Sex Pistols: The End is Near 25.12.77

Description

On Christmas Day 1977, the Sex Pistols played their final UK gig. Kevin Cummins was the only professional photographer to document the event. He stood with the band onstage, captured the raw energy of the Sex Pistols at the top of their game. Just three weeks later, after a brief US tour, the band imploded. By the end of 1977, the Sex Pistols had been banned from virtually every town in Britain. But at Ivanho's nightclub in Huddersfield they found a receptive audience. They played two charity gigs on Christmas Day, raising money for the families of striking firemen. The afternoon shift was for the kids, with expletives removed from lyrics and Christmas presents and cake given out - and paid for by the band. In the evening, with Kevin Cummins in their midst, the Sex Pistols thundered through their setlist. Forget the lurid headlines, the righteous outrage, this was the real Sex Pistols, playing from the heart. "You've had the Queen's speech. Now you're going to get the Sex Pistols at Christmas. Enjoy." - John Lydon AUTHOR: Kevin Cummins is an internationally renowned British rock photographer, known for his collaborations with Mick Jagger, Ian Curtis, Morrissey, The Smiths, Bowie, Joy Division and more. He was chief photographer at the New Musical Express for ten years, then the world's biggest selling rock weekly. His portraits feature in the collections of The National Portrait Gallery and The V&A. Kevin has also published several critically acclaimed monographs on the artists with whom he has worked. "Kevin Cummins was sometimes more important than the bands." - Pete Shelley "Kevin's photographs have shaped the way fans perceive their idols." - Noel Gallagher SELLING POINTS: . Previously unpublished photographs of the Sex Pistols' final UK gig . Taken by Kevin Cummins, preeminent photographer of British bands over the last four decades . Explodes the tabloid myth of the Sex Pistols, photographed playing a charity event for striking firemen 15 colour and 77 b/w images

Kevin Cummins is an internationally renowned British rock photographer, known for his collaborations with Mick Jagger, Ian Curtis, Morrissey, The Smiths, Bowie, Joy Division and more. He was chief photographer at the New Musical Express for ten years, then the world's biggest selling rock weekly. His portraits feature in the collections of The National Portrait Gallery and The V&A. Kevin has also published several critically acclaimed monographs on the artists with whom he has worked.

"Kevin Cummins was sometimes more important than the bands." -- Pete Shelley; "Kevin's photographs have shaped the way fans perceive their idols." -- Noel Gallagher. "A book filled with 150 colour and black and white photographs, in which Cummins expertly captures the passion and power of Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Paul Cook, and Steve Jones." -- Far Out Magazine. "It was a gig that now sounds unlikely. Britain s most notorious punk band, the Sex Pistols, performing at Ivanhoe s nightclub in Huddersfield on Christmas Day, 1977 There to photograph the Pistols that evening for weekly music magazine the NME was Kevin Cummins." --Yorkshire Post; ''What happened when the Sex Pistols threw a Christmas Party: A new book showcases a collection of photos that captures the band's last concert in England - they were in their pomp, on their mission, and fully charged.'--The Atlantic;