Day 310

Day 310 of the #365drawingchallenge is punk icon Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols. I love punk music. I fell in love with it in the late 90s as I came of age with the rise of skate punk. Most people probably wouldn’t guess it to look at me or talk to me. I’ve never been one for trying to look or act in a punk way. It just feels phony. I just keep it natural. But I do think I have a rebellious punk spirit in me, and it comes out from time to time. Anyway, the Sex Pistols are some of the forefathers of the punk movement, and I was lucky enough to see them at the Inland Invasion concert in 2002. It was an amazing all day show featuring a huge amount of punk acts. Here’s what I pulled from Wikipedia, because it’s easier than relying on my memory.

Main Stage: Sex Pistols, The Offspring, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, blink-182, Pennywise, Buzzcocks, New Found Glory, X, The Damned, Unwritten Law

Side Stage: The Vandals, Charged GBH, Circle Jerks, T.S.O.L., The Adolescents, The Distillers

It was a damn good show and I have a lot of memories, like knocking flat a chick in a mosh pit that kept banging into my girlfriend, or my sister’s boyfriend stealing a fire extinguisher, or watching Blick-182 implode as they were boo’d off the stage. Of course most of the memories are of the great music, which was headlined by the Sex Pistols. Of course Sid was long dead, but Johnny was still the frontman. And he was amazing. Sometimes it’s really pathetic to see musicians grow old and keep playing, particularly rock and punk ones that were known for having a youthful cool edge. But not Johnny. He had way more charisma than anyone else at the show, and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. It was amazing to see a showman who had perfected his craft, and I loved every minute of it.