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On Sunday night, this former bowling alley was packed with 2,200
rowdy Texans waiting to see what this thing called "punk rock" was
all about. The Sex Pistols broke the rule that "if you're gonna play
in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band." Both band and
audience were prepared for war. The band gave their most spirited performance of the American tour in San Antonio. Johnny took the stage wearing a T-shirt depicting two homosexual cowboys, and Sid greeted the crowd with some very unkind remarks. The audience hurled anything onstage that they could get their hands on. Items of choice were spit, popcorn, beer cups, cans, hot dogs, whipped cream, bottles, and pies. Steve and Paul did their best to hold the show together while Sid and Johnny took every possible opportunity to insult and infuriate the crowd. Sid removed his leather jacket to reveal "Gimme a Fix" scrawled on his chest. Johnny blew snot at the people in the front row, snarling and screaming his vocals the whole night. Steve promptly broke a string during the first number, and he later used his guitar as a weapon against threatening audience members. The audience fought amongst themselves, and one heckler decided to go after the band. He started yelling at Johnny, but John ignored him. The heckler decided to antagonize the next easiest target, Sid. When Vicious was hit in the face with a can of beer, the man mocked him. During the last seconds of "New York," Sid unstrapped his bass and attempted to club him over the head, hitting a Warner executive instead. The lights went off and the show was delayed for several minutes. As the Rodeo's manager took the stage and asked those in attendance to stop throwing things at the band, Steve attempted to tune his (and Sid's) guitar, producing an ominous drone. The crowd became restless. One burly-sounding man yelled, "Let's hear some rock 'n' roll!" Order was restored and the Pistols continued the set. After being escorted out of Randy's, the heckler said, "I don't like what they stand for. They are just sewer rats with guitars." Later in the show, Sid was hit hard enough to receive a bloody nose. With no demand for an encore, the band completed their set with "Anarchy in the U.S.A." and left the stage. Johnny Rotten topped off the evening by meeting with the local press and calling the audience members "statues." The next day, the local paper read: "Sex Pistols win the San Antonio Shoot-Out." Set list: God Save the Queen, I Wanna Be Me, Seventeen, New York, EMI, Holidays in the Sun, Bodies, Belsen Was a Gas, Submission, No Feelings, Problems, Pretty Vacant, Anarchy in the U.S.A. |
