Dog Day Afternoon, the biggest punk festival in London, will feature Iggy Pop, Blondie, Buzzcocks, Lambrini Girls, and supergroup Generation Sex on July 1 at Crystal Palace. 

Generation Sex, featuring Billy Idol and Tony James of Generation X and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, will make their first ever UK appearance at Crystal Palace Park. In a press release, the Outside Organization in London notes that Generation X will play punk classics by both bands. 

Festival Republic and Solo Agency promoter John Giddings announced the line-up at the iconic 100 Club on London’s Oxford Street on March 7 at an event hosted by Absolute Radio’s Claire Sturgess.

Tony James said the punk supergroup Generation Sex started “when we were recording the single ‘Dancing With Myself’ from our third album. We asked Steve Jones to come and ‘Give it some bollocks’, as he would say, on the choruses. He came down to the studio and ended up playing on four or five of tracks on that on that record. It was just so great playing with him in the studio… And Paul was there as well. We kind of thought “Wow, this could be really good. Maybe we should do something or five of us”.”

The formation picked up speed in 2018. “Billy called me up and we went to see U2 together. Something that Americans do brilliantly is the VIP area… they walked us through and I suddenly found myself flanked either side by Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. Then I saw this smiling face and it was Steve Jones. He said “We ought to do something together,” I agreed and looked at Billy, looked back and Steve had vanished! Six months later, we played shows in Los Angeles to see how it would work and it was such a joyous moment to play together. We thought “We must do more of this” – and here we are!”

The Buzzcocks, formed in Bolton in 1976 by co-founders Pete Shelley, Howard Devoto and Steve Diggle, had a huge influence on punk rock, the Manchester music scene, and the independent record label movement. While many punk bands came and went in 1977, the Buzzcocks continued to evolve. Their latest single ‘Manchester Rain’, with vocals by Steve Diggle, retains the classic punchy Manchester sound. 

New Brighton queer punk trio Lambrini Girls released their first single in 2021 and followed it in February 2022 with “Help Me I’m Gay”.

Iggy Pop, meanwhile, recently exploded back onto the scene with his single ‘Frenzy’ and his 19th album EVERY LOSER, released via the recent partnership between Atlantic Records and Gold Tooth Records. Fans also look forward to hearing his classics including Lust For Life, New Values, Blah-Blah-Blah, Brick by Brick, Skull Ring, Post Pop Depression and most recently 2019’s Free. 

Blondie emerged out of lower Manhattan and gained fame with hits such as ‘Heart of Glass’, ‘Rapture’, ‘One Way Or Another’ and the lilting calypso ‘The Tide Is High’. 

—words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved