PUBLIC IMAGE LTD. at THE SHOWBOX (First Stage Dive)  1982 

This show was a big deal for me…actually now that I think about it EVERY show in this era was a huge deal because I was 13 years old and I had a 13 year old’s ultra un-jaded view of everything new and exciting. Seeing punk rock legend John Lydon in the flesh on stage was enough to make me lose my mind. It’s weird to think the Pistols had only broken up four years prior to this show, it seemed like a lifetime ago to me at the time of course.

I had a couple PiL 45’s but I honestly didn’t really get it. I was definitely into the “SeX PiStolS” factor however. I think the U-Men opened, but I’m not sure if it was this show or another at the Showbox. I do remember that once PiL kicked off I was blown away by the super heavy low end bass and the cutting metallic guitar shards over the top. The bass seemed to suck the air out of the already stuffy room. The plodding dub rhythm PiL unleashed turned the packed dance floor into a slowmotion churning claustrophobic mass.

I was really freaked out when my feet would leave the ground and I’d float for a minute or two suspended between the sweaty grown-up shoulders closed in all around me. It got so bad that I was convinced I was gonna die so rather than going under I half way wormed , half way was pushed like the contents of a popping zit to the top of the crowd. Within seconds I found myself standing on stage with Johnny Lydon/Rotten, Keith Levine, and Jah Wobble. I didn’t know how to dance to dub music so instead I did my best “pop and lock” style dance. (I was in Jr. High in Tacoma at the time and a lot of kids at my school were doing the robot and popping so I’d picked up some moves) I saw people in the crowd laughing and smiling and I felt cool.  Johnny acted like I wasn’t there at all. No bouncers came out, no hassles, so I jumped off the stage as far as I could into the crowd. I was passed hand over hand to the side of the dance floor and I landed on my feet unharmed and totally amazed. My first stage dive.

Photos by Mike Leach