If you haven’t seen the recent BBC4 3-part series, Punk Britannia, it’s pretty good, although I found my attention flagging during the well-trod 76-78 era in part two. Still the first and third installments, covering “pre punk” pub rock (Dr. Feelgood, Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe) and “post-punk” respectively, I liked quite a bit. Apparently The Weinstein Company is sending take-down notices to YouTube over some of the Joy Division content used in the series, but you can still find parts of the show streaming online (and on the torrent trackers, natch).

The “post-punk” entry, which we watched last night, had some great footage of The Pop Group, Crass, the Gang of Four, The Fall, Siouxsie and The Banshees and Orange Juice, but inevitably the centerpiece in any “post punk” piece would have to be Public Image Ltd., without question the greatest, most influential band of the era.

I was lucky enough to see PiL on Staten Island at the absolutely decaying and decrepit Paramount Theatre on March 26th, 1983 (also the final Mission of Burma show). Sadly by then the band was minus Jah Wobble (Pete Jones took over on bass) and the set list featured percussion heavy numbers from The Flowers of Romance. Watching John Lydon onstage was like watching a fucking demon having convulsions. Alternately, he’d just glare at the audience or turn his back and sing (I was right up front, a new pair of leather shoes were destroyed by the end).

I thought Keith Levene was astonishing to watch as well, but not just what he was doing with his hands. He was obviously smacked out of his skull and for much of the show Levene stared slack-jawed directly into the bright white lights that illuminated the band, like he was staring at the sun, practically drooling. Still his idiosyncratic guitar playing was always perfect. It was, without a doubt the single best, most powerful concert I have ever seen in my life, although it’s worth mentioning that it was but a few months later that Lydon sacked his band mates and took up with that awful New Jersey bar band as heard on the horrendous Live in Tokyo album.

Never mind the Sex Pistols, that story has been told so many fucking times that no one really cares anymore. When will BBC4 commission a proper documentary on the first three PIL classic albums?