In January 1978 the Sex Pistols embarked on a US tour, consisting mainly of dates in America's Deep South. Though originally scheduled for December 1977, it was delayed due the US authorities reluctance to issue visas to band members with criminal records. Though highly anticipated by fans and media, the tour was plagued by in-fighting, poor planning and physically hostile audiences. Malcom McLaren has admitted that he purposely booked redneck bars to create those hostile situations. Over the course of the two-weeks, Vicious, by now chronically addicted to heroin, began to live up to his stage name. According to Rotten: "He finally had an audience of people who would behave with shock and horror. Sid was easily led by the nose." Early in the tour, Sid wandered off from his Holiday Inn in Memphis, Tennessee, looking for drugs. He was found in a Memphis hospital with the words "Gimme a fix" self-carved in his chest with a razor. During a concert in San Antonio, Texas, Vicious called the audience "a bunch of faggots", before striking a member of the audience across the head with his bass guitar. In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he received simulated oral sex onstage, later declaring "that’s the kind of girl I like". Suffering withdrawal symptoms from heroin, Vicious appeared onstage in Dallas, Texas, with the words "Gimme a Fix" still cut into his chest, and spat blood at a female who had climbed on stage and punched him in the face. He was admitted to hospital later that night to treat injuries resulting from his wounds. Offstage he is said to have kicked a female photographer, attacked a security guard, and was eventually beaten by one of his own bodyguards.
Rotten, meanwhile, suffering from flu and coughing up blood, felt increasingly isolated and distanced from Cook and Jones, and disgusted by Vicious. At the final date in Winterland, San Francisco, on 14 January 1978 a disillusioned Rotten ended with an encore of a Stooges cover, "No Fun." Sneering at the audience, he exclaimed "This is No Fun, at all", making clear his personal feelings about the gig, the band, and the audience. After the performance Rotten asked the audience "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" before throwing down his microphone and walking off stage. He later observed: "I hated the whole scenario. It was a farce. I felt cheated. Sid was completely out of his brains - just a waste of space. Malcolm wouldn't speak to me. But then he would turn around and tell Paul and Steve that the tension was all my fault because I wouldn't agree to anything. It was all very bitter and confusing.

"Sex Pistols - 1978-01-14 - Live At Winterland
1. God Save The Queen
2. I Wanna Be Me
3. Seventeen
4. New York
5. E.M.I.
6. Belsen Was A Gas
7. Bodies
8. Holidays in the Sun
9. Liar
10. No Feelings
11. Problems
12. Pretty Vacant
13. Anarchy in the U.K.
14. No Fun

part1

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