John Lydon, former frontman of the Sex Pistols, addressed his upcoming performance opposite his old band at Riot Fest in Chicago, where he now leads Public Image Limited, in comments shared by Forbes.
Lydon was asked about the unusual scheduling that will see both bands appear at the same festival. He explained how he plans to approach the weekend.
Asked, “I’m in Chicago where you’re booked to perform opposite the Sex Pistols at Riot Fest soon. Has that happened before? How do you approach a weekend like that?” Lydon responded:
“Well, it’s fantastic isn’t it?” Lydon said. “I’m going to be serenaded by a karaoke band the night before I properly play! Who could ask for anything more?! There’s no other way of looking at it.”
He went on to describe how the situation came about and his attitude toward sharing the bill with his former bandmates.
“The promoter was very fair,” he continued. “He said there was a possibility of them being on the bill. I’m not going to shove anybody off work. Sorry. Whatever our arguments between ourselves, they shouldn’t get in the way of that, you know? You can watch the half-hearted imitation of me. And, then, when you’ve recovered from that, you get the real deal!” (Laughing)
Lydon closed with a pointed remark aimed at his former band.
“God bless them,” he said. “Do they know what they’ve walked into? Said the spider to the fly. Should be a riot.”
The setup Lydon is describing is more than a hypothetical clash of egos. It plays out over consecutive nights at one of Chicago’s biggest music festivals, giving fans a rare chance to see both eras of his career on the same stage in the same weekend.
Riot Fest 2026 takes place September 18 through 20 at Douglass Park in Chicago, drawing a lineup built around punk, rock and alternative acts spanning several decades. The three-day bill features headliners including Twenty One Pilots, Tool, Pierce the Veil and Alanis Morissette, alongside a deep roster of legacy and genre-defining bands.
The Sex Pistols, performing with Frank Carter on vocals, are set to take the stage on Friday, September 18. That slot places them squarely on the night before Public Image Limited’s own performance, matching exactly the “karaoke band the night before” scenario Lydon referenced in his comments.
Public Image Limited is scheduled to perform the following night, on Saturday, September 19. This places Lydon’s current band directly opposite the group he fronted decades earlier, within the same 48-hour window. The back-to-back scheduling appears to be the source of both the friction and the wit running through Lydon’s remarks.
Neither band is expected to cross paths on stage. Their proximity on the schedule, however, ensures Riot Fest attendees will get an unusual side-by-side look at Lydon’s musical legacy, old and new, over one weekend in Chicago.
