1970s Punk Icons, Feuding for Nearly 20 Years, Are Playing the Same Fall Festival
It's called the Riot Fest, and the long-time Chicago festival may just turn into that with some famously feuding punk legends both booked for this year's fest, set for Sept. 18-20 in Douglass Park.
The lineup revealed on May 28 shows the Sex Pistols, with relatively new frontman Frank Carter, are performing at the festival, which will also feature a performance by Public Image Ltd., the band singer John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, formed in 1978 after the Sex Pistols initial breakup.
Lydon reunited with the other three Pistols-guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and original bassist Glen Matlock (who was founding member of the before he was replaced by Sid Vicious)-in 1996, 2002-2003 and in 2007-2008 before they split again amid bad blood and legal wrangling.
Since the daily lineups for Riot Fest have yet to be released it's unclear whether the Sex Pistols and PiL will perform on the same day, but festival organizers seem to be playing up the beef with the Sex Pistols name appearing on the poster directly above Public Image Ltd.
Fallout and Lawsuit
Lydon and the band's other members had a falling out after completing their 2008 reunion dates, but things got particularly nasty in 2021 when Jones and Cook sued Lydon to allow the band's music to be featured in the FX miniseries Pistol, based on Jones's 2016 memoir, Lonely Boy: Takes from a Sex Pistol.
During the trial, Lydon said, "I care very much about this band and its reputation and its quality control and I will always have a say if I think anything is being done to harm or damage [it]."
Jones and Cook won the case and didn't close the door on working together with Lydon in the future with the statement: "It has not been a pleasant experience, but we believe it was necessary to allow us to move forward and hopefully work together in the future with better relations."
With Lydon apparently still holding a grudge against his former bandmates, in 2024 the Sex Pistols announced a reunion benefit show with new vocalist, former Gallows singer Frank Carter of Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes.
Lydon Reacts to Sex Pistols Reuniting Without Him
In 2025, the band announced a tour celebrating their 50th anniversary, but it was forced to postpone the initial run of dates after Jones broke his wrist.
Meanwhile, Lydon not surprisingly does not approve of his former bandmates carrying the Pistols banner without him.
"When I first heard that the Sex Pistols were touring this year without me it pissed me off. It annoyed me. I just thought, ‘they're absolutely going to kill all that was good with the Pistols by eliminating the point and the purpose of it all.' I didn't write those words lightly. They're trying to trivialize the whole show to get away with karaoke but in the long term I think you'll see who has the value and who doesn't," he told The iPaper in 2025. "I've never sold my soul to make a dollar. It's the Catholic in me – that guilt I don't want to trip."
While Lydon didn't let up on the karaoke charges, he later gave a complement to Turner while throwing in a few more jabs.
"It's weird," he told Classic Rock. "[It's] a dumbing down of all the integrity, intensity, genuine honesty and heartfelt emotions I put into that band."
"Of course, it's karaoke, but it's like… Come on, Mr Carter, you're not Johnny Rotten, I am. Right? Stop it," he added, before giving the new frontman a slight nod: "I actually think he took it on in the right spirit."
The headliners for this year's Riot Fest are Tool, Twenty One Pilots, Pierce the Veil and Alanis Morissette with other notables Morrissey, Iggy Pop, Sugar and Patti Smith and dozens of others also on the bill.
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This story was originally published May 28, 2026 at 2:00 PM.