SEX PISTOLS Play Secret Show At Legendary London Venue 100 Club

When a mysterious show was announced last week for London's 100 Club by a band called the SPOTS — true fans knew what was happening,

And 300 of them packed into a Friday night in Oxford Street to witness Frank Carter and Paul Cook, Glen Matlock and Steve Jones of the SEX PISTOLS play the incredible album "Never Mind The Bollocks" in full.

Superfans at the show included Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, Bobby Gillespie, Damon Hill and Gary Kemp, who came to pay homage to some of the most influential music in history.

SPOTS, which stands for "Sex Pistols Secretly On Tour", was a name used by the original SEX PISTOLS to book gigs in 1977 under intense media scrutiny, when it was likely that SEX PISTOLS gigs would have been shut down by police.

Now armed with incendiary frontman Frank Carter, they brought mayhem to a venue that hosted some of the band's most famous gigs as they led the punk revolution.

"How many of you were here the first time around?" Carter asked before acknowledging his bandmates. "Put your hands together for the greatest punk band of all time."

These shows start past 100mph and only speed up. "Holidays In The Sun" and "Seventeen" kicked things off and soon Carter was crowd surfing and crowd walking, still somehow belting out lyrics as he roamed the room. They threw in the PISTOLS' cover of the MONKEES' "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", before drummer Paul Cook declared "it's getting hot out there, we'll slow it down" for "Submission".

The crowd, a mix of young and old fans, quickly descended into a sweaty mess, lapping up the hits and embracing frontman Carter as one of their own.

The accelerator was pressed again for "No Feelings" and THE STOOGES' "No Fun", "Problems" and "EMI" almost bursting the room apart.

"From the bottom of my heart," said Carter in conclusion, "thank you very much for coming out. It's a dream come true."

"Anarchy In The UK" was a fitting coda, band crowd in harmony, an anthem for the ages.

When this lineup — featuring the GALLOWS singer — made its debut in 2024, the Standard wrote: "Carter and three of the original SEX PISTOLS members led the thronging, sweaty crowd through a night of unadulterated punk rock mayhem at Bush Hall." Louder described the show as: "Sheer joy. They should tour it everywhere. God save their mad parade."

The 100 Club itself played a central role in punk's history, including in September 1976 a two-day punk special, at which the SEX PISTOLS played on the first day with a bill including THE CLASH, SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES and SUBWAY SECT.

Frank Carter and Paul Cook, Glen Matlock and Steve Jones of the SEX PISTOLS will play their first official 2025 gig at the Royal Albert Hall.

The week of Teenage Cancer Trust shows will kick off on Monday, March 24 March with the "rip-roaring punk rock redux" (The Guardian) of Frank Carter and Paul Cook, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock of the SEX PISTOLS, who will tear through their seminal album "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols" with punk classics from "Pretty Vacant" to "Anarchy in the UK" and, of course, "God Save The Queen".

Original SEX PISTOLS singer John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) has been estranged from the rest of the band after unsuccessfully attempting to block the use of SEX PISTOLS songs in "Pistol", a Hulu miniseries based on Jones's 2016 memoir "Lonely Boy" that dramatized the band's story.

Photo credit: Jemma Dodd (courtesy of The Outside Organisation)