Sex Pistols’ John Lydon to shake up Tel Aviv festival

One of rock and roll’s most colorful figures will add some spice to the the Heineken Music Conference 2010 Festival.

By DAVID BRINN
Krakow Festival (photo credit: Bloomberg)
Krakow Festival
(photo credit: Bloomberg)
One of rock and roll’s most colorful figures will add some spice to the the Heineken Music Conference 2010 Festival in Tel Aviv at the end of August: John Lydon – who was better known in the 1970s as Johnny Rotten, the singer for the notorious Sex Pistols – will be performing with his resuscitated post-Pistols band Public Image Ltd. on August 31 at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds.
Speaking this week to the BBC 6 Music program, Lydon said that instead of boycotting Israel as Elvis Costello and the Pixies have done, he’s planning on creating his own brand of anarchy during his visit here.
“Of course, there are all sorts of terrible politics going on down there, but there is just about all over the world,” Lydon said. “You cannot separate yourself from your audience because of the political powers-that be.
I mean, I’m anti-government – I have been all my life, no matter where I go – and I shall be making that loud and clearly proud once I’m in Israel.”
Lydon dismissed calls for him to stay away, saying that his presence in Israel would be his own form of protest.
“We’ve received a lot of hate mail, as it happens, [that] going to Israel is some kind of political faux pas. I say, ‘Don’t be so ignorant – it’s John speaking here, and I’m going there to cause trouble, and I will do it musically.’” Joining PIL at the festival will be LCD Soundsytem and Leftfield.