Sex Pistols announce special anniversary shows to celebrate 50 years of punk
The Sex Pistols have announced that they are set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the punk movement in the UK by staging a series of special shows.
The iconic band were at the forefront of the blazing musical era when it first graced the country and took it by storm back in 1976, and half a century on next summer, they plan to honour this by performing four gigs as an ode to the height of the movement.
The band’s original members, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock, will be joined by frontman Frank Carter for the quartet of concerts taking place over the course of July and August, playing in Halifax, Manchester, Cardiff, and Scarborough.
In a statement released by the band’s guitarist Jones, he explained that the ethos of the shows was simple, as he said: “If it ain’t fun, I ain’t doing it. I’m too old for bullshit.”
The news of the new run of shows comes after the Sex Pistols’ original frontman, John Lydon, recently hit out at his former bandmates, saying: “I don’t feel no pity for them, rage or hatred. I don’t feel anything for them.”
The remaining Sex Pistols joined up with Carte in 2024 and have continued to tour since. Lydon was angered by the decision, as he said in an interview earlier this year: “When I first heard that the Sex Pistols were touring this year without me, it pissed me off.”
However, with Carter now leading the band, they have reinvented themselves on the current rock touring circuit, touring the UK in 2024 and performing at Download Festival this summer.
Earlier this year, the Sex Pistols headed Down Under to Australia, for their first tour of the country in almost three decades, since they last performed there in 1996.
Tickets for all four of the Sex Pistols’ punk celebration shows will go on sale from November 28th at 10am local time.
Sex Pistols 2026 tour dates:
July
- 11th – TK Maxx Presents Live at The Piece Hall, Halifax (with The Undertones and Panic Shack)
- 12th – Castlefield Bowl, Manchester (with Dr John Cooper Clark)
August
- 1st – TK Maxx Presents Depot Live at Cardiff Castle (with The Stranglers, The Undertones and Panic Shack)
- 2nd – TK Maxx Presents Scarborough Open Air Theatre (with The Stranglers and The Undertones)
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