VIA PRESS RELEASE | To celebrate their 40th Anniversary, John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd (PiL) are pleased to announce The Public Image is Rotten (Songs from the Heart) Box Set will be released on 20th July 2018, coming in the form of a staggering 5CD/2DVD, 6LP and Digital.
The box set will feature the PiL Singles Collection (1978-2015), B-sides, Rarities and Radio Sessions, 12” Mixes, Unreleased Mixes and Tracks and a Live concert from New York Ritz in July 1989. The DVD includes PiL promo videos + footage from the BBC’s Top Of The Pops and Old Grey Whistle Test. Just in case that isn’t enough they’ve included two legendary live concerts, the first PiL’s appearance at the Tallinn Rock Summer Festival in Estonia 1988 (still part of the USSR at the time) and the second from 2013’s Enmore Theatre in Australia during the This is PiL tour.
The box set coincides with the release of a career-spanning documentary film about Public Image Ltd (also titled The Public Image is Rotten), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York last year and then had its European premiere at London’s Raindance Festival in 2017. Directed by Tabbert Fiiller, it will be released later this year in select cinemas.
PiL will also be embarking on a 36-date headline tour of UK/Europe and Japan this Summer. Kicking off in Bristol on 30th May, it takes in festival performances in United Kingdom, Holland, and Poland, and includes a headline set at Camden Rocks Festival in London on Saturday 2nd June and the recently announced show at London’s 100 Club on 20th June, which SOLD OUT in 20 minutes. The band’s last tour was in 2016 and it was regarded by many as the best performances the band have ever played.
In 2015 the band released their 10th studio album What The World Needs Now… which followed the huge critical success of 2012’s This is PiL, the band’s first album in 17 years. What The World Needs Now peaked at number 29 in the official UK album charts and picked up fantastic acclaim from both press and public. (The album also peaked at number 3 in the official UK indie charts and number 4 in the official UK vinyl charts). What The World Needs Now… was self-funded by PiL and released on their own label PiL Official via Cargo UK Distribution.
Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time, PiL’s music and vision earned them 5 UK Top 20 singles and 5 UK Top 20 albums. With a shifting line-up and unique sound, John Lydon guided the band from their debut album First Issue in 1978 through to 1992’s That What Is Not. After a 17 year hiatus, Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009 by taking them back on the road worldwide.
John Lydon, Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth, and Bruce Smith continue as PiL. They are the longest stable line-up in the band’s history.
