Rhino Factoids: The Sex Pistols Play Their Last UK Date with Sid Vicious

Anyone who knows their punk rock history knows the story of the Sex Pistols' final gig with Sid Vicious in their lineup: it took place on January 14, 1978 at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom, and it featured Johnny Rotten delivering the immortal question, “Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?” Often forgotten, however, is the last date that the Pistols played in their native land, which is a shame, as it's very much one worth remembering, if only for how much differently it paints the punk rock legends: their last UK concert took place on Christmas Day 1977, and it involved the band performing a benefit show for the children of striking firefighters.

Didn't see that one coming, did you?

If you find it hard to wrap your head around the idea of the Sex Pistols doing something for charity, then you've clearly forgotten that punks are people, too, but we'll let that slide and just do our part to help you come to terms with what happened that day by introducing you to Never Mind the Baubles: Xmas '77 with the Pistols, a BBC documentary by Julien Temple which documents the Christmas Day goings-on that took place inside Ivanhoe's nightclub in the town of Huddersfield, England.

“The Sex Pistols gig at Huddersfield for striking firemen's kids would have been a highlight of mine and Sid's career,” said John Lydon, in a 2012 interview with The Guardian. “Having a birthday cake squashed into your face by young kids? Delicious.”

For as infamous as the Sid Vicious era of the Pistols may have been, they ended their concert career in the UK with a lovely gesture that confirmed that they were really just big kids at heart.

"To most people they were monsters in the news, but seeing them playing to seven- and eight-year-olds is beautiful,” Temple told The Guardian in 2013. “They were a radical band, but there was a lot more heart to that group than people know."