Sex Pistols - 2026 German dates and 50th anniversary tour

Sex Pistols are taking their 50th anniversary celebrations back on the road in 2026. According to a detailed tour announcement from early March 2026, the band will resume a rescheduled North American run beginning September 11, 2026 in Dallas while also playing summer festival and headline dates across Europe, including three shows in Germany in July.

All confirmed 2026 tour dates

The current 2026 live schedule for Sex Pistols, featuring vocalist Frank Carter alongside Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook, is built around a 50 Years of Punk theme that ties directly to the 1976 release of their debut single Anarchy in the U.K. One widely cited North American tour breakdown lists shows from September 11 through October 18, 2026, starting at Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas and ending at Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, with stops in cities such as Austin, Houston, Nashville, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego and Phoenix.

German fans get their turn earlier in the year. A comprehensive tour log for 2026 outlines three German dates: July 4, 2026 at Save The Core in Nuremberg, July 5, 2026 at Südbrücke in Cologne, and July 6, 2026 at the Tollwood Sommerfestival in Munich. These appearances slot into a broader European summer schedule that also includes Isle of Wight Festival in Newport, Oversound Music Festival in Bari, Ilosaarirock in Joensuu, Hills of Rock in Plovdiv, and a theatre date in Carcassonne, France.

Germany-first dates and anniversary angle

The German shows in Nuremberg, Cologne and Munich are among the earliest confirmed 2026 dates and form a clear regional focus before the band heads to other European and North American cities. Save The Core in Nuremberg is listed for the weekend of June 18–21, 2026, with Sex Pistols appearing as part of a multi-band lineup, while the Cologne and Munich concerts on July 5 and July 6, 2026 are standalone performances tied to local festival brands, giving German audiences three chances within a single week to see the reunited group.

The anniversary framing is explicit in multiple sources. A tour announcement for December 2026 describes an Anarchy in the UK run across Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London that marks 50 years since the single’s original release. Separately, the film I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol, released digitally on May 26, 2026 and screened in European cinemas from July 2, 2026, uses Glen Matlock’s perspective to revisit the early years of Sex Pistols and underlines the significance of the 1976–1977 period for British punk.

How the Sex Pistols sound in 2026

On this 2026 tour, Sex Pistols are expected to perform their landmark 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols in full, alongside singles like Anarchy in the U.K., God Save the Queen, Pretty Vacant and Holidays in the Sun. The band’s sound remains rooted in abrasive guitar tones, shouted choruses and tight, mid-tempo punk rhythms that helped define the original UK punk movement.

Lineup-wise, the current live configuration replaces original frontman Johnny Rotten with British singer Frank Carter, known from Gallows and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, whose hoarse, energetic vocal delivery fits the aggressive style of the classic material. Instruments stay close to the late-1970s formula: Jones’s distorted guitar riffs, Matlock’s melodic bass lines and Cook’s straightforward drum patterns, all contributing to the concise, confrontational feel that made their only studio album a touchstone for punk and later alternative rock.

Where the band stands now

As of August 22, 2026, the next confirmed live date for Sex Pistols is July 4, 2026 at Save The Core in Nuremberg, followed by July 5 in Cologne, July 6 in Munich and the North American tour leg beginning September 11, 2026 in Dallas.

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