Lydon’s PiL seeking Irish nomination for Eurovision Song Contest

Former Sex Psitol has dual American/Irish citizenship

Public Image Limited, the band formed by John Lydon when the Sex Pistols split in 1978, are one of six acts vying to represent Ireland in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The competition’s finals are being held in Liverpool on May 13, after Ukraine – last year’s winners – was deemed too dangerous to stage it.

PiL’s entry is the song ‘Hawaii’, said to be a love letter to Lydon’s wife, Nora Forster, who lives with Alzheimer’s disease, and described by the group described as “a pensive, personal yet universal love song that will resonate with many”. They will perform it alongside Ireland’s other Eurovision hopefuls during the heat to determine the nation’s competitor on the Late Late Show on 3 February.

The band’s last release was 2015’s What The World Needs Now album, although their classic debut Metal Box was recently reworked by original PiL bassist Jah Wobble into his own ‘in dub’ version.