Join Blackwell’s bookshop at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation on Thursday 5th March for an evening with legendary rock photographer Kevin Cummins. He’ll be talking to award winning journalist John Robb about his new book Sex Pistols: The End is Near 25.12.77.

About the book:

Christmas Day 1977, a day to be spent with family and loved ones, unless of course you’d decided to spend it with The Sex Pistols.

The punk band, at the centre of a tabloid frenzy and banned from just about every venue in the country, had booked themselves into a small club in Huddersfield to perform a benefit in support of striking West Yorkshire fire fighters.

That evening, the band took to the stage to perform what would become their final UK gig.

There to capture the chaos was photographer Kevin Cummins. No stranger to The Sex Pistols, he’d been there at that gig at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall just 18 months previously. Kevin incurred the fury of his own family to forgo Christmas in order to travel across The Pennines to document the event.

Every frame Kevin shot is here, for the first time, in this book of more than 150 colour and black and white photographs, each beautifully capturing Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious, Steve Jones, and Paul Cook as they play together for the last time in their home country. Just weeks later The Pistols would break up and a year later, Sid would be dead.

“You’ve had the Queen’s speech. Now you’re going to get the Sex Pistols at Christmas. Enjoy.” – Johnny Rotten

About the 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

Tickets are just £3.00 (or free with a copy of the book) plus booking fee. Please note this event is being held at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. Doors 18.30 for a 19.00 start.