In Dreamland - the Sex Pistols in Margate

The August Bank Holiday is a bittersweet thing. Three free days in, usually amazing weather, with the opportunity for drinking, eating and socialising. However, this Bank Holiday is also something of a curtain call for the summer. September is round the corner, bringing with it poorer weather and the end of summer holidays. There are no more Bank Holidays in England until Christmas once the August one comes to an end, meaning it is a long, barren run to freedom. Therefore, you simply have to make the most of these three days. And that I did.

My Saturday involved barrelling down to Margate to sample British punk’s most legendary group at one of the most interesting and novel venues I’ve been to, with my Sunday also a trip to more live music (so stay tuned for a further blog on that event).

Margate and Ramsgate

Margate is a wonderful place. I cannot summarise it much more than that. An hour and 40 minute train from London whistles by, particularly in good weather with excitement building. With the evening’s festivities still several hours away, we visited a few Margate pubs and Ramsgate (via taxi) to the biggest Wetherspoons in the country.

The Margate pubs are brilliant, with a Brighton-like feel to them. We went to the (claimed) smallest pub in the country, The Little Prince. It is found within a food hall, so whether it actually counts as a standalone pub is up for debate, but with a pint costing £4.50 I was not one to complain about anything.

From the country’s alleged smallest pub to the biggest Spoons in the country, Ramsgate’s The Royal Pavilion is an absolute beast. Originally built as a concert hall and assembly room in the Victorian era, the building went through several iterations before being rescued by J.D. Wetherspoon and turned into one of their cheap mega-pubs. It is an amazing building and with its terrace overlooking the beach, it is unlike any other Spoons I have been to. After a quick dip in the nearby water, we returned to Margate full of lager and high spirits.

The venue and the crowd

Dreamland Margate is an amusement park and funfair, just a stone’s throw from the beach. For several years, however, it has not just played host to Ferris wheels and carousels – it has also become a much-revered live concert venue. Some huge artists have trodden the boards here, including Queens of the Stone Age, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Gorillaz. It is intimate without being tiny, is open air and is something of a novelty. The stage is setup in the main courtyard, flanked by a few amusement rides, which are all switched off when the music starts. Food stalls also surround the space, with lots of good options.

To wander around was quite odd. It was like being in a ghost town, where a funfair had been completely abandoned – save for the raft of middle-aged punk fans who had descended on this evening. The crowd itself were good, all very friendly and fun. The mosh pits were chaotic but safe affairs, with only one or two morons going out of their way to hurt people. The average was brought down pretty significantly by our arrival, but creaking joints and old bones did not stop these revellers from flinging themselves into swarms and circles of bodies.

My main criticism of Dreamland would be the toilet situation. Despite the main courtyard being large enough to house a stage and a few thousand attendees, there were very few toilets dotted around. A long line of Portaloo cubicles were in the same concourse as the main bar, meaning that the queues became entangled and confused, with people unclear where to go for what purpose. Many resorted to using bushes, which naturally I would never do nor condone.

The support

Due to our escapades in Ramsgate, we had missed the opening act, The Buzzcocks. A widely recognised one-hit wonder, Ever Fallen In Love? was not enough of a pull to cut our tour of the English riviera short. We did, however, arrive in time for Surrey-born punk rockers The Stranglers. A childhood favourrite, I had seen the Stranglers twice before, many years ago and was excited to see all the old favourites once again. Saving the big hits for the second half of their setlist, they were very enjoyable, bringing their cheeky humour and rumbling basslines to a fine evening in Kent. Peaches was probably the highlight; there’s not many popular songs out there like that. A truly bizarre, catchy and hooky account of seeing scantily clad women on beaches in Europe. Vintage stuff.

A short wait, but long queue at the bar, followed before Britain’s premier punk act would take to the stage.

Sex Pistols

Formed in 1975 with vocalist John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), bassist Glen Matlock, guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook, there will be very few people in the Western world who have not heard of the Sex Pistols. The ultimate British punk group (along with the Clash), the Pistols defined a genre, both in their generation and beyond. Their brief initial career (of only around two and a half years) was fraught with chaos, controversy and violence. A read of their Wikipedia is a truly wonderful way to pass sometime. My account of their history will not do it the justice it deserves, but I have provided an incredibly brief overview.

However, that original lineup did not stand the test of time. Matlock was booted before recording sessions of their only studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, was completed and replaced with hooligan Sid Vicious. The band continued but on an ill-fated American tour in 1978, Lydon quit the band, which effectively disintegrated entirely shortly after that. Vicious died in 1979, leaving the Pistols completely over.

From 1996 to 2007, the band reunited under its original lineup for a series of tours and shows, but background tensions and Lydon’s increasingly volatile behaviour meant that they did not perform together again post-2007. The disputes came to the fore in 2021, in which Cook and Jones were forced to sue Lydon to allow them to use the Pistols’ music in the FX produced biopic about the band, Pistol. Lydon lost and the, surprisingly good, series prevailed. The broken bonds were now truly broken beyond repair.

Roll on 2024, in which Matlock, Cook and Jones announced they would reunite once again, with a new singer in tow. Enter Frank Carter, a punk and hard rock singer, famous for his work with Gallows and Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes. The reunion was in aid of Bush Hall, a theatre in Shepherds Bush which the original Sex Pistols had played in the 1970s and was under threat due to a lack of funding. Two shows were played, which were near-impossible to get tickets for due to their tiny capacity (speaking from experience), and they were critically revered. The response was so great, that the new Pistols lineup embarked on a short UK tour in 2024, followed by global dates in 2025.

And this brings us to Margate. Some have mocked this incarnation of the Pistols, as what are they without Lydon? I have seen Lydon before with his group, Public Image Limited. I dislike Lydon on a number of levels I will not go into here, but I was unconvinced by him as a performer with Public Image Ltd, even in a tent at the Isle of Wight Festival in 2011 (that’s right, I’ve seen them live, so I can comment!). So in answer to the question, the Pistols are mega. Carter is an incredible showman. Famous in his other projects for his audience interaction, including often launching himself into the sea of sweaty bodies, he is a remarkable frontman. A bundle of energy and aggression, he was the perfect replacement for Lydon in every way.

The Pistols were often (oddly) criticised for being more than the sum of their parts, or maligned for not being great musicians. Matlock and Cook you could make an argument for, but criticism of Steve Jones needs to be left at the door and never enter a room of serious discussion. He was a titan this night in Kent, absolutely churning through those iconic riffs on his iconic white and black Les Paul. He is a living legend and some respect should be put on his name.

Due to the Sex Pistols very small discography, the setlist picks itself. The entirety of Never Mind the Bollocks is played, with a couple of additional numbers, including Sid Vicious’ famous cover of My Way. The set is short, with only 14 songs, but as I say – there is very little choice outside of padding this set with covers.

Frank Carter and I are on the same wavelength. He revealed to the crowd that Pretty Vacant was his favourite, which has always been my favourite Pistols song too. It was the unmistakable highlight of the set, followed by My Way, Anarchy in the UK and No Feelings. Carter’s energy was utterly infectious, with the crowd just as breathless as him by the end. You could tell he is an enormous fan of the band, gushing over the opportunity and introducing each member with affection and adoration, but without stepping over the line of it all becoming nauseating or cringeworthy.

Rattling through the set, we were all balls of sweat by the time it ended. With the pubs of Margate in our sights, we slowly filed out of Dreamland with ringing ears and sore feet. This may not have been the original Sex Pistols lineup, but much like when I saw Pantera, I cared very little. How else would you see these songs live? And with three living legends on stage, it is of little matter that one of them (the bitter and twisted one) was not there. And how could you not be happy for Frank Carter, who is living every fan’s dream? He delivers his assignment with swagger and fury, just as he should.

Has another band, musician or group made such an impact on modern music with such little output? One studio album and a few songs recorded for the soundtrack to a film which was universally panned. And yet, the Pistols still hold weight over the hearts and minds of punk fans, young and old. Their messages are still just as applicable now as they have ever been. Without them, we would not have many great bands, including Oasis (I had to get a mention in). Most ‘greatest albums of all time’ lists have Never Mind the Bollocks in there somewhere. The tours which this version of the Pistols have embarked on since 2024 have seen huge demand and praise. For now, the world needs music like this and I am all for it.