A who’s who of pop royalty — including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Tom Jones — feted Queen Elizabeth on Sunday night at the massive Diamond Jubilee Concert, but long-running pop-ska band Madness had perhaps the best perch, performing two of its best-known hits from the roof of Buckingham Palace.

Last night, Britain’s BBC Four aired the first installment of the new three-part ‘Punk Britannia’ documentary series, billed as a look at the ‘historic cosmology, meteoric impact and smouldering aftermath of the most genuinely transformative force in British popular music history.’ Watch Part 1 here.

The Cure played a 36-song set at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound 2012 peppered with surprises, including the first performance of ‘Fight’ since the ‘Kiss Me’ tour, only the third-ever performance of ‘The Caterpillar,’ a rare airing of ‘Dressing Up’ and the first-ever performance of B-side ‘Just One Kiss.’

Two members of Public Image Ltd.’s most famous lineup — bassist Jah Wobble and guitarist Keith Levene — have reunited after 30 years, playing a handful of ‘Metal Box in Dub’ shows in the U.K. this year that spotlight PiL’s classic 1979 sophomore album. John Lydon takes issue: ‘It’s very unfair.’

The Smithereens — who released the aptly titled ‘2011,’ their first collection of new material in more than a decade, last year — will keep busy this on the road summer, criss-crossing the U.S. to play at least 15 concerts between June and September at a variety of clubs, theaters and a number of small-town festivals

Last month, World Party mainman Karl Wallinger did a low-key round of radio station appearances and record shop in-stores in the U.S. to promote the release of the ‘Arkeology’ box set — including this 40-minute performance at Fingerprints in Long Beach, Calif., on Record Store Day.