LIVE REVIEW: PUBLIC IMAGE LTD – THIS IS NOT THE LAST TOUR @ VARIETY PLAYHOUSE, ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 8, 2026

This was a first for me in more ways than one. It was my first time at Variety Playhouse, and I was heading there to see two bands I have barely knew anything about: Plague Vendor and Public Image Ltd.

I arrived with a little musical homework behind me, but no real expectations. Sometimes that’s the best way to see a band. You don’t have years of memories attached to the songs, and you’re free to discover what happens in front of you.

And there was plenty to discover.

Variety playhouse space was filling pretty quickly so by the time lights went down, room was full of people. Plaque Vendor started playing first.

There is a saying about a great rock star being the man every man wants to be and every woman wants to sleep with. I can’t remember who said it, but watching Plague Vendor’s frontman, Brandon Blaine, I understood the idea.

The man has rock-and-roll charisma.

He was dancing, moving, working every inch of the stage, with a vintage showman’s quality that brought James Brown and Michael Jackson to mind. There was something almost old-school about the way he used his body to communicate with the audience, even though the music itself had a darker, rougher punk-rock edge. During first song he did split on the stage.  Whole band was very active on stage. It was the sort of moment that makes you wonder whether they  have any intention of saving their energy for the next song. 

After the second, vocalist asked for the lights to be dimmed to create a spookier atmosphere. It was a small thing, but it told me something about the way he approached the performance. He wasn’t just there to sing the songs. He wanted to set the mood and bring the audience into his world.  And the audience was happy to follow. Someone shouted out a request for a song the band had already played. Blaine told him he was late, then announced that next song was especially for him. It was funny, casual and a little cheeky. There was no great distance between the band and the people watching them. People raised their hands, sang along and interacted with the musicians.

What surprised me was the age of the crowd. There were younger people there, but I would say more than half the audience were older. It was a nice reminder that music doesn’t belong to a particular generation. The energy was there, the enthusiasm was there, and nobody seemed to be checking their age before joining in.

Musically, Plague Vendor occupy an interesting space between punk, garage rock and post-punk. There’s aggression in the sound, but also a groove that makes it difficult to stand still. The music isn’t simply about being loud or angry. There’s movement in it, and that movement was reflected in everything happening onstage. The rhythm section gave the songs a pulse while the guitars and vocals added a rougher, more unpredictable edge.

That combination made sense once I saw them live. The songs had a sense of urgency, but the performance was also playful. Blaine seemed to be enjoying himself as much as he wanted the audience to enjoy the show. There was a little bit of chaos, a lot of personality and absolutely no shortage of commitment.

And, of course, there was the shirt.

At some point, he tore it off and threw it into the audience. The rock show still needs its traditions.

By the final song, he had taken things even further, throwing himself into the crowd. The audience carried him over their heads toward the barricade and then back to the stage. It was a fitting end to a performance in which the boundary between the band and its audience had felt almost nonexistent.

Plague Vendor looked like a band that belonged on a much bigger stage. Their frontman had the presence to fill one, and the band had the sound and energy to back him up. I arrived not knowing their music, but I left understanding why people come to see them.

If Plague Vendor approached the stage like a playground, Public Image Ltd. turned it into a theatre.

After the first song, John Lydon looked toward the people still sitting in the central seating area of the venue and delivered what might be one of the more memorable concert greetings I’ve heard:

“Get off your f…ing lazy ass.”

A proper punk welcome

I’d listened to some PiL on the drive, so when “This Is Not a Love Song” and “Rise” came around, I had something to hold on to. Those songs had already caught my ear before I entered the venue, but hearing them in a room full of people who knew every word gave them a different kind of life. There’s a particular pleasure in recognizing a song you only recently discovered and realizing that, for someone standing beside you, it’s been part of their life for years.

“Rise” was one of the highlights of the evening. When the familiar “Could I be wrong? Could I be right?” refrain came around, the entire room seemed to wake up. People were standing, dancing, clapping and singing. Even the seating area had given up on sitting. For a moment, there was no real distinction between the people at the front and those who had started the evening in their seats. Everybody was part of the same thing.

But PiL’s stage presence was very different from Plague Vendor’s.

There was less of the physical, almost athletic showmanship I’d seen earlier and more theatrical movement, gestures and tension. Lydon had a way of addressing the audience that could be sarcastic, confrontational and funny, sometimes all within a few moments. His humor had obviously that dry British quality that makes it difficult to tell whether you’re being insulted or invited into the joke. 

The guitarist was just as fascinating to watch. He moved theatrically around the stage and changed instruments several times, including playing a small-bodied guitar that caught my attention. He seemed to inhabit the music rather than simply play it. The bassist and drummer were more restrained in their movements, providing a steadier physical presence while the guitarist and Lydon supplied much of the visible drama.

And that contrast worked.

PiL’s music is built differently from Plague Vendor’s. Where the first band drew me in through physical energy and immediate rock-and-roll excitement, PiL used repetition, bass, unusual guitar textures and changes in intensity to create a different kind of tension. The rhythms could be hypnotic, with the bass doing far more than simply sitting underneath the guitar. Sometimes the music seemed to circle around itself, building a mood instead of rushing toward an obvious payoff.

There were moments between songs when chants and instrumental passages helped build that tension. One of the most memorable came when the band gave the instruments room to speak for themselves. The drummer, bassist and guitarist seemed to be having a conversation through the music, each adding something to the growing sound.

And then I felt it.

The bass moved through the room like a gust of wind. Not just something I could hear, but something I could physically feel against me. It was one of those moments when you remember why seeing music live is different from listening to it in the car. A recording can deliver the notes, but in a room like this, the sound can become something almost tangible.

Of course, the evening wouldn’t have been complete without a little unpredictability. At one point, the band took a short break because Lydon wanted a cigarette. They disappeared for a few minutes and then came back to play some more songs.

It was an unusual pause, but it somehow fitted the spirit of the performance. There was no sense that everything had to unfold according to a perfectly polished script. PiL have spent much of their existence challenging expectations about what a punk band should sound like, look like or do. Even without knowing their entire history, I could appreciate that refusal to behave exactly as expected.

Before the end, Lydon introduced the band members “ they are my three friends we have been through a lot. Those three reject by the whole music industry “ and laughed. It was a reminder of PiL’s identity as outsiders, a band that has never seemed particularly interested in making itself comfortable for the industry’s benefit. Then he thanked the audience for listening, for coming back and for being “so fucking loyal.”

That word, loyal, stayed with me.

There was something touching about that moment after all the provocation and theatricality. The people in the room weren’t just an audience that had bought tickets. They were people who had continued to show up for this band, through changing times and changing musical fashions.

And when Lydon acknowledged them, the relationship between the stage and the crowd suddenly felt a little more personal.

What I enjoyed about seeing these two bands on the same bill was how different their approaches were.

Plague Vendor brought the kind of rock-and-roll showmanship that makes a performance feel immediate and physical.  It was all about movement, connection and the feeling that anything might happen next.

Public Image Ltd. were more about atmosphere and tension. Laydon  voice, expressions, sarcasm and unpredictable relationship with the audience were enough. Meanwhile, the band built a sound that could be abrasive one moment and hypnotic the next, with a rhythm section capable of making the whole room feel the music.

In a way, the two performances reflected different sides of punk. Plague Vendor showed how much raw energy, groove and personality can still accomplish. PiL demonstrated that punk doesn’t have to stay loud, fast or straightforward to remain confrontational. It can experiment, slow down, become strange and still refuse to play by the rules.

I went to Variety Playhouse for my first, knowing very little about either band. I had listened to some songs on the drive, recognized a couple of familiar hooks when they appeared, and spent the evening watching two very different bands turn a room full of people into participants rather than spectators.

I didn’t arrive with years of history attached to the music. I arrived curious.

And sometimes, that’s a pretty good place to start.

 If you have a chance to catch Plague Vendor or PiL don’t hesitate. It’s a show worth to see and hear. 

Public Image LTD Photo Gallery

Plague Vendor Photo Gallery

Setlist

• Home
• Know Now
• World Destruction
• This Is Not a Love Song
• Poptones
• Death Disco
• Warrior
• Shoom
• Open Up
• Rise / Religion
• John, I’m Only Dancing

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Live photography by Aleksandra Anderberg for No Flash Needed. © 2026 No Flash Needed. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without written permission.