Public Image Ltd, led by John Lydon, return to Australia and New Zealand in January 2027 for the This Is Not… The Final PiL Tour, their first local shows in over a decade.
by Paul Cashmere
Public Image Ltd will return to Australia and New Zealand in January 2027, marking their first performances in the region since 2013 and their first New Zealand shows since 1989, as part of the global This Is Not… The Final PiL Tour.
John Lydon extends beyond nostalgia. Public Image Ltd, formed in 1978 by John Lydon in the immediate aftermath of the Sex Pistols collapse, remain a working entity rather than a heritage act. The current line-up, Lydon on vocals with Bruce Smith on drums, Lu Edmonds on guitar and Scott Firth on bass, has been stable since the band’s 2009 reformation and underpins a catalogue that continues to evolve.
Public Image Ltd’s initial run from 1978 to 1992 established a template for post-punk that integrated dub basslines, experimental structures and electronic textures. The debut album Public Image: First Issue introduced a stripped, bass-heavy sound, while Metal Box in 1979 extended that approach into more abstract territory and is widely regarded as a cornerstone of the genre. By the time of The Flowers Of Romance in 1981, the band had largely abandoned traditional rock instrumentation, replacing it with percussion-driven arrangements and tape manipulation.
Personnel changes were frequent in the early years, with Lydon the only constant member. By the mid-1980s the project had shifted towards a more accessible sound, delivering commercial success with albums such as This Is What You Want… This Is What You Get and Album. Tracks like This Is Not A Love Song expanded the band’s reach without fully abandoning its confrontational identity.
After disbanding in 1992, Lydon revived Public Image Ltd in 2009, funding the reunion independently. Since then, the band has released new material including This Is PiL in 2012, What The World Needs Now… in 2015 and End Of World in 2023. The latter arrived in the wake of personal loss for Lydon and reinforced the group’s capacity to channel contemporary themes into its work.
Public Image Ltd have had a considerable influence across multiple generations of artists. Their early recordings have been cited as formative by acts ranging from alternative rock to electronic and post-rock movements. The band’s willingness to dismantle traditional song structures and incorporate non-rock elements anticipated trends that would become standard in subsequent decades.
At the same time, the live reputation of Public Image Ltd has long been defined by unpredictability. Early performances in the United States during 1980 were marked by confrontational exchanges with audiences and unconventional staging decisions. While the current iteration is more structured, the underlying ethos remains intact, each performance treated as a unique event rather than a reproduction of recorded material.
There is little indication that the title This Is Not… The Final PiL Tour signals an endpoint. Instead, it aligns with the band’s longstanding resistance to finality and categorisation. For Lydon, the project has consistently functioned as a platform for reinvention rather than closure.
Public Image Ltd January 2027 Australian And NZ Tour Dates
Wednesday 20th January, Auckland, Powerstation
Friday 22nd January, Brisbane, The Tivoli
Saturday 23rd January, Sydney, The Enmore
Sunday 24th January, Melbourne, The Forum
Tuesday 26th January, Adelaide, The Gov
Thursday 28th January, Perth, The Astor
Tickets:
Pre-sale: Friday 8th May at 9:00am local time
General Public On Sale: Tuesday 12th May at 9:00am local time
Stay updated with your free Noise11.com daily music news email alert. Subscribe to Noise11 Music News here
Be the first to see NOISE11.com’s newest interviews and special features on YouTube. See things first-Subscribe to Noise11 on YouTube
Follow Noise11.com on social media:
Bluesky
Instagram
Facebook – Comment on the news of the day
X (Twitter)
