Festival Republic by arrangement with Solo Agency announces the next wave of line-up additions to the already legendary billing, cementing Dog Day Afternoon as the biggest punk celebration in London this year.
Buzzcocks and Lambrini Girls are the latest acts to join the incredible line up at Crystal Palace Park on Saturday 1st July. They join headliner, the godfather of punk Iggy Pop for the special one-off outdoor show, alongside New York legends Blondie and punk rock supergroup Generation Sex (Billy Idol, Steve Jones, Tony James, Paul Cook) and more for an incredible summer evening in the company of music royalty. Tickets are available here
This special announcement called for some of the original punks to gather for a celebration at a venue they all know extremely well, the iconic 100 Club on London’s Oxford Street. At the official press launch event on the evening of Tuesday 7th March, Blondie’s Clem Burke, Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock (now playing live with Blondie), Generation X / Generation Sex’s Tony James and Buzzcocks’ Steve Diggle joined a panel discussion alongside Solo Agency promoter John Giddings who made the announcement, hosted by Absolute Radio’s Claire Sturgess.
The discussion brought a flood of anecdotes back to life nearly 50 years on. The panel members looked back on the memories of the legendary venue 100 Club, the relationship between UK and US punk, the influence of headliner Iggy Pop and much more.
Glen Matlock recalled how he and Clem Burke met, “I remember doing a gig with Sid, a one off gig for a laugh, at the Electric Ballroom. And Blondie came down to that show.” Clem agreed, “I was definitely there, I arrived with Joan Jett in the back of a pick up truck. Marc Bolan was there with The Damned. I think Glen and I first met around the same time. I reached out to Glen because I was trying to form a band with Eric Faulker from the Bay City Rollers and Paul Weller, myself and Glen – I thought it would’ve been interesting to do that at the time but it never came to fruition. Our friendship developed and we spent many afternoons in the pub on the King’s Road.”
Tony James spoke about the gradual formation of punk supergroup Generation Sex, “It started when we were recording the single ‘Dancing With Myself’ from our third album. We asked Steve Jones to come and ‘Give it some bollocks’, as he would say, on the choruses. He came down to the studio and ended up playing on four or five of tracks on that on that record. It was just so great playing with him in the studio… And Paul was there as well. We kind of thought “Wow, this could be really good. Maybe we should do something or five of us” We were gonna have two drummers, Terry [Chimes] and Paul Cook, all playing together, because we rehearsed a bit in the studio. It seemed like a brilliant idea at the time but it wasn’t the right time. So it’s something we’d always considered.
He added, “Cut to 2018… Billy called me up and we went to see U2 together. Something that Americans do brilliantly is the VIP area… they walked us through and I suddenly found myself flanked either side by Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. Then I saw this smiling face and it was Steve Jones. He said “We ought to do something together,” I agreed and looked at Billy, looked back and Steve had vanished! Six months later, we played shows in Los Angeles to see how it would work and it was such a joyous moment to play together. We thought “We must do more of this” – and here we are!”
Generation Sex featuring Billy Idol and Tony James of Generation X and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols will make their first ever UK appearance at Crystal Palace Park playing a set of punk classics from both band’s extensive catalogues.
Other VIPs in the room included: Brighton punk trio Lambrini Girls who have been newly announced on the bill, plus Roxy club promoters Andy Czezowski and Susan Carrington, actor Phil Daniels, The Filth and the Fury director Julien Temple.
The 100 Club event on Tuesday evening was a real moment to reflect on the defining era of punk and look forward to what will be a once in a lifetime gig, the godparents of punk from both sides of the Atlantic coming together one last time at Dog Day Afternoon on 1st July.
Buzzcocks sit rightly where they belong as they join the Dog Day Afternoon bill. Formed in Bolton in 1976 by co-founders Pete Shelley, Howard Devoto and Steve Diggle, they are widely regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement and punk rock genre in itself.
They keep moving forward too – the latest single ‘Manchester Rain’ sees the now frontman Steve Diggle flying the flag with the iconic sound of the group that has had so many incarnations. The single is punchy, punky and retains that classic Manchester sound. Most punk bands came and went in the classic year of 1977 but Buzzcocks always kept going, changing the sound as they went along, fleeting from speedy pop punk to the ground-breaking Spiral Scratch EP that was a noted benchmark recording in the punk and new wave era.
New Brighton queer punk trio Lambrini Girls have quickly garnered a reputation since their first single release back in 2021. Their newest rager, released in February 2022, ‘Help Me I’m Gay’ is a raucous number powered with fuzzy guitars and expansive drum beats.
