big outdoor events, but as is usual I went most nights to City Folk. It was at a new venue this year which was fine, but a bit of a pain to get to. The Pistols were supporting somebody called Alice Cooper who came on afterwards.
Crowd was around 10,000 but I managed to get right up the front where I witnessed crowd surfing, a mosh pit and one fight. I guess that is obligatory at a punk gig! Clearly Frank Carter is no Johnny Rotten, but he certainly got the crowd going and did a good job. Jones, Matlock and especially Cook were on absolute top form and it was a pretty stunning evening (a perfect late summer/early autumn one). Setlist was nearly all of “Bollocks” plus the contemporary covers they released of No Fun and (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone. All were played brilliantly, the closer Anarchy became an unlikely crowd singalong and it was all good fun (apart from the fighting obviously).
As for Alice, all very professional with suspiciously perfect vocals, but his music does little for me. I left before the end to get a head start for the longish trip home.
Other acts I saw over the 3 nights I went were Steph Strings, Alabama Shakes (superb), Gwenifer Raymond, Switchfoot, Third Eye Blind and Bad Nerves.
The audience:
Youngsters up to 70 somethings.
It made me think..
Bollocks
Setlist:
1 Holidays in the Sun
2 Seventeen
3 Pretty Vacant
4 New York
5 Bodies
6 (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone
7 Liar
8 God Save the Queen
9 No Fun
10 No Feelings
11 Problems
12 Anarchy in the U.K.
75% of the band who inspired “New Order” (now with only one original member) to form. Take that, Barney!
Opinion is divided, it’s a 50/50 split of pistols commenter
“Brilliant show, keeping the spirit alive” vs “how can it be the pistols without John”.
Not seen them, but heard enough comments and youtube to fall in the first camp.
John won’t do it, so Steve, Paul and Glen (who want to play and have equal dibs on the name)have to do something, and fair play to them.
Sounds like you had an entertaining night @dai, the Sex Pistols, who’d a thought it?
Well I have been a fan of their one proper album for almost 50 years, I like early PIL too
A tribute band in current incarnation, I get it that the 3 originals may want to milk the cow (as was it pretty much always the case after NMTB) but some folk just don’t know when to put something good to bed FOR GOOD. It’s not like they need the money but no Lydon = no Sex Pistols, end of.
You are No Fun! And it was quite a bit of fun for everyone who was there whoever was on vocals, so despite some reservations I am glad they are able to replay music that they played on 50 years ago. Obviously Lydon was integral but so was Steve Jones coming up with those amazing guitar parts
Interestingly “the Pistols” played Toronto Mon night and “PIL” (one original member) are playing there Sat night!
NMTB will always be one of the all time greatest albums. So why is it that my favourite Pistols song is the universally derided No one is Innocent?. Sadly there’s no accounting for taste I suppose. Especially mine.
Guitars sound great
Vocals less.
His vocals were actually pretty good. That was the first song and he improved as he warmed up. Also sounded better in person than on a phone recording.
I would quite like to go and see these…purely because I never got to see them with Lydon, but also partly because it’s extremely unlikely they’ll pair up with him again. I’ve always loved NMTB, and the following singles (especially Silly Thing) so what’s not to like? At my age I’m a bit bored with being a purist, which I definitely used to be…a lot of members of bands I loved growing up are either dead or don’t play anymore, so why shouldn’t guys like Jones/ Cook/Matlock have their time in the sun? I’ve seen tons of other bands for whom it’s a fine line between a tribute and a version of the real thing and I’ve had a great time at most of them. You obviously pays your money and takes your choice but I increasingly care much less about “cred” rather than being able to see a set of songs I love. This autumn I will be seeing Echoes of The Bunnymen, True Order and eXTC, all reasonably locally. I will also see some artists doing original material. Both will be equally as fun I’m sure, and I am not ashamed!
I have become the same (perhaps convinced by this gig). It’s just music and a good night out, don’t need to be too precious about it.
Interestingly they played Toronto one day later on Monday, and on Saturday John Lydon is appearing in the same city with PIL! (one original member)
Oops I said that already! Senior moment
What an incredibly balanced and sensible perspective ! How on earth did he get let in?
I have two major gig regrets: I was at the Phoenix festival for the weekend but chose to head off home early on the Sunday afternoon (I had work on Monday morning) and so skipped the Pistols. I missed Bowie on the opening night as I was stuck in traffic all afternoon, and heard his set while I was pitching my tent in the dark.
And I missed Blondie at the Cambridge Corn Exchange when Maria was released. Growing up, my school pal’s big sister’s Blondie singles had been one of the main reasons I’d come to love pop music – I had their poster on my bedroom wall – but they split when I was 12 or 13. When they reformed, I thought Debbie would be too old (she was in her 50s!) and I didn’t want to spoil my memories.
I’d quite like to have seen Simple Minds do their 5×5 tour of early stuff, too. I didn’t go as it was a school night and I was in full Crohn’s flare-up mode. My pal Kaz went and had a great time, as she insists on reminding me.
Ah I went to that Phoenix, I remember the Bowie set seemed pretty heavy on the Earthling album and was a bit disappointed but the Pistols were good on the day. I always thought it was a pretty rubbish idea holding a festival on an old airfield tbh, standing around on concrete all afternoon/evening was hard work on the legs (even in them days lol). Fond memories of The Amps (Frank Black was on the same weekend but the Pixies reunion seemed off the cards then) also Neil Young was really loud. An incredible line-up by today’s standards and I still have the programme, only £65 for 4 days so not too many complaints.
https://i0.wp.com/serwer1510041.home.pl/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/1996.07.18-poster.jpg
I remember the dust. I saw Ben Folds Five in a tent and spent the rest of the day covered in powdered orange dirt.
Ya hippy!
Another Phoenix 96 veteran here!
Like you Steve we missed Bowie as we were stuck in traffic and heard most of his set whilst pitching the tent.
He’s the one major artist I never got to see live and that I really regret.
No Glastonbury that year so attendance was up on the previous 3 years (I’d attended them all)
Scorching weather all weekend and when you look at the bill its astonishing what you got for £65.
I’ll happily trade you my memory of the Glass Spider at Wembley. Dull as ditchwater.
75% hit rate seems pretty good to me. Look at Yes – 20% hit rate (or 0% if you’re a real purist).
The ironic thing is of course that Alice Cooper was originally the name of the band, not just the singer so you could actually say that Alice is only giving you 20%.
Alice had many musicians on stage too. It was refreshing to see a vintage band that just had 3 people playing everything, as was the case in 1977 (although mainly 2 people on the album)