Hot Pistols

I was hoping to see the Sex Pistols show at the Roxy last night, but with the limited venue size I couldn't even score a ticket with my one inside connection.

This is why we love them:

The show was predictably a little rusty, with singer John Lydon (a.k.a. Johnny Rotten) forgetting the words to the first song of the night, "Holidays in the Sun." But he added some bonus lyrics along the way, notably "Paris Hilton, kiss my arse" in "Stepping Stone."

He also struggled with sound problems and the heat.

"It's hotter than (expletive) hell up here," said Lydon, 51, clad in a traditional Indian kurta, tartan pants and blue vest and guzzling red wine from the bottle.

The combustible singer was in cheerily sarcastic form for much of the night. When a young woman bounded onto the knee-high stage and hugged guitarist Steve Jones, 52, in the middle of a song, Lydon quipped: "Steve Jones always gets the fat ones!"

Towards the end, Lydon took an unscheduled bathroom break and emerged a little later "15 pounds lighter."

But Lydon eventually lost his temper after he was hit in the face with a drink. He threatened to kill the "coward" if he caught him. The fan, 21-year-old Manuel Vasquez, told Reuters he snuck into the show.

That's our Johnny. Cool pix here.

In case you've forgotten, here's the TV interview that made them famous. Rotten inadvertently starts the ball rolling, but Jonesy drives it home.

Here's the scene as it was.

Here's them in their original glory, such as it survives.

God save.