Anyone who ventured into my room when I was a freshman or sophomore in high school might have thought they were in a small museum dedicated to the Sex Pistols. While I had other posters on display (a Ramones poster and at one point a large picture of Karl Marx), my bedroom was wall-to-wall Sex Pistols. A large poster of Sid Vicious gave way to large posters of a group photo of the pioneering punk quartet. One wall was half covered by a giant poster for the thoroughly bad Sex Pistols film 'The Great Rock & Roll Swindle" (that was made almost entirely after the band broke up).

I read books about the Sex Pistols, bought every shitty bootleg of every concert I could get my hands on, and shelled out money for pins, t-shirts and other merchandise for a band that had been broken up for ten years. I even bought music and merchandise related to the musical projects of former members of the band (one Steve Jones solo album sounded like slow background music for 'Miami Vice'; I couldn't believe it but I still loved it).

Before hearing their music, I had heard about the Sex Pistols. They were always spoken of they way someone would speak about the disgraced or the criminal. Their name represented the reprehensible, the forbidden, the lurid, the brazen and rebellious. They had the word 'Sex' in their name, so they had to be bad. When I finally heard 'Anarchy in the U.K.' for the first time, I was hooked and the next chance I got I bought their album (the only album they put out as a functioning group), 1977's 'Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols'. For a native New Yorker stuck in the often stultifying suburbs of Connecticut for high school, listening to the Sex Pistols was a way to spit into the collective face of the preppie snobs, dumb jocks, and other rancid forms of life that made high school a social and cultural waste land.

The Sex Pistols first came to the public's attention in England in 1976, when they spewed obscenities on a prime time live television talk show. They were instant fodder for the British tabloids, with their legendary bad behavior getting them fired from at least two record companies before they signed with Virgin Records. In 1977 they replaced original bass player Glen Matlock with Sid Vicious. Sid Vicious was the original drummer for Siouxie and the Banshees and played bass in a band called the Flowers of Romance before joining the Pistols. Though in the band less than a year, he became their most well-known member, dying of a heroin overdose at the age of 20 while awaiting trial for the murder of his girlfriend (recounted in the 1986 film 'Sid and Nancy').

The band broke up in San Francisco in January of 1978 after a disastrous tour of the U.S. Johnny Rotten's last words to the audience (after performing the apt choice of Iggy Pop's 'No Fun') were "You ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"

I finally got to see the Sex Pistols perform, along with opening acts Reverent Horton Heat and Dropkick Murphys. The Pistols are traveling the U.S. with their 'God Save the Sex Pistols Tour'. The band re-released their famous (or infamous) 'God Save the Queen' last year to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee. The song was initially released at the Queen's silver jubilee.

I eagerly snapped up tickets the day they went on sale and took two days off from work to attend the concert. I had great seats and got there as early as I could. I took my friend Anne, a music expert and former trivia teammate at Rocky Sullivan's.

While I can't say I felt cheated, I was disappointed at the Pistols, who have been my musical idols for 15 years. The only reason for this was lead singer John Lydon, who messed up the words to every single song.

The show started with strong sets by Reverend Horton Heat (who put on the best performance of the night) and Dropkick Murphys. I eagerly anticipated the arrival of the Sex Pistols. From my seat near the side stage entrance, I got to see the band make their backstage entrance.

Like everyone else, I rose to my feet when the Pistols came out. "Because of your immigration, we only got in yesterday," Lydon warned the audience after they took the stage. "Therefore no rehearsal. Enjoy us or die!" The band then launched into 'Bodies.'

The band sounded good, the problem, and it was a persistent and ever present problem no matter how much the Sex Pistols fan in me wants to deny it or look past it, was John Lydon's fouling up the lyrics. He even had the band re-start 'God Save the Queen' after he started singing the wrong verse at the beginning. The rest of the band knew what they were doing: at one point Glen Matlock was singing to Lydon to remind him of the lyrics and Lydon held Matlock's microphone close to him to let him sing lead for a bit.

Lydon has not wasted his brain with drugs like Ozzy Osbourne and is not old enough (he's 47) to be suffering from senility like Frank Sinatra. These are songs that he wrote, and if he had listed to 'Never Mind the Bullocks...' once or twice before the show he would have been in better shape.

The three other Sex Pistols played well and were more on top of things. While Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten are the most recognizable names to emerge from the band, the three people most responsible for the Pistols incredible music, drummer Paul Cook, guitarist Steve Jones, and bass player Glen Matlock (probably the greatest unsung hero of punk rock) are not widely well known and deserve to be.

Even John, despite fucking up the lyrics royally, sang his heart out and pranced and ran around on the stage all night rather than spending his time hunched over a microphone stand.

The band has had to cancel shows in Cleveland, Detroit, and Englewood, Colorado. While no official explanation has been given for the cancellations, it would not be surprising to learn it was for poor ticket sales. There's no reason the Pistols should not have attracted a bigger crowd in New York, even at Jones Beach, which has been pimped out to overpriced clothing king Tommy Hilfiger and is now called 'Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach. You can't bring in or buy any booze there but lukewarm pretzels are only $4. I put a down payment on a hot dog in case I decide to go to a show there later this year.

You'll never hear 'No Feelings' being used to hawk cell phones or 'Belsen Was a Gas' being used in sports car or cruise line commercials. In that respect the Pistols have avoided the fate of other great punk rock bands. They will likely never suffer the indignities of seeing their music used by Nike or Volkswagen. But if they put on concerts where it looks like they're just going through the motions, they will become another sad 1970s retread like Fleetwood Mac. Then again, when will you ever see Mick Fleetwood launch snot rockets at the bouncers and mockingly brag that his soiled face towel will be worth money on eBay?

But like other aging punk rock acts like the Dictators and the Spunk Lads, who still play fantastic shows, the Sex Pistols will not destroy their own legend with a less-than-perfect show. As a matter of fact, less-than-perfect shows are part of their legend. For their irreverence, their excellent music, their perseverance from the very beginning of their existence, I will always love the Sex Pistols.