Nearly five decades after forming Public Image Ltd. (PiL) in the wake of the Sex Pistols, Lydon remains one of rock’s most distinctive and uncompromising voices. On Tuesday, September 29, he brings PiL to the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks as the band continues its 2026 North American tour, with Plague Vendor opening the show.
For Lydon, this tour represents considerably more than another run of dates. It marks a return to North America after an eight-year absence and comes after an extraordinarily difficult period in his personal life.
His wife of more than four decades, Nora Forster, died in April 2023 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Just months later, PiL manager and Lydon’s close friend John “Rambo” Stevens died suddenly. Lydon has acknowledged that there was a point when he wasn’t sure he would return to the stage.
But he did.
“It’s vital, absolutely vital,” Lydon says of bringing PiL back to North America. “I’m not someone who sits around waiting for approval, but there is an undeniable bond with the audiences over there. When we get up on stage, it isn’t some corporate exercise or nostalgic routine. It’s real human emotion, raw and exposed.”
That commitment to the live experience has always been at the heart of PiL. Formed in 1978, the band quickly established itself as something very different from a conventional rock group, incorporating elements of rock, dance, folk, pop and dub throughout its career. The band has released 11 studio albums, most recently End of World in 2023.
End of World also produced one of Lydon’s most personal songs, “Hawaii,” written for Nora. The song appeared shortly before her death and revealed a particularly vulnerable side of an artist more commonly associated with confrontation and provocation.
“Hawaii” was dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most,” Lydon explains. “When I sang it originally, tears were rolling. Caring for someone you love when they are ill—it’s automatic and instinctual.”
But there was also a responsibility to keep moving. “Nora loved our music, and she loved the End of World album. She wouldn’t have wanted us to postpone anything or crawl into a hole. I had my moments of falling into self-indulgent pity, but I knew that if I ceased working, it would really annoy her. She’d be furious at me! So, I throw myself into the work.”
That philosophy seems particularly appropriate for PiL, a band whose entire history has been built around refusing to remain comfortable or predictable.
The current lineup features Lydon alongside guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Lu Edmonds, bassist and keyboardist Scott Firth and drummer Mark Roberts. Edmonds has been associated with PiL since the 1980s and returned to the band in 2009, while Firth joined in 2009. Roberts became PiL’s drummer in 2025.
Lydon describes the current lineup simply: “We’re a gaggle of mates, plain and simple. There are no massive ego trips, no posers, no puppets being told what to do. When we get together in a room, the ideas just flow naturally out of that mutual respect.”
And don’t expect PiL to suddenly become a nostalgia act.
The band has spent its entire existence resisting easy categorization, and Lydon remains adamant that the music has to be experienced as a living thing rather than a recreation of the past.
“Public Image Ltd was created specifically because I wanted to build something real, something that was a valid threat to the comfortable predictability of standard rock & roll. PiL is my life’s work,” Lydon says.
That attitude extends directly to the stage.
“A lot of modern music is completely lifeless—computer-generated, sterile, lacking any genuine soul or passion. If you’re asking people to pay their hard-earned money to come out to a venue, and all you’re offering them is a pre-recorded track or some half-hearted, drunken piece of debauchery, that’s an insult.”
For Lydon, the pressure of performing hasn’t diminished with age. “I demand quality. I get terrified before going on stage; I can’t eat, my stomach is in knots. Why? Because it’s so bloody important to me! When you look out into an audience, you owe them absolute honesty. You don’t go through the motions. Have I mellowed? Absolutely fucking not! I’m still a square peg trying to fit into a round hole, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
And that may be the best description of what audiences can expect when PiL arrives at the Roxian.
The set is expected to draw from the band’s remarkable catalog, stretching from the early PiL classics through End of World. PiL’s 2026 live release Alive, issued in March, offers a good indication of the band’s willingness to move throughout its catalog, including songs such as “This Is Not a Love Song,” “Poptones,” “Death Disco,” “Public Image,” “Rise” and “Flowers of Romance.”
As Lydon puts it, “Expect the unexpected, as always! We cover a vast terrain because PiL’s catalogue isn’t stuck in one decade or one genre. We’ll be performing songs from right across the spectrum—tracks from the early days like First Issue and Metal Box, straight through to our newest material.”
And ultimately, that’s what has kept PiL relevant for nearly five decades. This isn’t a band attempting to recreate the past. It’s a band that has always treated its past as something to build upon.
“Every song feels brand new when we play it live because we put everything into it. We don’t perform to satisfy purists or posers. We play because music is a cleansing process. It’s a shared space where we can all leave our daily problems at the door for two hours and feel something authentic together.”
Public Image Ltd. plays the Roxian Theatre Presented By Citizens in McKees Rocks on Tuesday, September 29, with Plague Vendor opening the show. Tickets are available here.