JOHN Lydon, alias punk legend Johnny Rotten, will lead his latest line-up of Public Image Ltd in a sold-out gig at Fibbers in York tomorrow night.

Best known as the frontman of The Sex Pistols, with a sideline in promoting butter, Lydon has long presented his more experimental side with post-punk innovators PiL, chalking up five British top 20 singles and five top 20 albums with shifting personnel and a distinctive fusion of rock, dance, folk, pop and dub.

"My body and mind is the Sex Pistols but my heart and soul is PiL," said Lydon, who guided the band from their 1978 debut album, First Issue, to 1992’s That What Is Not before a 17-year hiatus.

After reactivating PiL in 2009, he issued the album This Is PiL in 2012 and released a typically challenging, anti-religious new record, What The World Needs Now, on September 4 on CD, double vinyl LP and digitally that entered the charts at number 29 with such track titles as Double Trouble, C'est La Vie and I'm Not Satisfied.

PiL will play York as one of 23 British and European dates, and tomorrow's show was among the first to sell out, much to the delight of Fibbers boss Tim Hornsby. "B****y hell! It’s only John Lydon at Fibbers!" he said. "I mean, come on, can you really afford to not be at small club show like this?"

Doors will open at 7.30pm and Lydon and co will be on stage at 8.30pm with no support act. If you have missed out on a ticket, you may like to know that PiL's Newcastle Riverside last night was filmed for DVD release.