The Sex Pistols to celebrate 50 years of punk with tour

Sex Pistols fan
The Sex Pistols will celebrate 50 years of punk with an Anarchy In The UK tour. -AP

The Sex Pistols have announced a UK and Ireland tour to celebrate 50 years of punk.

The band will be joined by musician Frank Carter in their The Anarchy In The UK tour later this year, to mark five decades since the release of their eponymous hit track, with December dates scheduled in London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dublin.

Formed in 1975, the band is now made up of guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bass guitarist Glen Matlock.

The band's second bassist Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose in 1979 and former frontman Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) is no longer part of the line up.

The tour will kick off at Dublin's 3 Arena on December 7 before moving to Edinburgh's Corn Exchange on December 9 and Glasgow's O2 Academy on December 10.

The tour will end with two nights in London, one at the O2 Academy Brixton on December 18 and a final show at Eventim Apollo on December 20.

The Sex Pistols disbanded in 1978 and Rotten, formed Public Image Ltd, also known as PiL.

The group were known for their rebel spirit and speaking out against the monarchy and the established political order, in provocative lyrics with songs including God Save The Queen and Anarchy In The UK.

The band reunited last year for a number of gigs, but Rotten did not perform and promised to never return to the group, after he fought a high-profile court battle against the rest of the band in a bid to stop their songs being used in a Disney+ series of their story, called Pistol.

Remembering the first year of the band being together, Cook said: "It was kind of like a commando raid. I don't even think a lot of places knew we were playing there.

"We just turned up and set up. It was all a learning curve for us, getting out there and playing live, we were learning on the job.

"With Anarchy, I think we tapped into a feeling of unrest around the country at the time. The message was pretty simple - just have a go and get out there and do whatever you want to do. It was a new world."