Once a Pistol, Lydon Lacks Solo Firepower

Considering John Lydon’s groundbreaking contributions as the taunting, angry, laser-witted frontman of seminal punk bands the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd., it seems impossible that he’d fail to be at least interesting as a solo act. But his Wednesday concert at the Palace proved surprisingly dull, even irrelevant, with Lydon’s still-magnetic persona the only evidence of his former power.

Backed by two keyboardists and a drummer, Lydon offered the barely half-full hall an hour of watered-down techno-punk from his new solo album, “Psycho’s Path,” as well as a couple of substantially rearranged Public Image classics. The new songs explored such potentially compelling subjects as humanity’s violent tendencies and religious delusions, but Lydon’s lyrics were merely cliches strung together. Spoken and sung in his atonal, strained voice, these musical proclamations had none of the urgency and little of the anger found in his earlier works.

Prancing and whirling about like some techno court jester, Lydon was almost a self-parody in his dyed hair and designer-label shirt. If he’s hoping to catch electronica’s coattails, the material was woefully unsophisticated for the genre; if he’s trying to draw a sharper line between PiL’s legacy and ‘90s dance music, he’s already been outclassed by Prodigy.

One was left wondering if Lydon was just kidding, just exercising in the extreme his capacity for irritating audiences, as he did in the Sex Pistols more than 20 years ago. Maybe that’s all he was really good at in the first place.