Last week, I started getting messages from friends back in Czechia saying that the Czech punk bands Visací zámek and Znouzecnost will be playing exactly one year from now at London’s legendary 100 Club. I couldn’t believe my eyes—but it turns out it’s true. Visací zámek—one of the biggest legends of Czech punk—is set to perform in the very Mecca of punk. And not just anywhere, but exactly 50 years after the iconic Punk Festival took place there, widely considered the birth of British punk rock. That festival later exploded across the globe—even despite the bad press stirred up by Sid Vicious, who threw a glass from the bar that shattered against one of the pillars. The shards hit one of the women in the crowd and seriously injured her eye (that pillar still stands).
Despite that, the punk explosion was so powerful it reached a group of kids behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia. Six years later, they founded Visací zámek. Another six years after that, they played at the Hronovická Cultural Centre in Pardubice—a gig that was sadly cut short by the communist police. That was my first punk concert ever. It’s been 38 years. I don’t think I need to say much more.
Tickets bought. A crew from Czechia is coming.
Punk’s not dead, you fools!
PS: The 100 Club only holds about 300 people, so don’t wait too long to grab your tickets. You can get them HERE.