Public Image Limited (with Blind Melon, Live and BAD II) - Event Center Arena, SJSU, San Jose, CA - March 27, 1992

Big Audio Dynamite may have been the headliner for this show, but we really came to see Public Image Limited. I actually think this is the second time I saw them – I know they opened for another show I saw at Shoreline but can’t remember which one. Turns out the other two opening acts weren’t half bad either. Blind Melon with what was likely one of their only tours – the lead singer overdosed not too long afterward, and Live, who were really quite good and the show compelled me to buy their CD. (A random note – I like to include links in these blogs to the bands webpages, but how am I supposed to locate “Live” in google? There must be a billion entries. I’m stuck with an allmusic.com link instead.)

Johnny Lydon (formerly Rotten) has always been a pretty interesting character, onstage and off. I’ve always admired him and even read his autobiography several years ago which has always stuck with me, especially a breakfast he made once for someone he didn’t like. According to his website, he is now doing bug documentaries for Discovery Channel UK, and has announced that Justin Timberlake should play him if they ever make a movie of his life. Like every self-respecting wanna be punk in high school, I loved the Sex Pistols and saw Syd and Nancy way too many times. Who knew Gary Oldman would turn out to be such a great actor? Anyway, I digress.

In any case, Mr. Lydon was in pretty rare form that evening in San Jose and gave me and my friends probably our most memorable concert moment ever. We were close to the front, at least as close as we were comfortable in a sea of punk kids, so we could see him and the band pretty well. During one of the songs, he turned around, dropped trou, and gave us a nice look at his pale white ass. As if that wasn’t enough, he reached in between his cheeks and pulled out a tampon. We weren’t quite sure what was going on – if the tampon was really in there, or what, but in either case, yuck! He wiggled it around by the string and flung it out into the audience.

We fully expected the crowd to recoil from the flying feminine product. However, to our great disgust, people actually lunged towards it, trying to catch it. To which Johnny smiled mischievously and asked of the crowd, “Who’s got me magic lucky tampon?”

I remember this trip being a real haul. San Jose certainly felt a lot farther than San Francisco, especially on the way home. Luckily we only stayed for a couple BAD songs before we hit the road.