I hate the preparation for gigs...but on stage is the right place to be

PUNK LEGEND JOHN LYDON HAS BEEN MOURNING THE DEATH OF HIS BELOVED WIFE NORA, BUT TELLS MARION MCMULLEN HE IS READY TO TOUR AGAIN

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"I'VE had a tough last year and a half," says John Lydon.

The former Sex Pistols frontman has had to deal with the grief of the death of his wife of 45 years, Nora Forster, and his lifelong friend and manager, John "Rambo" Stevens, who both passed away within a few months of each other in 2023.

"I just sat down and waited to let that deep sadness, which you can't find a way out of too easy, pass," John continues.

"But I had already sort of committed to touring with my band, Public Image Ltd [PiL). I wanted to get out and work and they sort of convinced me to do so.

"Not that it's going to solve any issues of loss in me, but I've been up late hanging around for all these months and I can't do it any longer.

"I'm raging. I live alone. I've got no one to yell at. This is outrageous. But the gigs are now rolling in. The offers are there." He adds with a chuckle: "Send in the clowns," and bursts into a refrain of the song.

John first met Nora in 1975 at designer Vivienne Westwood and music manager Malcolm McLaren's punk fashion store, Sex, on London's King's Road.