This is not a Love Song

Last night the hubby and I went out on the town. We headed over to the Crofoot Ballroom in Pontiac to see Public Image Limited (PiL). As a band PiL had moderate pop/rock success through the 80s. Their biggest song in the UK is the semi-disco song, "This is not a Love Song". Their biggest hit in the States was the Rock song "Rise". Nathan says they are the greatest most prolific band you have never heard of. I bet none of these things help you know who they are. Most people know the band because of the lead singer. The lead singer is John Lydon. John Lydon is more famously known as the crazy eyed Johnny Rotten from the influential British punk rock band, "The Sex Pistols." I first heard of the Sex Pistols in the early 80s in the church children's choir. No, we didn't perform an adorable rendition of "Anarchy in the UK," but one of the older kids did write the band name in permanent marker on one of the tambourines.

We got to the ballroom a little early and stood in line behind a couple of youngsters (definitely under 21). Most of the crowd was quite a bit older than us, but we managed to find the two youngsters who loved vinyl and old music. One might think that we would get along great with our line buddies, since the hubby and I sort of fit into this category. It isn't like we were rocking out to PiL in elementary school. However, we don't like other people who think they are as cool as us or cooler. It did help that they were super easy to trick. Some of the people waiting in line, decided to wait in the bar attached to the ballroom. The boys couldn't get in. They were obsessed with the idea that those people were going to get in first. I had a wonderful time looking in the window and telling the boys that they were letting some people in while we were still standing in the cold. I also found a guy in the crowd who looked the part of a PiL band member. I insisted that he was in the band and we were definitely keeping track of his whereabouts. These little boys kept name dropping all the people they had seen in concert. "Oh, when I saw Lou Reed...", "Oh when I saw the Sugar Cubes...", "Oh, that guy is wearing a Devo t-shirt, we should get into Devo, we should get into Devo before Dave gets into Devo..." (for the record, Nathan and I are already into Devo) were all things they discussed. When a guy taking a survey asked them how they listen to music, they said they only listen to Vinyl. How hipster of them. I have plenty of records, but you can't listen to them in a car. That is why the world has moved on to other ways of recording music. They also were hoping that they would get spitted on by their hero.

The ballroom was a lovely place to see a show. They have a balcony with lovely tables and chairs. We nabbed chairs and had a great view. John claimed in an interview that he now sounds like a bag of kittens being thrown down the stairs. Despite that, he did a wonderful job and put on quite a show. He was a little paranoid though. He seemed to be super worried that the fans would try to get on the stage. Was he worried because he was in "Detroit" and we have a bad reputation? Was he worried that because of his Punk Rock past kids would come up and try to spit on him? Nathan seems to think it is a British thing. He brings his own security in the form of an old friend who happens to be a Soccer Hooligan (they call him John Rambo). During one of the last songs, the lead singer freaked out about one of the other security guards leaning on the stage. Because of this all the guards left and it was up to the hooligan to keep the few overzealous fans off the stage. If you are super interested, that clip from the concert made it online.

Overall, it was a lovely night on the town. What was the last concert you went to? How did it go? Children Choir Directors, what songs do you think would be funny to have the kids sing if it wasn't so inappropriate?


Compliments of the PiL Website.