Punk All-Dayer ft Sex Pistols: 'Ever feel like you've been cheated?'

The Herald Scotland

22-06-2025

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Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
Bang. That would be the perfectly easy and misleading introduction to a review on this Punk All Dayer in Glasgow featuring a who's who of UK old school punk and of course, the Sex Pistols who were at their hottest back when there were no mobile phones or laptops, a new Ford Cortina car would cost you £2500 and you could smoke in a pub.
That line was famously snarled out by a rabid and one and only original Pistols front man Johnny Rotten all of 47 years ago at the end of the band's appearance at the Winterland in San Francisco. It was clickbait sloganeering way way ahead of its time.
I mean it is actually not altogether wide of the mark if it was a genuine question rather than the original delightfully spiteful and very rhetorical original one.
Johnny Rotten is not the front man here. But anyone who thought they'd been cheated and as convincing as a builder with sticks for arms did not reckon on the replacement, who fits the bill to the tee, the ferocious bull terrier of rock front man that is Frank Carter.
Some 16 years ago at the late lamented o2 ABC in Glasgow he was the front man of the equally late lamented hardcore punk combo Gallows. My mosh pit-battered ribs never forgave me that night and probably haven't done ever since.
The Sex Pistols featuring Frank Carter (Image: NQ) Tonight, well, he brings at 41 the relatively speaking ragin' youff to the rest of the original pension-age Pistols, Paul Cook (69 next month), Steve Jones (70 in September) and Glen Matlock (69 in August).
But before these headliners, who were effectively year zero for punk and all its multi-faceted influences that continue to this day, we have the undercard - if you can really call it that - and it is equally bereft of original members.
In my strict hardcore Christian upbringing at the time, The Stranglers and glorious debut album Rattus Norvegicus was a relatively safe album to have alongside the Pistols' Never Mind the B****** which was a definite no-no.
And while Jean-Jacques Brunel is all that remains from those halcyon days it remains a big draw for this over-50s heavy crowd, even though they still miss the growl of original (pretty much) front man Hugh Cornwell and the masterly keyboard refrains of Dave Greenfield who sadly died five years ago at 71.
The legendary Undertones have been minus their inimitable original front man Feargal Sharkey since the 1980s but remarkably, considering their chequered history, still retain original bass player Michael Bradley, Billy Doherty on drums, and the O'Neill brothers Damian and John on guitars. The absence of that unmistakeable Sharkey Northern Irish drawl makes no difference to the crowd of old punks and a remarkable collection of far younger recruits when they triumphantly tear into one of many 18 carat classics on display today - the utterly showstopping Teenage Kicks.
The Buzzcocks, however are an an oddity, with Steve Diggle the only person left from the classic line-up and it shows, although the evergreen Ever Fallin In Love played with OTT enthusiasm by the only original man left explodes as it really really should. The rest was a bit of a mess.
Now The Skids along with the Rezillos were representing Scotland and were the only bands with the original front man and woman intact. So we had the sight of 64-year-old Richard Jobson tearing into one of the greatest and most unitelligible tunes to come out of this country Into The Valley, chest puffed as if his life depended on it, and if brains could melt, they would. The fact he was able to keep up the dad dancing that has not changed after all these years was quite remarkable - especially as he said he was puffed after two songs.
But it was the Pistols that were the big draw here, and they arrived with Frank Carter saying: "Thanks for waiting for us before blistering through Holidays in the Sun to a backdrop loop of clips from the punk legends' glorious past.
Frank Carter looks to go into the crowd at the Punk All-Dayer at Bellahouston Park (Image: NQ) And while throughout Steve Jones and Glen Matlock barely moved from one spot - it didnt' matter as Carter stole the show creating a mosh pit frenzy, and at one point seeking to join them.
"I don't think you understand how lucky I am to be doing this," Carter says before blitzing No Feelings.
In fairness it would be what was left of the Pistols who were lucky to be on stage with Carter - who showed on the biggest of stages, what this Gallows fan has always known, that he is one of the most captivatingly aggressive rock front men the UK has produced in the last 25 years.
An apocalyptic Anarchy in the UK perhaps predicably closed proceedings - while Steve Jones stayed behind as the flock rushed to get their transport to tell those who were not in such a rush: "Thank you. You guys were the best."
So were people cheated?
In 2025, with concert ticket prices going through the roof and agencies offering to pay them off by instalments, does £70 general admission for an all day original punk fest starting just after lunchtime when ACDC in a few months will be around the £150 mark represent good value? You bet.